What this covers
Forming a private limited company, a one-person company, a public company or a limited liability partnership — from reserving the name to the certificate of incorporation and the filings that fall due straight after it. The decisions before filing are the substance of the work: which vehicle, how the capital is held, who the directors or designated partners are, where the registered office sits. We also finish what the certificate does not — constitutional documents, first auditor, commencement declaration, LLP agreement.
Statutory basis
For a company, sections 3 to 12 of the Companies Act, 2013 with the Companies (Incorporation) Rules, 2014. The application is SPICe+ — Part A reserves the name under section 4(4), Part B is Form INC-32, with the memorandum in INC-33 and articles in INC-34, AGILE-PRO-S in Form INC-35, and Form INC-9 for the declaration section 7(1)(c) requires. Permanent account number and tax deduction account number issue with it, under the Income-tax Act, 2025. For an LLP, sections 6, 7, 11 and 23 of the Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008 with the LLP Rules, 2009 — Form FiLLiP, and Form 3 for the agreement.
Who it applies to
Anyone needing limited liability and a separate legal person: a founder team that will raise capital, a business whose customers require a body corporate, a proprietor whose risk has outgrown his own name. A company carries board process, statutory registers and heavier filing, but is the only vehicle an equity investor can subscribe to; an LLP is lighter, and its profit share is not taxed again in the partners' hands. The usual trap is treating the certificate as the finish line: a company having share capital cannot commence business or borrow until Form INC-20A is filed, and that is true only once subscribers have actually paid their subscription money in.
What we do
- 1Clear the name against the Registrar's records and the trade marks register, since a proposed name that includes a registered mark can be refused without the proprietor's consent.
- 2Draft the objects for what the business will do in three years, since widening them later takes a members' resolution and a filing.
- 3Test each proposed director against the disqualifications in section 164, then obtain digital signatures and identification numbers.
- 4File the application with the memorandum, articles and declarations, and answer any resubmission query inside the period allowed.
- 5Close out what follows: Form INC-22 for the registered office, the first auditor under section 139(6), share certificates, Form INC-20A.
- 6For an LLP, file the agreement in Form 3 inside the period section 23 allows, or the First Schedule's default terms govern.
What you receive
- Constitution note
- A written comparison of the vehicles open to you, and why the one chosen fits.
- Certificate
- The certificate of incorporation, the corporate identity number, and the tax numbers issued with it.
- Constitutional documents
- Memorandum and articles as registered, or the executed and filed LLP agreement.
- Opening records
- First statutory registers, minutes of the first board meeting, and the filings now due.
Documents and information required
Permanent account number and Aadhaar of each subscriber and proposed director or designated partner · identity and address proof, passport for a foreign national · registered office proof — lease or title deed, the owner's no-objection, a recent utility bill · capital and shareholding · consent in Form DIR-2 · digital signature of the authorised subscriber.
Key dates
A reserved name lapses if the application is not filed inside its validity. After incorporation three clocks run: the registered office within thirty days under section 12, the first auditor within thirty days under section 139(6), and Form INC-20A within one hundred and eighty days for a company having share capital. An LLP agreement is due within thirty days. None is ordinarily extended, and the commencement declaration carries a penalty for every day it stays unfiled.