Every individual who has been appointed as an independent director in a company, on the date of commencement of the Companies (Appointment and Qualification of Directors) shall within a period of 5 months from such commencement shall apply online to the institute for inclusion of his name in the data bank for a period of one year or five years or for his life-time, and from time to time take steps as specified in sub-rule (2), till he continues to hold the office of an independent director in any company
MCA has issued Companies (Appointment and Qualification of Directors) Second Amendment rules 2020 with the effect from 29 April 2020 the time period of for application of such allotment has been changed from 5 months to 7 months. That means now companies have time for applying name online with the institute.