In this blog post, B.P. Komal, a student of M.S. Ramaiah College of Law, Bangalore who is currently pursuing a  Diploma in Entrepreneurship Administration and Business Laws from NUJS, Kolkata writes about the procedure that needs to be followed in order to find the registered address of a company using the website of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. 

Introduction

A registered office is the official address of an incorporated company, association or any other legal entity. It will form part of the public record and is required in most countries where the registered organization or legal entity is incorporated. Under the UK corporate law, the legal address (which may not be the office address) of a firm that is entered in the official register of the registrar of companies, and to which all government and court communication are addressed. The location of this office must be within the jurisdiction in which the firm is registered, and any change in its address must be notified to the registrar within a specified period.

What is the Ministry of Corporate Affairs?

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) is an agency of the Indian Government Ministry^[1]. The Minister of Corporate Affairs^[2] is the head of this agency.   The Ministry is primarily concerned with administration of the Companies Act 2013 , the Companies Act 1956, the Limited Liability Partnership Act 2008, the Competition Act 2002, the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act 1969, The Chartered Accountants Act 1949 [As amended by the Chartered Accountants Amendment Act 2006] , the Company Secretaries Act, 1980 [As amended by The Company Secretaries Amendment Act 2006] , Cost and Works Accountants Act 1959 [As Amended By The Cost And Works Accountants Amendment Act 2006], Companies (Donation to National) Fund Act 1951, Serious Frauds Investigation Act, the Indian Partnership Act, 1932, and the Societies Registration Act 1860.

The Ministry is also responsible for administering and regulating the competition and companies to prevent practices having an adverse effect on competition in the economy and corporate field, to promote and sustain competition in markets, to protect the interests of consumers through the commission set up under the Indian Acts.  MCA’s function is to empower business and protect the investors. Further, it acts as a regulator, facilitator, educator and an integrator. The MCA contains all the master data of all the companies setup throughout India. This setup helps to minimize or eliminate scams and frauds such as The Satyam Scandal^[3] and others. The MCA website contains all the details of a company and provides several service options to its users. The website contains all the reports and data such as the LLP^[4] information and the company statics.

The MCA website contains the complete details of all the companies. In the MCA website, the companies are categorized, classified and then registered by the guidelines of the Ministry of Company Affairs. They have been categorized by the type of company, i.e. whether it is a private or a public company, governmental or non-governmental company. Further, it is sub-categorized by the registrar of companies.

How to find the registered address on the website?

The registered address of a company/ society/ association/ firm/ trust can be found on the Ministry of Corporate Affairs official web page^[5]. The registration of all the above should be in compliance with the respective Acts and rules as per the Indian laws. The following steps will enable us to find the registered address of a company and other such details on the MCA website.

Step 1: Access to the homepage of MCA website.
Step 2: Select the MCA SERVICES block. Under the MCA SERVICES block, there will be a list of other options displayed.
Step 3: Click “Master Data” option and choose “View Company/LLP Master data” option.
Step 4: The above steps will lead you to a page where the Company/LLP name is to be typed and the CIN/LLPIN LOOKUP will pop-up with search options^[6]

Step 5: On entering/ selecting the company name, the Company CIN/FCRN/LLPIN/FLLPIN will automatically appear. ^[7]
Step 6: Click “Submit” once the Company name and Company UID is filled. This will lead you to access all the registered information of the company including the details of the company’s registered address.

On following the above mentioned six steps carefully, one can access the registered address and other such details like the full name of the company, CIN, ROC code^[8], registration number, the company category, address, capital, status with MCA, incorporation date, etc. These basic details can also be printed.
Other documents and information such as the Signatory details, Index of Charges,
Director in charge number(DIN), partnership details and details about the company services can be accessed on the MCA website under the master data of a company. Also, the public agreements and reports/data of a company can be viewed on the website page.

How to alter the registered address of a Company?

The registered address of a company or any other registered details can be changed/modified at any point of time in order to update the company details for documentation and authentication, by the company owner or any other individual associated with the company who holds the confidential login details of that company on the MCA website can alter the registered address. The modification of the registered details excludes the details of those related to debentures.

To change the registered address, there are a few guidelines under the MCA website as per the Acts and statutes of India which have to to be followed. One of the first steps is to e-fill the CHG-1 Form^[9], Form 4 and Form 15 of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. In case the company it is a foreign company that has to change its details, it has to do an e-filing of Form FC-2 and Form FC-3^[10]. In case, e-filing is not practiced by a few companies, they can always download and print the form. The corrections are to be made in the modification/verification block and sent via speed post. According to the Companies Act of India, definition and guidelines relevant to the registration of a company are listed down which is in tern have to be adopted by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. A few important sections of the Companies Act regarding the registration of a company will be touched briefly in this article for the basic understanding of the concept of Registration of Companies enlisted in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs website.

Firstly, Section 367 of the Companies Act, 2003 which about the certificate of registration of existing companies – ‘On compliance with respect to registration, and on payment of such fees, if any, as are payable under Section 403, the Registrar shall certify under his hand that the company applying for registration is incorporated as a company under this Act, and in the case of a limited company that it is limited, and thereupon the company shall be so incorporated.’ Secondly, Section 201of the Companies Act which indicates about Forms of, and procedure in relation to, certain applications-  ‘a general notice to the members thereof, indicating the nature of the application proposed to be made; Such notice shall be published at least once in a newspaper in the principal language of the district in which the registered office of the company is situated and circulating in that district, and at least once in English in an English newspaper circulating in that district; The copies of the notices, together with a certificate by the company as to the due publication thereof, shall be attached to the application.’ Thirdly, Sections 7, 12 and 16 which deal with Incorporation of a Company, Registration of a Company office and Rectification of company details, respectively. All these Sections which are listed down in Chapter II of the Companies Act, 2003, are relevant to the incorporation of the company and any matter incidental thereto.

Conclusion

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs since its inception in India it has greatly aided the verification and authentication of companies in India. It has been a very helpful tool for users, the government, secretaries of various companies, the chartered accountants, students and the general public. It has helped in the adoption of the latest technology for the fulfillment of procedures which in turn has proved to be an efficient tool for the growth of a developing country like India and its economy. The MCA website has proved to be an educator, director, promoter, protector of all the corporate affairs in India.

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Footnotes:

^[1]Sovereign India.

^[2] The Union government ministry

^[3] Corporate Accounting Fraud Case –Satyam Computer Servicesscandal,2009

^[4]LLP- Limited Liability Partnership.

^[5]http://www.mca.gov.in/   – MCA web page.

^[6]CIN – Company Information number
LLPIN – Limited liability partnership in India.

^[7] FCRN- funds clarification reference number
FLLPIN- form for limited liability partnership in India.

^[8] ROC- Registrar of Companies

^[9] creation or modification of charge for other than debentures Form CHG-1

^[10] Creation or modification of charge for Foreign Companies