How to Register a Company in India: Step-by-Step Guide (2026)

Every new company in India is now incorporated through a single route — SPICe+ on the Ministry of Corporate Affairs' V3 portal. For a foreign investor, the process is straightforward once you know the sequence. Here is exactly what happens, step by step, for a Wholly Owned Subsidiary.

Before you start: confirm your structure and route

Most foreign investors incorporate a Wholly Owned Subsidiary rather than a Branch, Liaison or Project Office, since it is a separate Indian company that is taxed domestically and gives full operational control. Before filing anything, confirm the sectoral FDI position for your specific business activity — whether it falls under the automatic route (no prior approval, the default for most sectors) or requires government approval first — since this determines both your timeline and your documentation.

Step 1: Digital Signature Certificates (DSC)

Every proposed director and subscriber needs a Digital Signature Certificate to sign the incorporation filings electronically. For foreign directors, this typically means completing identity verification remotely with a licensed certifying authority — it is usually the first document in the pipeline because nothing else can be digitally filed without it.

Step 2: Name reservation — SPICe+ Part A

SPICe+ (Simplified Proforma for Incorporating Company Electronically Plus) is filed in two parts. Part A reserves your company name, checked against Ministry of Corporate Affairs naming guidelines for availability and compliance. With no objections raised, name approval typically takes 1 to 3 working days.

Step 3: Prepare and apostille director and shareholder documents

In parallel with name reservation, the required documents for foreign directors and shareholders — identification, proof of address, board resolutions, powers of attorney — need to be notarised and apostilled in your home country if it is a member of the Hague Apostille Convention (most are; embassy legalisation applies only for non-member countries). This step, done through your own country's authorities, is usually the single biggest source of delay, since it depends on a process outside India entirely. Starting it as early as possible, in parallel with the MCA filings, is the most reliable way to keep the overall timeline short.

Step 4: Incorporation filing — SPICe+ Part B

Part B is the substantive incorporation filing: the Memorandum and Articles of Association, director and subscriber details, and registered office proof, submitted along with linked forms — AGILE-PRO-S and INC-9 — that bundle in applications for PAN, TAN, GST registration, EPFO and ESIC in the same filing. The form must be digitally certified by a practising Chartered Accountant, Company Secretary, Cost Accountant or Advocate, who verifies the documents and contents before it is submitted. With documents in order, Part B typically takes 3 to 7 working days to process.

Step 5: Certificate of Incorporation

Once the Registrar of Companies is satisfied, your Certificate of Incorporation is issued — most companies receive it within 7 to 10 working days of filing Part B, when documentation is complete and correct. PAN and TAN are issued alongside it, since they are bundled into the same SPICe+ filing.

Step 6: Bank account and receiving foreign investment

With the Certificate of Incorporation, PAN and registered office in place, you can open a corporate bank account and bring in your foreign investment. Shares issued to a non-resident investor need to be priced in line with RBI's prescribed valuation methodology, typically via a SEBI-registered merchant banker or Chartered Accountant.

Step 7: FEMA reporting — do not miss this deadline

Once shares are allotted to the foreign investor, Form FC-GPR must be filed with the RBI through the FIRMS portal within 30 days. This is one of the most commonly missed post-incorporation steps, since it falls after the excitement of incorporation itself — but it is a hard regulatory deadline, not a formality.

How long does the whole process actually take?

Adding it up: name reservation (1–3 working days) plus incorporation filing (3–7 working days) gives a Certificate of Incorporation within roughly 7 to 10 working days of a clean SPICe+ Part B filing. In practice, most foreign-promoted companies complete the full process — including apostille and document preparation before filing even begins — within 2 to 3 weeks, since apostille turnaround in your home country is usually what determines the real-world timeline, not MCA processing itself.

Common mistakes that add weeks to the timeline

Starting apostille too late. Since this step runs through your home country's authorities, not India's, it cannot be expedited from the Indian side once it is underway — start it the moment you have decided to incorporate, not after your name is approved.

Naming conflicts. A proposed name too similar to an existing company, trademark, or one that requires additional government approval (certain words are restricted) sends Part A back for revision. Checking availability properly before filing avoids this.

Missing the resident director requirement. Every Indian company needs at least one director resident in India for 182 days or more in the financial year, under Section 149(3) of the Companies Act — easy to overlook if your entire board is based overseas. See our complete guide to the resident director requirement for how foreign companies typically satisfy it.

FAQs: registering a company in India