12 easy steps to start your business/Company!

Starting your own business is very exciting & has its own benefits!

Please bear in my mind that these are standard procedures and are applicable in most cities in India, however, some in some cities there are some additional (or lack of) processes that you will have to find out.

The steps given below are for incorporating a Business 

Steps involved in starting business in India

Registration Requirements:

No:	Procedure	Time to complete:	Cost to complete:
1	Obtain director identification number (DIN) online from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs portal (National)	1 day	INR 100
2	Obtain digital signature certificate online from private agency authorized by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (National)	3 days	INR 1,500
3	Reserve the company name online with the Registrar of Companies (ROC) (National)	2 days	INR 500
4	Stamp the company documents at the State Treasury (State) or authorized bank (Private)	1 day	INR 1,300 (INR 200 for MOA + INR 1,000 for AOA for every INR 500,000 of share capital or part thereof + INR 100 for stamp paper for declaration Form 1)
5	Get the Certificate of Incorporation from the Registrar of Companies, Ministry of Corporate Affairs (National)	5 days	INR 14,133 (see comments)
6	Make a seal (Private)	1 day	INR 350 (cost depends on the number of seals required and the time period for delivery)
7*	Obtain a Permanent Account Number (PAN) from an authorized franchise or agent appointed by the National Securities Depository Ltd. (NSDL) or the Unit Trust of India (UTI) Investors Services Ltd., as outsourced by the Income Tax Department (National)	7 days	INR 67 (INR 60 application fee + 12.36% service tax + INR 5 for application form, if not downloaded)
8*	Obtain a Tax Account Number (TAN) for income taxes deducted at source from the Assessing Office in the Mumbai Income Tax Department	7 days	INR 57 (INR 50 application fee + 12.36% service tax)
9*	Register with the Office of Inspector, Shops, and Establishment Act (State/Municipal)	2 days	INR 6,500 (INR 2000 + 3 times registration fee for trade refuse charges)
10*	Register for Value-Added Tax (VAT) at the Commercial Tax Office (State)	12 days	INR 5,100 (registration fee INR 5000 + stamp duty INR 100)
11*	Register for Profession Tax at the Profession Tax Office (State)	2 days	No cost
12*	Register with Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (National)	12 days	No cost
13*	Register for medical insurance at the regional office of the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (National)	9 days	No cost

* Takes place simultaneously with another procedure.

Detailed Steps and Explanation of procedure to start Business in India

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Procedure 1.

Obtain director identification number (DIN) online from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs portal (National)

Time to complete: 1 day

Cost to complete: INR 100

Procedure:The process to obtain the Director Identification Number (DIN) is as follows:

1. Obtain the provisional DIN by filing application Form DIN-1 online. This form is on the Ministry of Corporate Affairs 21st Century (MCA 21) portal. The provisional DIN is immediately issued.
The application form must then be printed and signed and sent for approval to the ministry by courier along with proof of identity and (address):
a. Identity proof (any of the following): Permanent Account Number card, driver’s license, passport, or voter card;
b. Residence proof (any of the following): driver’s license, passport, voter card, telephone bill, ration card, electricity bill, bank statement;
2. The concerned authority verifies all the documents and, upon approval, issues a permanent DIN. The process takes about 4 weeks.

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Procedure 2.

Obtain digital signature certificate online from private agency authorized by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (National)

Time to complete: 3 days

Cost to complete: INR 1,500

Procedure: To use the new electronic filing system under MCA 21, the applicant must obtain a Class-II Digital Signature Certificate. The digital signature certificate can be obtained from one of six private agencies authorized by MCA 21 such as Tata Consultancy Services. Company directors submit the prescribed application form along with proof of identity and address. Each agency has its own fee structure, ranging from INR 400 to INR 2650.

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Procedure 3.

Reserve the company name online with the Registrar of Companies (ROC) (National)

Time to complete: 2 days

Cost to complete: INR 500

Procedure: Company name approval must be done electronically. Under e-filing for name approval, the applicant can check the availability of the desired company name on the MCA 21 web site.

The ROC in Mumbai has staff members working full time on name reservations (approximately 3 but more if the demand increases). A maximum of 6 suggested names may be submitted. They are then checked by ROC staff for any similarities with all other names in India.

The MCA receives approximately 50-60 applications a day. After being cleared by the junior officer, the name requests are sent to the senior officer for approval.

Once approved, the selected name appears on the website. Applicants need to keep consulting the website to confirm that one of their submitted names was approved.

