When you are looking to ink an agreement with a corporation, it is only imperative for you to do a background check. As a business owner, you need to have the due diligence in examining your potential partner in a venture.
You have to make sure that your potential partner in business is representing itself honestly, fairly, and legally. This is to avoid sealing a partnership agreement with fraudsters.
One way of knowing the background of your potential partner is learning how to check if company is incorporated in a legitimate manner. Remember that incorporation is a tedious but legal process of making the company a separate legal entity.
Knowing the Ministry of Corporate Affairs
But how do you make sure that the company is incorporated already? You have to check the database of the primary agency responsible for regulating all the corporate affairs in India.
In India, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs is the agency in-charge of monitoring all the companies. The ministry is acting in accordance with the Companies Act of 2013, the Companies Act 1956, the Limited Liability Partnership Act 2008 and other allied Acts and rules and regulations for the corporate sector.
So, it only makes sense that the Ministry of Corporate Affairs has knowledge of all formation and incorporation of a company in India.
It is also the duty of the Ministry of Corporate affairs to protect the interest of investors while offering necessary services to stakeholders.
Steps on How to Check if Company is Incorporated
The Ministry of Affairs has an online portal that can be accessed by everyone, thanks to technology. You can check in the digital database the company registration number, type of company, date of incorporation, and name of the company directors, among others. You can also inspect the balance sheets and other important filings of the company.
Here is the step-by-step procedure on how to check if company is incorporated:
- Visit the website of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
- When the page loads, hover your mouse pointer on the “MCA Services” tab. A drop-down box will appear after. Then, click on the “View Company/LLP Master Data” option.
- Type the companies’ corporate identity number. You will be asked to accomplish a captcha code. After doing that, click on “Submit.”
- On the other hand, you can also look for the corporate identity number by setting the search feature at “Company/LLP Name” field.
Other Things You Might Want to Know
When you are searching for information about companies, you will stumble upon different terminologies. It is best for you to get acquainted with them, so you’ll know them when you encounter the words. Here some of the examples:
- Director identification number. It is the unique identification number assigned to the director of a company. It can be obtained by submitting electronic firms during the company incorporation.
- Digital signature certificate. It is required to be attached in every document submitted during company registration and incorporation. It ensures the authenticity of the files uploaded via digital platforms.
- Authorized capital. It refers to the maximum amount of stocks that a company is permitted to issue to the shareholders.
- Paid-up capital. It refers to the sum of money the shareholders paid to the company in exchange of stocks.
There are more terms that you should know. These are just some of the basic business jargon that you will encounter.
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