Register a Pvt Ltd Company Online: Real Cost

Registering a private limited company in India is done almost entirely online through the SPICe+ form on the Ministry of Corporate Affairs portal. But the government filing fee is only one piece of the total bill. Between stamp duty, digital signatures, professional charges, and a few costs that founders routinely forget to budget for, the real cost of incorporation can vary quite a bit depending on your state, your authorised capital, and how many directors you have. Here is where the money actually goes.

Government Filing Fee: SPICe+ by Capital Slab

The SPICe+ form bundles company incorporation, PAN, TAN, and a few other registrations into a single filing. The Ministry of Corporate Affairs charges a fee that scales with your authorised share capital, not your paid-up capital. As a rough guide:

• Authorised capital up to 1 lakh rupees: around 500 rupees
• Authorised capital between 1 lakh and 5 lakh rupees: around 2,000 rupees
• Authorised capital between 5 lakh and 10 lakh rupees: around 5,000 rupees
• Higher authorised capital: progressively higher fee slabs apply

Most first-time founders start with a small authorised capital, such as 1 lakh or 5 lakh rupees, specifically to keep this fee low. You can always increase authorised capital later, though that comes with its own filing and fee.

Stamp Duty on MOA and AOA

Every private limited company needs a Memorandum of Association and Articles of Association, and these documents attract stamp duty. This is where costs vary the most, because stamp duty is a state subject in India. Depending on the state where your registered office is located and your authorised capital, stamp duty can range from roughly 1,300 rupees on the lower end to 10,000 rupees or more in states with higher rates. If you are incorporating with a low authorised capital in a state with modest stamp duty rates, this cost stays manageable. In states with higher rates, or with a larger authorised capital, this single line item can end up being one of the biggest costs in the entire process.

Digital Signature Certificate for Each Director

Nothing can be filed on the MCA portal without a Digital Signature Certificate, or DSC, for every proposed director. A DSC typically costs somewhere between 1,500 and 2,500 rupees per director, issued by a certifying authority and usually valid for one or two years. If your company has two or three directors, this cost multiplies accordingly, so a company with three directors could be looking at 4,500 to 7,500 rupees just for signatures before a single form is filed.

Professional Fees for a CA or CS

While it is technically possible to file SPICe+ yourself, most founders engage a CA or company secretary to prepare the memorandum, draft the articles, check name availability, and handle the filing correctly the first time. Professional fees for a straightforward incorporation commonly fall in the range of 3,000 to 8,000 rupees, though this depends on the provider, the complexity of your structure, and whether additional registrations such as GST or a current account are bundled in.

Costs That Are Easy to Overlook

Beyond the four costs above, a few extra charges catch founders off guard because they are not part of the standard fee list:

• Name resubmission fees, if your first choice of company name is rejected by the Registrar of Companies and needs to be refiled with a new option
• DSC renewal charges, if the certificate expires while your paperwork is still being finalised
• Notarisation charges for identity and address documents, which apply specifically when one or more directors is an NRI or a foreign national and documents need to be notarised or apostilled abroad

None of these are large individually, but skipping them from your budget is a common reason incorporation costs come in higher than expected.

Typical Total for a Straightforward Small Company

For a simple case, such as two Indian resident directors, a straightforward business name with no resubmission needed, and an authorised capital of 1 lakh rupees, the combined cost of the government fee, DSC for both directors, stamp duty, and professional fees typically lands at the lower end of the ranges above. Add a higher authorised capital, more directors, an NRI director, or a name that needs resubmission, and the total moves upward accordingly. There is no single fixed number that applies to every company, which is exactly why it helps to see the breakdown by category rather than one blended figure.

Costs After Incorporation

The figures above cover one-time registration costs only. Once your company is incorporated, there are ongoing annual costs to plan for, including annual ROC filing fees, statutory audit fees where applicable, and the professional fees for a CA to handle yearly compliance. These recurring costs are separate from incorporation and should be budgeted for as part of running the company, not as part of the setup cost.

Getting each of these line items right, from choosing an appropriate authorised capital to avoiding name resubmission delays, makes a real difference to your final bill. A CA-assisted service like Shunya can help you plan the incorporation with accurate, itemised costs upfront so there are no surprises once the filing is underway.