How to register a business in India. The Documents and the Procedure

Before moving on to details and document lists, it is necessary to understand the underlying logic of company registration in India. It operates on different principles, and for someone accustomed to the regulations of other countries, this may initially seem unusual.

Let us begin with the legal mechanisms governing this area. It is here that the key differences between approaches in various countries become evident.

In many countries, everything is straightforward. You submit an application to a government authority, and there is a fixed list of documents defined by regulations. There is no flexibility: neither the officer can add anything, nor the applicant can substitute one document for another. Everything strictly follows the prescribed list, and any deviation is considered a violation.

In India, however, the situation is different. Often, there is no direct equivalent of such administrative regulations. Even when they exist, they tend to be indicative rather than exhaustive, offering examples of acceptable documents rather than a fixed list. For instance, the rules may require “proof of address,” which could be a bank statement, a utility bill, or another document not explicitly listed. The acceptability of a specific document is determined by the officer reviewing the application.

Another important feature is that the government does not directly handle business registration in India. A significant portion of the process is delegated to chartered accountants (CAs), company secretaries (CSs), and advocates. In legal terms, they are referred to as registered professionals or shortly professionals.

These professionals review documents, certify them, and upload them to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) portal. Where legislation leaves room for interpretation, it is these professionals who determine which documents are acceptable and sufficient.
Naturally, professionals are not supposed to act arbitrarily; their decisions must be based on legal provisions. However, in practice, much depends on their experience and familiarity with recent regulatory changes. As a result, outcomes may vary: one CA may accept a particular set of documents, while another may find it excessive or insufficient. This is not a violation, but rather a feature of the flexible law enforcement approach embedded in the Indian legal system.

Therefore, when we refer to “a list of documents for company registration,” it should be understood as one of several possible options accepted in practice.

It is important to note that there is no universal list of documents. The required set depends on the applicant’s status and location. There are three main scenarios.

1. Resident of India who stays in India for more than 182 days, confirms this with documents, and holds a business visa.
2. Non-resident in India who present in India on a business visa but does not have resident status.
3. Applicant outside India. Registration is conducted remotely.

If a person is in India on another type of visa, such as a tourist visa, they must proceed as if they are outside the country. Not only physical presence but also the legal basis of stay does matter.

Now let us review the required documents for each founder and future director (if they are individuals).

The first document which is required during registration is Identity Proof. For foreign citizens who are not residents of India, this must be a passport. If the applicant is outside India, a scan of the main page with the photograph is sufficient. If the applicant is in India on a business visa, the page showing the latest entry stamp must also be provided.

For foreign citizens with resident status in India, it was previously sufficient to provide only an Aadhaar card. However, practice has changed. Registrars now often require a passport as well, using it to verify actual presence in India during the relevant period. The Aadhaar card alone does not confirm residential status.

Thus, while a resident may submit only an Aadhaar card, it is highly likely that an additional request for a passport including immigration stamps for the last one or two years will follow. To avoid delays, it is advisable to prepare both documents in advance.

The second document is Business Visa. Required for applicants submitting documents while physically present in India on this basis.

The third document is a proof of residential address in English. For residents, this must reflect an Indian address; for non-residents, an address in their country of permanent residence.

For foreign citizens, the most commonly accepted document is a bank statement. It must include both the address and recent transactions. Transactions are required not to assess financial standing, but to confirm that the account is active and the information is current. The statement must not be older than two months at the time of submission. Foreign citizens who are not residents of India provide a statement from a foreign bank account, which contains information about the address of residence abroad. Foreign citizens who have resident status provide a statement from an Indian bank, containing the address of residence in India.

An alternative for non-residents is a consular certificate issued by their country’s consulate.

In practice, a bank statement is usually more convenient and faster to obtain. It can be downloaded through online banking or a mobile application. However, there are exceptions. For example, if the applicant does not have a bank account in the country of residence that is a rare but possible situation. Much more often another problem occurs: a person has an account, but the bank does not provide a statement in the required format. This may be because of that the document does not contain both address and transactions at the same time, or the statement is available only in a national language.

The fourth document required from applicants who are future founders and directors of the company is a PAN card (Permanent Account Number).

