Private Limited Company Registration Fees and Cost in India

Quick answer

For authorised capital up to ₹15,00,000 the MCA form fee is nil. What you actually pay is state stamp duty on the memorandum and articles, which on MCA's published rates runs from ₹41 to ₹10,025 for a small company, plus ₹66 for PAN and ₹65 for TAN, plus DSCs at actuals, plus your professional's fee. There is no single national price, and anyone quoting one is rounding.

"How much to register a Pvt Ltd company?" is one of the first questions every founder asks. The honest answer: it's a few components, only one of which is fixed — so beware any single all-in number.

Who this guide is for

You are budgeting an incorporation and you have three quotes that disagree. This guide gives you the government's own numbers so you can work out which parts of those quotes are real charges, which are markups, and which are the same money described differently.

Everything below separates government charges from professional fees. That distinction is the whole point. Government charges are the same whoever files for you. Professional fees are not.

The cost components

• Professional fee (from ₹2,899 + GST): name approval, DSC/DIN, SPICe+ filing, MOA/AOA, PAN/TAN.
• Government (MCA) fees: scale with authorised capital; often low or nil at minimal capital.
• Stamp duty: charged by the state on the MOA/AOA, and it varies a lot — this is the biggest swing factor.
• DSC: one Digital Signature Certificate per director.
• PAN & TAN: nominal, issued with incorporation.

Now each of those, with the actual figures and where they come from.

Start with the government's own itemisation

There is a shortcut to understanding incorporation cost that almost nobody uses: read MCA's own challan.

When SPICe+ is filed, MCA generates a single consolidated challan. Its heads are:

1. the fee for the SPICe+ form itself
2. the MoA fee
3. the AoA fee
4. PAN
5. TAN
6. the URC-1 fee, where an existing firm or LLP is converting

That is the government's complete list of what it charges you at incorporation. Anything on a quote that is not one of those six, and is not a Digital Signature Certificate or your professional's fee, deserves a question.

Component 1 — the MCA form fee, and why it is usually zero

This is the figure most cost pages get wrong, either by inventing a number or by leaving it out entirely.

For a company incorporated with authorised capital up to ₹15,00,000, the MCA form fee is nil.

MCA says so twice, in its own words. Its ease-of-doing-business page records that notification G.S.R. 180(E) dated 6 March 2019 amended rule 38(2) of the Companies (Incorporation) Rules, 2014, and that with that notification "zero fee is to be charged by MCA for all incorporations with authorized capital up to INR 15,00,000". Its SPICe+ FAQ puts it from the filer's side: companies incorporated through SPICe+ with authorised capital up to ₹15,00,000 continue to enjoy the zero filing fee concession, and such companies "will be levied with only stamp duty fees as may be applicable on state to state basis".

Read that second sentence carefully, because it is the whole architecture of this article. For the overwhelming majority of new Indian companies, the only government charge at incorporation is state stamp duty plus about ₹131 for PAN and TAN.

Above the threshold

Once authorised capital exceeds ₹15,00,000, a registration fee applies, built from the Table of Fees annexed to the Companies (Registration Offices and Fees) Rules, 2014:

We deliberately do not publish a computed rupee figure for a specific capital above the threshold. The concession and the slab table sit in two different instruments, and the interaction is exactly the kind of thing that changes by notification. If your authorised capital will exceed ₹15,00,000, have the number confirmed against MCA's own fee enquiry service before you budget it.

Component 2 — stamp duty, the item that actually decides your bill

Stamp duty is charged by the state on the incorporation form, the memorandum and the articles. It is levied under the Stamp Act of the state or union territory where your registered office sits, and collected electronically through MCA21 when you file.

It is not an MCA charge, it is not uniform, and it is not small relative to everything else. For a company below the ₹15 lakh threshold it is essentially the entire government cost.

The state-by-state matrix

These are MCA's published rates for a company having share capital, other than a section 8 company. Amounts in rupees.

Three honest caveats, because a table like this is only useful if you know how far to trust it.

First, on currency. This is MCA's consolidated table, published on the MCA21 portal. Its content was unchanged across every archived capture through 2024, the last of which is 26 September 2024, and the URL that hosted it now redirects following the retirement of the V2 portal. No V3 replacement for the consolidated table has been published. Treat these as MCA's published rates, not as today's live quote.

