How to Incorporate a Company in India: A Founder’s Step by Step Guide

Registering a company in India used to mean a folder of forms and three trips to a filing agent. It is now one integrated web form on the Ministry of Corporate Affairs portal, called SPICe+, and it does far more than register the company.

Budget roughly ₹7,500 to ₹25,000 all in and 7 to 10 working days if your documents are clean. The spread is almost entirely state stamp duty and whatever your CA or company secretary charges.

Before you touch the form: what you need in hand

Step 1: Pick a name that will actually get approved

SPICe+ Part A is the name reservation. You submit up to two options and the Registrar comes back in one to three working days. An approved name is held for 20 days, and you must file Part B inside that window.

Rejections are almost always avoidable. Before you file, run your name through the MCA company search and also through the trademark register at IP India. A name that clashes with an existing trademark gets refused even if no company holds it. Avoid names that merely add a word to an existing company, and avoid anything implying government backing.

Step 2: SPICe+ Part B, the one form that does eight jobs

This is the actual incorporation filing, and it bundles things that used to be separate applications:

• Memorandum and Articles of Association, filed as linked forms
• Director Identification Numbers for up to three first directors, at no extra cost
• PAN and TAN for the company
• EPFO and ESIC registration
• Professional tax registration, in the states that levy it
• A bank account opening request
• GST registration, if you tick that box

A word on the GST tick box: only take it if you actually need GST now. Registration brings monthly returns whether or not you have revenue. You can add it any time later in a few minutes.

Step 3: Pay, and wait

The government fee is nil up to ₹15 lakh of authorised capital. What you do pay is state stamp duty, anywhere from ₹200 to about ₹12,600 depending on where the registered office sits, and your professional's fee. The Registrar typically approves in three to five working days once Part B is in.

What lands in your inbox: the Certificate of Incorporation carrying your CIN, plus the company PAN and TAN.

The four things to do straight after incorporation

This is where first time founders lose money, because the deadlines are short and the penalties are not.

1. Open the current account and put the capital in. Each shareholder pays for their shares from their own account. Do not let a director pay on behalf of another.
2. File INC-20A within 180 days. This is the declaration of commencement of business, and it needs proof that the subscription money is in the bank. Miss it and the company faces ₹50,000, with ₹1,000 a day on each director.
3. Appoint the first auditor within 30 days of incorporation, then file ADT-1. Every private limited company needs a statutory audit, whatever the turnover.
4. Issue share certificates within 60 days and pay stamp duty on them. Nobody thinks about this until a due diligence asks for it two years later.

Then get your DPIIT recognition

Once the CIN exists, apply for Startup India recognition on the DPIIT portal. It is free, it takes a couple of weeks and it is the gate to the three year profit deduction under section 80-IAC, which Budget 2025 extended to companies incorporated before 1 April 2030.

What it really costs, honestly

Add ₹40,000 to ₹1,50,000 a year afterwards for audit, filings and accounting. That recurring number surprises people far more than the incorporation cost does, so plan for it in your first budget.

Rules move with every Budget. Everything above reflects the position as of August 2026, but confirm the current fee and form position with your CA before you file.