How to name a Private Limited Company

Choosing a right name for the business is one of the first most important and hardest part for a startup. As the name of the business will be your primary calling card and will show up in every place associated with the business. Therefore, it is important to come upwith a name that creates a positive first impression, intriguing and clear. In this article we look at some of the regulations laid down by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) for naming of a Private Limited Company in India.

1. Name should be desirable
As per the Companies Act, 1956, no com-
pany is to be registered with an undesir-
able name. A proposed name for a pri-
vate limited company is considered to be
undesirable if it is identical with or closely
resembling with a name of a company in
existence or approved by the Registrar,
name of a LLP in existence or approved
by the Registrar and/or resembles a reg-
istered trade-mark or trade-mark applica-
tion. Further, names that are in violation
of the provisions of Emblems and Names
and/or names that contain profanity or
words or phrases that are generally of-
fensive to any section of people are also
deemed undesirable and not allowed.
Test for Similarity
In determining if a name is similar or iden-
tical to another name, the following rules
shall apply: i) Plural version of a word does
not distinguish one name from another.
Therefore, City Hospital Private Limited
and City Hospitals Private Limited will be
considered similar. ii) Changing type / case
/ spacing between letters appearing in
the name will still make the name similar.
Therefore, City Hospital Private Limited
and CityHospital Private Limited or City
hospital Private Limited will be considered
similar. Use of different tense or num-
ber of the same word will also not make
a name unique. For instance, Excellence
Industries and Excellent Industries will be
considered similar. Similarly, Three River
Hospital and 3 River Hospital will also be
considered similar. Further, different pho-
netic spellings or different combination of
the same word will not make it distinguish-
able from an existing name. Hence, if J.K
Industries is existing, J & K Industries and
J n K Industries will also not be allowed.
Likewise, inclusion of words such as New,
Modern, Nav, Shri, Shree, Om, Jai, Sai, The,
etc., in front of an existing name will not
make the name unique.
Names that require approval from other
authorities
If the proposed name includes words such
as ‘insurance, ‘bank’, ‘stock exchange’, ‘ven-
ture capital’, ‘asset management’, ‘mutual
fund’, etc., the name may be allowed with
a declaration by the applicant that the re-
quirements mandated by the respective
regulator such as IRDA, RBI, SEMA, etc.,
has been complied with by the applicant.
Also, if the proposed name contains any
word or expression which is likely to give
the impression that the company is in any
way connected with, or having the patron-
age of, the Central Government, any State
Government, or any local authority, corpo-
ration or body constituted by the Central
or any State Government under any law
then the previous approval of Central Gov-
ernment has to been obtained.
Names that require approval from other
authorities
Inclusion of certain keywords in the name
will require the company to have a certain
minimum authorized capital as under: For
using the word Hindustan, India, Bharat in
any part of the name of the company, a
minimum authorized capital of Rs.5 lakhs
is required. For using the words Enter-
prises, Products, Business, Manufacturing
in any part of the name of the company,
a minimum authorized capital of Rs.10
lakhs is required. For using the words
Hindustan, India, Bharat as the first word
of the company name a minimum autho-
rized capital of Rs.50 lakhs is required. If
the words International, Global, Universal,
Continental, Inter-Continental, Asiatic, Asia
is used within the name of the company,
a minimum authorized capital of Rs. 50
lakhs is required. If the words Hindustan,
India Bharat is being used as the first word
of the name then a minimum authorized
capital of Rs. 50 lakhs is required. For us-
ing the words Industries / Udhyog in any
part of the name or for using the words In-
ternational, Globe, Universal, Continental,
Inter-Continental, Asiatic, Asia as the first
word of the name, a minimum authorized
capital of Rs. 1 crore is required. For using
the word Corporation in the name of the
company, a minimum authorized capital of
Rs. 5 crores is required.
LearningCenter
IndiaFilings
October 2014www.IndiaFilings.com
Small & Medium
Business
TIps & Information for growing your
Small & Medium sized business.
Choosing a right name for the business is one of the first most important and hardest part for a startup. As the name of the business
will be your primary calling card and will show up in every place associated with the business. Therefore, it is important to come up
with a name that creates a positive first impression, intriguing and clear. In this article we look at some of the regulations laid down
by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) for naming of a Private Limited Company in India.
Naming a Private Limited Company