Second, MCA says the same thing. Its own disclaimer on that document asks users to refer to the relevant Stamp Act or Rules of the concerned State or Union Territory for the authentic version, and disclaims responsibility for any discrepancy. Stamp duty is state law; MCA is a collector, not the legislator.

Third, the binding number is the one the portal computes. SPICe+ calculates the stamp duty at filing, based on the state and the authorised capital you enter. Use the table to budget and to compare states. Use the portal for the number you actually pay.

Sikkim and Ladakh do not appear in MCA's table. We have not filled those gaps with an estimate — check the state's own Stamp Act.

Section 8 companies pay nil memorandum and articles stamp duty in most states listed, which is one of the few genuine cost advantages of that structure.

What the matrix means in money

Adding the three columns for a company with ₹1,00,000 authorised capital, and again at ₹10,00,000:

At ₹1,00,000 authorised capital the range is ₹41 to ₹10,025 — a spread of more than 240 times, for identical paperwork. At ₹10,00,000 it widens to ₹41 to ₹15,025.

Two patterns are worth pulling out of that table, because they change what you should do.

Some states charge a flat amount, others charge a percentage. Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and most of the north-east barely move between ₹1 lakh and ₹10 lakh of authorised capital. Delhi, Gujarat and Rajasthan move a lot. If you are in a percentage state, "let's set authorised capital at ₹10 lakh for headroom" is a real bill, not a free option. If you are in a flat state, it genuinely is free.

A high fixed floor hurts small companies most. Punjab charges ₹5,000 on the memorandum before anything else happens, and Madhya Pradesh ₹2,500 with a ₹5,000 minimum on the articles. Those are the two states where a bootstrapped incorporation costs meaningfully more than elsewhere, regardless of how small you start.

Component 3 — name reservation, and how to not pay it

Reserving a name through SPICe+ Part A filed separately costs ₹1,000. That is an application fee under section 4(4) of the Companies Act, 2013, and it appears in the Table of Fees.

But if you file Part A and Part B together as a single application, no separate name-reservation fee arises. MCA's own FAQ frames it that way: the ₹1,000 is charged "if Company attempts to first reserve the name of the proposed company by separately filing SPICe+ part A for name approval".

So it is an optional ₹1,000. What you buy for it is certainty: an approved name in hand before you invest effort in the rest of the filing. If your name is distinctive and you have already checked it against the company register and the trade mark register, file together and keep the money.

An approved name is valid for 20 days. Extending it costs:

If you are likely to need an extension, that is usually a sign the incorporation was started before the founders had agreed the capital structure. It is cheaper to agree the structure first. Company name approval covers the name process on its own.

Component 4 — DIN

Directors need a Director Identification Number. Through SPICe+, DIN is allotted to the first directors as part of incorporation, for up to three directors, at no separate charge.

A standalone DIN application in form DIR-3 costs ₹500, from the Table of Fees. You only reach that route if a director needs a DIN outside an incorporation — for example joining an existing company. For a fresh two-director incorporation, this line is zero.

Component 5 — PAN and TAN

PAN is ₹66. TAN is ₹65. Both from MCA's SPICe+ FAQ.

They are not billed separately: the consolidated challan generated when SPICe+ is filed includes them alongside the form, MoA and AoA fees. PAN and TAN are allotted by the Income Tax Department and printed on the certificate of incorporation, and MCA has clarified that the numbers on the certificate are themselves sufficient proof — there is no separate card to wait for before you can open a bank account or raise an invoice.

₹131 is a rounding error in an incorporation budget. It is in this article because a page about cost that omits it is not really a page about cost, and because it is one of the two or three items competitors most often invent a number for.

Component 6 — the Digital Signature Certificate

There is no government-fixed price for a DSC, and this article does not give you one.

A Digital Signature Certificate is issued by a Certifying Authority licensed under the Information Technology Act. It is a commercial product. Price varies by Certifying Authority, by certificate class, by validity term, and by whether a hardware token is included. No official price list exists to cite, so quoting a range here would be inventing precision we do not have.

