What is a certificate of incorporation?
The document that proves a company legally exists, issued by the Registrar of Companies. What it shows and what to check against it.
A certificate of incorporation is issued by the Registrar of Companies when a company is formed. It is the document that says the company legally exists as a separate person.
What it shows
- Company name, exactly as registered
- CIN
- Date of incorporation
- Registrar and state
- For newer registrations, the PAN and TAN issued alongside
What to check against it
Name match. The name on the certificate is the legal name. Trade names and brand names differ from it legitimately, but the contract should name the legal entity.
CIN consistency. The CIN encodes the state and year — both should agree with the certificate's own text. A mismatch means one of them has been altered.
Current status. The certificate proves the company was incorporated. It does not prove the company is still active. Companies get struck off, and the certificate does not change when they do. The MCA register is the source for current status.
Equivalents for other entity types
- LLP — certificate of incorporation with an LLPIN, plus the LLP agreement
- Partnership — partnership deed, and registration certificate where registered
- Sole proprietorship — no incorporation document exists; identity rests on PAN, GSTIN and business registrations
What people get wrong
Accepting the certificate as proof of current existence. It is proof of birth, not of life.
Contracting with the trade name. If the contract names a brand rather than the legal entity, enforcement gets complicated.
On Bidancer
Constitution documents are part of business KYC, checked against the register rather than filed on receipt.