DICA has proven it is ready to enforce the government’s corporate reform initiative by deleting around 800 companies from its registry this year, according to data collected by the Myanmar Times. The companies have been slashed after they failed to submit their annual returns, DICA said. Furthermore, around 11,000 companies are being held in suspension pending their returns, facing deletion if they do not comply.

Such clerical pruning is part of a broader initiative to raise corporate standards kicked off by the 2017 Companies Law. Since that law passed, the government has pushed for more foreign investment and has allowed foreign banks to invest in Myanmar banks and investors to make trades on the Yangon Stock Exchange. Meanwhile, the government has made steps to clean house in the domestic business community. In April, the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Economic Relations introduced robust new guidelines for corporate governance. “With this notification, Myanmar’s capital markets will boost investor confidence and increase economic efficiencies. We will continue to strive to improve corporate governance and contribute to the further development of capital markets in the country,” ministry permanent secretary U Aung Naing Oo told state media.

DICA’s mass cull, however, may not be simply punishing negligence. The Myanmar Times pointed out that, previously, single companies were often forced to register as different entities for differing operations. Now they may consolidate all of their activities under the same name, leading many companies to simply abandon their subsidiaries, at least in DICA’s registry.