In fact, the requirement to provide a PAN card at the stage of company registration is not explicitly set out in any legal act. However, in practice, the application form on the MCA Portal is designed in such a way that it is impossible to complete the application without entering a PAN number. Therefore, before starting the company registration process, all future founders and directors must obtain a PAN card, especially since it will in any case be required after registration when conducting business activities.

The fifth document is an Aadhaar card that is an identity proof required only for residents.

In addition, a passport format electronic photo of every founder is required.

Now let us move on to the documents required for the future company.

Before starting registration, documents confirming the legal address are required.

The first is a document containing information about the owner of the building or premises at the specified address. The most appropriate option is a utility bill issued in the name of the owner.

The main requirement for the utility bill intended for the legal address is that it must not be older than two months at the time of uploading the company registration application. It is equally important that both the owner’s name and the address are stated fully and correctly in the bill. In addition, the bill must be issued in English, which is not always the case in all cities and states. If the document does not meet these requirements, it is possible to request the service provider to issue a bill with the correct content. In practice, providers usually agree and issue the required document. Alternatively, a more suitable bill may be selected from another service provider, for example, a water bill instead of an electricity bill.

The second document is a Letter of No Objection (NOC). This is a short letter from the owner confirming consent to use the premises as an office. The only essential element of this letter is a statement that the owner does not object to the use of the property as the registered office of a specific company at the specified address. We prepare such letters for applicants based on a standard template.

The remaining company documents are prepared by us after the registration process has begun. Their structure and the main part of their content are established by legal provisions. Only personal data, addresses, and information specific to the company are changed. The only section drafted individually each time is the description of the company’s activities, based on the intentions of the founders. Below is the list of these documents.

1. Memorandum of Association (MoA).
2. Articles of Association (AoA).
3. Founders’ declaration in Form INC-9.
4. Directors’ declaration in Form DIR-2.
5. Sgnature specimen card for registration in the EPF pension fund as an employer.

How should company documents and copies of personal documents be certified?

The law directly requires notarization and apostille only when the founders are outside India, sign documents there, and present their identity documents there.

However, in recent years, officers handling company registration have often required notarized copies even in cases where documents are prepared and submitted within India. Such requirements fall within their authority.

Therefore, at present, the most reasonable approach is to prepare the entire set of documents with notarization in India in advance. This is not a complicated procedure, does not take much time, and does not involve significant expenses, but it helps to avoid delays and additional requests from the registrar.

At the same time, along with collecting and preparing documents, electronic signatures (DSC) are issued for future directors. These are required for signing electronic documents during company registration, including the application itself. In India, certification authorities conduct identity verification remotely, usually via video communication. The cost of obtaining an electronic signature for non-residents has increased significantly in recent years and is currently about 150 US dollars.

When preparing documents for the future company, its name is included into their text, which adds further complexity to the process. The reason is that in India, great importance is attached to the company name. The name functions as a unique identifier across the entire country and must not coincide with, or be too similar to, the name of an already registered company.

Approval of the company name is carried out by the registration authority, and written approval must be obtained in advance. This procedure constitutes the first of two stages of registration and is completed before drafting the incorporation documents, in order to avoid repeated preparation and submission in case of refusal.

Obtaining name approval independently is difficult, as it requires not only excluding direct matches but also taking into account similarity criteria used by the registrar. In other words, practical experience is required. The approval process may take from 2-3 days up to two weeks, depending on the workload of the authority and on its fulfillment of KPI for so-called scrutiny — simply speaking, for rejections.

All prepared documents must be scanned in good quality so that the text is clearly readable. Special attention should be paid to scanning utility bills and other documents printed using low-quality equipment.

After scanning, the entire set of documents is sent to us for review. The registration application, together with the documents, is then uploaded to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs portal by a professional from our team, along with their mandatory declaration. After that, it remains only to wait for the result: the issuance of Director Identification Numbers (DIN), the Certificate of Incorporation, and the company’s PAN and TAN numbers. Once these are received, it is important not to delay the completion of several mandatory actions that must be carried out within the prescribed timeframes after registration.

In conclusion, everything comes down to a simple principle: the better you understand the process and the more carefully the document package is prepared, the less time, money, and effort you will spend.

Interaction with the Indian bureaucratic system cannot be described as particularly pleasant. However, if your goal is to establish a successfully growing business in India, the resources invested in registration will certainly be justified.