Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India has, during the past one year, taken a number of steps, and is in the process of further streamlining processes and the regulatory framework, to reduce the overall time taken for incorporating of a company as a part of ‘ease-of-doing business’ effort of the Ministry. The introduction of an integrated incorporation Form INC29 and tighter monitoring of Registrar of Companies’ (ROCs’) performance has resulted in faster approvals and lesser number of clarifications being asked from the stakeholders. The Ministry will soon introduce a new version of Form INC29 incorporating suggestions received from the stakeholders allowing up to 5 directors to be appointed and greater flexibility in proposing a name for a company. This will allow an even more wider use of this integrated Form, which is already gaining in popularity. The rules with regard to reserving and approving of names for companies are also being simplified, and a centralized new process will be introduced soon for strictly time bound approval of names for companies.

As a result of many steps taken by the Ministry, the average number of days taken for incorporation of a company has come down significantly from 9.57 days in December 2014 to 4.51 days in November 2015. It is targeting that the average number of days would be further reduced to one to two days for approval in normal cases. The Ministry would welcome feedback from companies and professionals to countercheck the system introduced.

Company incorporation processing time reduced; new Form INC29 to permit multiple directors and greater flexibility in name proposals. The Ministry has streamlined incorporation procedures by adopting an integrated mechanism and tighter Registrar monitoring, and will issue a revised Form INC29 to permit appointment of multiple directors and greater flexibility in company name proposals, alongside simplified name reservation rules and a centralized time-bound approval process.