Corporate Identity Number introduced to uniquely identify companies by listing, industry, state, year, and ownership. Registrars of Companies must allocate a 21 character Corporate Identity Number (CIN) to each company registered on or after 1 November 2000; the CIN encodes listing status, a five digit NIC '98 industry code (or '00000' for diversified), a two letter State code, a four digit year of incorporation (YYYY), a three letter ownership code, and a six digit sequential RoC number, with no separators between components.