A Section 8 company is what you incorporate when the money is going to come from institutions rather than only from people who already know you. Corporates running CSR programmes, grant-making foundations and government departments all want a structure they can verify on a public register before they release funds. That verifiability is what you are buying, and it is worth the heavier compliance only if institutional funding is genuinely your plan.
Pick the speed and depth that matches your need. Same quality, same CA team — only the timeline changes.
Timeline: About 15 working days
Timeline: About 15 working days
Timeline: About 15 working days
Government fee — paid by you at actuals
MCA charges and stamp duty on the memorandum and articles are paid by you at actuals. Stamp duty varies materially by state and by capital structure, so no national figure is quoted here and none should be: you get the expected number for your own state with the quote. Digital signature certificates are charged at actuals beyond the two included, and the Section 332 and 354 applications themselves carry no government fee.
Every price above is a professional fee, excluding GST and government charges. 50% on delivery.
All fees and charges listed are indicative only and do not constitute a binding offer. Final amounts may vary depending on the volume of work and the complexity involved.
Section 8 company against trust against society, decided by where the money is coming from. Then the object clause, drafted for what you will be doing in year four rather than only in month one, because amending it later is a fresh approval.
A name ending in Foundation, Association, Council or Federation, digital signatures for every subscriber and director, and the three-year income and expenditure projection Rule 19(3) requires. The Registrar will not grant the licence without a signed projection consistent with the objects.
INC-13 memorandum, INC-14 professional declaration and INC-15 applicant declaration, filed through SPICe+ Part B with AGILE-PRO-S, PAN and TAN. No INC-12: the licence is integrated, and INC-16 issues alongside the certificate of incorporation.
Form 104 for provisional registration, or Form 105 where regular registration applies under Rule 181. These are what used to be called 12A and 80G, and the timing matters because year one income needs to be covered.
First auditor appointed and ADT-1 filed, statutory registers opened, and where CSR money is the plan, CSR-1 filed on the form revised in July 2025 with the Rule 4(1) route documented and objects mapped against Schedule VII.
Tell us your requirement, a CA will call you in 30 minutes.
12A registration is now registration under Section 332 and 80G approval is approval under Section 354, filed in Form 104 or Form 105. Existing registrations carry forward under Section 355 until expiry, so nobody reapplies, but the forms and the vocabulary have moved.
A Section 8 company established by the funding company itself can receive CSR money from day one. An independently founded one needs three years of similar activity first. Same structure, entirely different commercial position, and it is settled at incorporation by who subscribes to the memorandum.
The licence application is integrated into SPICe+ and INC-16 issues with the certificate of incorporation. Anyone quoting you for a separate INC-12 filing on a fresh incorporation is working from stale guidance.
Registrar queries on objects are the commonest cause of delay, and objects that are too narrow have to be amended by a fresh approval once the work changes. We draft for where the organisation is going, not only where it starts.
Section 2(85) excludes Section 8 companies, so audit applies from year one at any turnover, the annual return is MGT-7 rather than MGT-7A, and a cash flow statement is required. Budget for the compliance before you incorporate, not after.
If your objects are local, your funding comes from individuals, and a small group will run it, a public trust is cheaper and entirely adequate. Gujarat public trusts in particular are a genuinely strong alternative. We say so before you pay.