What you can insist on is that it appears at actuals on your quote, one per director or subscriber who signs, rather than being folded into an all-in number. It is the single line item where providers differ most, which is exactly why it tends to disappear into the headline figure. If you need one on its own, we issue digital signature certificates as a standalone service.

Component 7 — the professional fee

Professional fees for a Private Limited Company typically start around ₹2,899 + GST. On top of that are government (MCA) fees (which scale with authorised capital), state stamp duty (which varies widely), DSCs for directors, and PAN/TAN. For a standard two-director company at small capital, the all-in cost often lands in a modest range, but stamp duty alone can change it materially by state.

The professional fee covers the work: checking the name against the register and the trade mark database, drafting the memorandum and articles to match your objects and capital structure, preparing and reviewing SPICe+ and every linked form, collecting and vetting the document set, and dealing with any resubmission.

It is the only number your provider controls. Everything else on this page is set by MCA, by a state legislature, or by a Certifying Authority. That is why it should be quoted on its own line.

Worked total for a two-director company

Assumptions, stated so you can change them:

• Private company limited by shares, not a section 8 company
• Two subscribers who are also the two directors, both Indian nationals, neither holding a DIN
• Authorised and subscribed capital ₹1,00,000
• SPICe+ Part A filed together with Part B, so no separate name-reservation fee
• Electronic eMoA and eAoA, not physical documents
• No resubmission
• DSC and professional fee excluded from the government subtotal and shown separately

Three observations that are hard to see any other way.

Stamp duty is almost the whole government bill. In Delhi it is ₹360 of ₹491 — 73%. In Punjab, ₹10,025 of ₹10,156 — 99%. Every other government line is either zero or a rounding error. Only in the very cheapest territories, such as Dadra and Nagar Haveli, does the ₹131 for PAN and TAN become the larger share.

The MCA fee — the thing everybody calls "government fees" — is zero. For any company below ₹15 lakh authorised capital, a quote line reading "MCA fees: ₹1,500" is not describing an MCA fee. It is either stamp duty mislabelled, or a markup.

The professional fee can be larger than every government charge combined, or a fraction of it, depending purely on your state. At ₹2,899, in Dadra and Nagar Haveli it is nearly seventeen times the government cost; in Punjab it is a little over a quarter of it. Any comparison of "all-in prices" between two providers in two states is comparing nothing.

The same company at ₹10,00,000 authorised capital

The MCA form fee is still nil at ₹10,00,000, because the threshold is ₹15,00,000. Everything in the "difference" column is state stamp duty. In Karnataka and West Bengal, a ten-fold increase in authorised capital costs nothing at all. In Gujarat and Rajasthan it costs ₹4,500. Model it on the company registration cost calculator before you fix the number in your memorandum.

Why there is no single fixed price

Only the professional fee is fixed by your provider. Because MCA fees depend on capital and stamp duty depends on your state, two identical companies can cost different amounts. That's why an itemised quote is more trustworthy than one headline figure.

Everything above is the arithmetic behind that sentence. The variables, in the order they matter:

1. Your state — a spread of more than 240 times on stamp duty at small capital
2. Your authorised capital — free to raise in some states, ₹500 per lakh in others
3. Whether you reserve the name separately — ₹1,000, and avoidable
4. How many DSCs you need — one per signing director or subscriber
5. Whether your documents are clean — a resubmission costs days, and days cost money
6. Your entity type — a section 8 company pays nil MoA and AoA stamp duty in most states

Don't forget recurring costs

Incorporation is one-time; compliance is forever. Budget for the auditor, annual MCA filings (AOC-4, MGT-7), director KYC and accounting. These ongoing costs are often larger than the incorporation itself over a year.

Here is the statutory side of that, with the actual numbers.

Filing fees are set by nominal share capital and are the same for most forms:

So a small company's mandatory ROC filings in year one — INC-20A, ADT-1, AOC-4, MGT-7A — cost roughly ₹800 to ₹1,200 in government fees. That is not the expensive part.

