Company registration cost in India — what it actually adds up to.

What you're actually paying for

Company registration cost has three components, and founders often only budget for one. Understanding all three avoids an unpleasant surprise mid-process.

• Government fees — MCA filing fees, stamp duty (which varies by state and authorised capital), and name-reservation fees. These are fixed by regulation, not negotiable.
• Professional fees — what you pay a CA, CS or registration provider to prepare and file everything correctly. This is where providers differ most.
• Post-incorporation costs — DSC issuance, PAN/TAN (usually bundled), and the first year's compliance retainer, which most founders forget to factor in until it arrives as a surprise bill.

The registration cost, line by line

Rather than a single figure, it helps to see the individual items that make up the total. Some are fixed and nominal, some scale with your choices, and one — the professional fee — is where providers differ most. Here's what each line is, and what drives its size.

Two things to notice. First, most of the government-side items are either fixed and small, or driven by your authorised capital and state — not by the provider. Second, the professional fee is the one genuinely variable line, which is why comparing providers on price alone (without checking what's actually included) is misleading.

Indicative cost by entity type

As a directional guide — always confirm with an itemised quote, since state stamp duty and authorised capital shift the number:

• Sole Proprietorship — the lowest cost route; mainly GST/MSME registration fees, no MCA incorporation cost at all.
• Partnership Firm — low cost; deed drafting, stamp duty on the deed, and optional Registrar of Firms filing.
• OPC and LLP — moderate; MCA fees plus professional fees, generally lower than a Pvt Ltd due to lighter drafting.
• Private Limited — the highest of the standard structures, reflecting more extensive MoA/AoA drafting and higher stamp duty on authorised capital.
• Section 8 Company — higher than a standard Pvt Ltd due to the Central Government licence application step.

How authorised capital and your state change the number

If two founders register the same type of company and pay different amounts, the difference almost always comes down to these two factors — not the provider.

Authorised capital

Authorised capital is the maximum value of shares your company is allowed to issue. It's not money you have to put in — it's a ceiling. But because stamp duty and part of the MCA fee scale with it, setting it high "to look credible" simply raises your cost with no real early benefit.

• Start modest — a practical authorised capital keeps stamp duty and filing fees down at incorporation.
• Increase it later — raising authorised capital when you actually need it (say, ahead of a funding round) is a straightforward, inexpensive filing.
• Paid-up capital is separate — there's no minimum paid-up capital, so you can start with as little as ₹1 actually invested.

Your state

Stamp duty on incorporation documents is levied by each state, and the rate differs — sometimes significantly — between states like Karnataka, Maharashtra, Delhi and others. This is why a genuinely honest quote asks where your registered office will be before giving you a number, rather than publishing one flat figure for all of India.

• Same structure, different states — two identical Pvt Ltd companies can cost different amounts purely due to state stamp duty.
• It's fixed by the state — no provider can discount this portion; the honest thing is to show it transparently.

Costs founders forget to budget for

• Stamp duty on higher authorised capital — if you set your authorised capital high "just in case", stamp duty rises with it, often unnecessarily.
• The first year of compliance — ROC filings, statutory audit, GST/TDS returns don't stop after incorporation; see our compliance service for what this typically runs.
• Trademark registration — a separate cost from company name approval, worth budgeting for if your brand matters.
• Bank account and initial accounting setup — usually modest, but easy to overlook when budgeting only for "incorporation".

Where founders overpay — and where not to cut corners

The two most common ways founders overspend: setting authorised capital far higher than needed (which raises stamp duty for no real benefit early on), and paying for "packages" that bundle services you don't need yet. The two places we'd never recommend cutting corners: MoA/AoA drafting — generic templates cause problems at fundraising — and getting a qualified CA to actually review your filing, rather than a purely automated service with no professional sign-off.

Frequently asked questions