Incorporating a private limited company: the documents you will need

The incorporation form itself takes an afternoon. What stretches a one-week registration into a month is documents: name mismatches between PAN and Aadhaar, utility bills older than two months, missing NOCs. Here is the complete checklist we use, and the defects the Registrar's office rejects most often.

For every director and shareholder

For the registered office

Any address with proof works — including a residence. You need a utility bill (electricity, water or gas) not older than two months, plus a no-objection letter from the owner. If the premises are rented, add the rent agreement. The address goes on every statutory record, so choose one that will remain stable; changing a registered office later is a filing of its own.

Drafted during the filing

The memorandum and articles of association (MoA and AoA) are prepared electronically as part of SPICe+ — the substantive decision is the objects clause, which should describe your actual planned business plus sensible adjacent activities. Too narrow and you amend it in a year; absurdly wide and the name examiner queries it. Directors also sign DIR-2 (consent to act) and the professional certifying the form signs INC-8.

The defects that cause resubmission

Five account for nearly all rejections: a name spelling that differs between PAN and Aadhaar; utility bills older than two months at filing date; a director's address proof not in their own name (a spouse's bill, a parent's statement); photographs pasted into the PDF at poor resolution; and an NOC signed by someone other than the owner on the utility bill. Fixing any of these before filing costs a day; after a resubmission remark, a week.

After the certificate arrives

Keep the whole document set — you will need it again for the bank account, GST registration and the INC-20A commencement filing, all covered in our first-year compliance checklist. The full incorporation process, costs and timeline are in the 2026 registration guide.

Frequently asked questions

Can I register a company at my home address?

Yes. A residential address serves as a registered office with the same proofs: a recent utility bill and a no-objection letter from the owner of the premises.

How recent do the address proofs need to be?

Utility bills and bank statements must be no older than two months on the date of filing — the single most common rejection reason.

My name is spelt differently on PAN and Aadhaar. What do I do?

Correct one of them before filing — the PAN name is what the MCA validates against. Filing with mismatched names invites a resubmission remark.

Do foreign shareholders' documents need anything special?

Yes — documents executed abroad must be notarised and apostilled (Hague Convention countries) or consularised, which adds one to two weeks; see our NRI and foreign founder guide.