The expensive part is audit and accounting. A private limited company has no audit exemption: a statutory auditor must be appointed within 30 days of incorporation under section 139(6), and the accounts are audited every year regardless of turnover. That single obligation is the main recurring cost difference against an LLP, which is only audited once turnover exceeds ₹40 lakh or contribution exceeds ₹25 lakh.

Director KYC is free if you are on time. DIR-3 KYC filed on or before 30 September carries no fee. If the DIN is deactivated for non-filing, reactivating it costs ₹5,000.

Late filing is where budgets actually break. These are statutory penalties, not fees:

Note that these are two separate charges. The statutory penalty under the Act, and MCA's additional filing fee on the form. A late annual filing attracts both.

A ₹300 form that arrives six months late is not a ₹300 problem. Our post-incorporation compliance service exists mostly to make sure that never happens, and the company compliance checklist sets out the full annual cycle.

Private limited vs LLP vs OPC, on cost

Slightly, both to set up and to maintain, an LLP is cheaper — but the gap on day one is small and the gap over three years is not. The audit line is where it lives. A Pvt Ltd is funding- and ESOP-friendly, which is why most startups choose it anyway. LLP registration sets out the LLP numbers in full, and the private limited vs LLP guide works through the non-cost trade-offs.

Common mistakes

• Comparing only all-in prices that hide government charges
• Ignoring state stamp-duty differences
• Choosing a structure on price alone instead of fit
• Forgetting recurring annual compliance costs
• Believing "government fees" means the MCA form fee, when below ₹15 lakh authorised capital that fee is zero and what you are being charged is stamp duty
• Setting a high authorised capital in a percentage state without checking what it costs
• Paying ₹1,000 to reserve a name separately when filing Part A and Part B together would have cost nothing
• Accepting a DSC folded into an all-in price rather than at actuals
• Budgeting incorporation and forgetting the audit that starts in year one

What a trustworthy quote looks like

Ask for an itemised quote — professional fee, MCA fee, stamp duty, DSC and PAN/TAN shown separately. That's how you know the real cost.

Specifically, ask for:

If a provider will not break it down, the question to ask is not "why is it expensive" but "which of these are you marking up". Our own quotes follow exactly the table above; see company registration cost for how we structure it, or start directly with private limited company registration.

For the mechanics behind every fee on this page — which form charges what, when, and what happens when it comes back — read the companion guide to the private limited company registration process.

Sources and currency

Applies to: Positions in force for FY 2026-27, India. MCA fees come from the Companies Act, 2013 and the rules made under it; stamp duty is state law and changes independently of MCA.

The MCA fee, name-reservation fee, PAN and TAN charges below were read from MCA's own published documents. The state stamp-duty table is MCA's consolidated table, whose last unchanged capture is 26 September 2024 and whose original URL now redirects — it is presented as MCA's published rates, not as a live quote, and MCA's own disclaimer asks users to refer to the Stamp Act of the relevant State or Union Territory for the authentic version. No figure is given for a Digital Signature Certificate, because there is no statutory rate to cite.

• MCA — Ease of Doing Business initiatives (zero fee up to ₹15,00,000 authorised capital; G.S.R. 180(E) dated 06.03.2019 amending rule 38(2))
• MCA — FAQs on Incorporation and Allied Matters (zero filing fee, PAN ₹66, TAN ₹65, consolidated challan)
• MCA — State wise stamp duty rules for the incorporation eForm, MoA and AoA
• MCA — Annexure, Table of Fees (Companies (Registration Offices and Fees) Rules, 2014)
• MCA — Instruction Kit for webform SPICe+ Part A (₹1,000 name reservation and extension fees)
• MCA — Instruction Kit for SPICe+ (INC-32)
• MCA — Instruction Kit for Form No. INC-20A (filing fee slabs and delay multiples)
• MCA — Instruction Kit for Form No. MGT-7 (₹100 per day additional fee)
• MCA — Instruction Kit for Form No. DIR-3-KYC (nil by 30 September, ₹5,000 thereafter)
• MCA — Details of Fee (Annexure A, LLP Rules, 2009)
• Companies Act, 2013 — s.92 (annual return penalty)
• Companies Act, 2013 — s.137 (financial statements penalty)
• Companies Act, 2013 — s.10A (commencement of business penalty)