In practice, it takes 2 days for obtaining a clearance of the name if the proposed name is available and conforms to the naming standards established by the Company Act (1 day for submission of the name and 1 day for it to appear on the MCA website).

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Procedure 4.

Stamp the company documents at the State Treasury (State) or authorized bank (Private)

Time to complete: 1 day

Cost to complete: INR 1,300 (INR 200 for MOA + INR 1,000 for AOA for every INR 500,000 of share capital or part thereof + INR 100 for stamp paper for declaration Form 1)

Procedure: The request for stamping the incorporation documents should be accompanied by unsigned copies of the Memorandum and Articles of Association, and the payment receipt.

The company must ensure that the copies submitted to the Superintendent of Stamps or to the authorized bank for stamping are unsigned and that no promoter or subscriber has written anything on it by hand. The Superintendent returns the copies, one of which is duly stamped, signed, and embossed, showing payment of the requisite stamp duty. The rate of stamp duty varies from state to state.

According to Article 10 and Article 39 of the Indian Stamp Act (1899), the stamp duty payable on the Memorandum and Articles of Association for company incorporation in Mumbai, Maharashtra, is as follows:

a. Articles of Association: INR 1000/- for every INR 500,000/- of share capital (or part thereof), subject to a maximum of INR 50,000,000;

b. Memorandum of Association: INR 200;

c. Form-1 (declaration of compliance): INR 100.

Once the memorandum and articles of association have been stamped, they must be signed and dated by the company promoters, including the company name and the description of its activities and purpose, father-“s name, address, occupation, and the number of shares subscribed. This information must be in the applicant’s handwriting and duly witnessed.

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Procedure 5.

Get the Certificate of Incorporation from the Registrar of Companies, Ministry of Corporate Affairs (National)

Time to complete: 5 days

Cost to complete: INR 14,133 (see comments)

Procedure: The following forms are required to be electronically filed on the website of the Ministry of Company Affairs:

e-form 1; e-form 18; and e-form 32. 

Along with these documents, scanned copies of the consent of the initial directors, and also of the signed and stamped form of the Memorandum and Articles of Association, must be attached to Form 1.

The fees for registering a company can be paid online by credit card or in cash at certain authorized banks. One copy of the Memorandum of Association, Articles of Association, Form 1, Form 32, Form 18 and the original name approval letter, consent of directors and stamped power of attorney must be physically submitted to the Registrar of Companies.

 The certificate of incorporation is sent automatically to the registered office of the company by registered or rush mail.

The registration fees paid to the Registrar are scaled according to the company’s authorized capital (as stated in its memorandum):

a. INR 100,000 or less: INR 4,000. If the nominal share capital is over INR 100,000, additional fees based the amount of nominal capital apply to the base registration fee of INR 4,000:

b. For every INR 10,000 of nominal share capital or part of INR 10,000 after the first INR 1,00,000, up to INR 500,000: INR 300;

c. For every INR 10,000 of nominal share capital or part of INR 10,000 after the first INR 500,000, up to INR 5,000,000: INR 200;

d. For every INR 10,000 of nominal share capital or part of INR 10,000 after the first INR 5,000,000, up to INR 1 10,000,000: INR 100;

e. For every INR 10,000 of nominal share capital or part of INR 10,000 after the first INR 10,000,000: INR 50.

The payment of fees can be made:

1. offline: one can upload all incorporation documents and generate the payment challan. Against this challan, the applicant must obtain a demand draft for filing fees amount in favour of -” the Pay and Accounts Office, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, New Delhi” and this demand draft is payable in Mumbai. The applicant must make the payment at specified branches of certain banks. It takes around one week for clearance of payment. Only after the clearance of payment does the ROC accept the documents for verification and approvals;

2. online: the applicant makes the payment by credit card and the system accepts the documents immediately. Please note that in Mumbai, the ROC requests for pre-scrutiny of documents for any corrections, before they are uploaded. Once the documents have been uploaded, they can then be approved without any further correction. The online filing mechanism requires only one copy of scanned documents to be filed (including stamped MOA, AOA, and POA).

Schedule of Registrar filing fees for the articles and for the other forms (l, 18, and 32):
a. INR 200 for a company with authorized share capital of more than INR 100,000 but less than INR 500,000;
b. INR 300 for a company with nominal share capital of INR 500,000 or more but less than INR 2,500,000;
c.INR 500 for a company with nominal share capital of INR 2,500,000 or more

Source: trak.in website

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