Company Registration Certificate (Certificate of Incorporation)
Your company's birth certificate. Here's exactly what the Certificate of Incorporation is, every detail it carries, and how to download it from the MCA portal — explained by Chartered Accountants.
Register your company — COI in 7 days →What is a Company Registration Certificate?
A Company Registration Certificate — formally the Certificate of Incorporation (COI) — is the official document issued by the Registrar of Companies (RoC) under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) the moment your company is legally born. It is your company's conclusive proof of existence under the Companies Act, 2013.
In simple terms, until this certificate is issued your business is just an application; once it is issued, your company exists as a separate legal entity that can open a bank account, sign contracts, hire people and raise money. Today it is issued as a digitally signed PDF — there is no paper original by default, and the digital copy is fully valid.
It is the first document in your company's life and the last one you'll ever need to renew — because you never do. Want it done right the first time? See our company registration service.
Anatomy of Your Certificate
Tap any field on the certificate to see what it means.
Corporate Identity Number (CIN)
A unique 21-character alphanumeric code assigned to your company for life. It encodes the listing status, industry, state, year of incorporation, ownership type and a running registration number. It is your company's permanent identity on every MCA filing. Learn how to read it on our company registration number guide.
Certificate of Incorporation vs CIN — what's the difference?
People often confuse the two, but they are not the same thing. One is the document; the other is a number printed inside it.
Certificate of Incorporation
The full document — your company's legal proof of existence, carrying the company name, date, PAN, TAN and the RoC's digital signature.
CIN
A single 21-character code within the certificate that identifies your company on every future MCA filing. See our CIN guide.
How to Download Your Certificate from the MCA Portal
When your company is incorporated, the certificate is emailed to your registered email ID for free. If you need it again later — for a bank, GST, funding or compliance — you download a certified copy from the MCA V3 portal. Keep your CIN or exact company name ready.
- Go to www.mca.gov.in and click Sign In (register first with PAN, mobile and email if you don't have an account).
- Open the MCA Services menu in the top navigation bar.
- Select Get Certified Copies from the dropdown.
- Enter your company name or CIN and pick your company from the results.
- Choose the document (Certificate of Incorporation) and the relevant year, then add it to the cart.
- Pay the fee (typically ₹100 per document plus state stamp duty and court fee) by card, net banking or UPI.
- Go to My Workspace → Documents and download your digitally certified PDF.
Where You'll Need the Certificate
The COI is requested again and again through your company's life.
Lost your certificate? You can't really lose it.
Because the Certificate of Incorporation is a digitally signed record held permanently in MCA's database, there is nothing to "reissue" and no original to misplace. If your copy is lost, corrupted or sitting in an old inbox, simply log in to the MCA portal and download a fresh certified copy using the Get Certified Copies service (steps above). The fee is nominal — around ₹100 per document plus state charges.
If you'd rather not navigate the portal yourself, our team can retrieve a certified copy for you alongside any other MCA filing you need.
Need your Certificate of Incorporation?
Whether you're registering a brand-new company or need help retrieving your COI, our Chartered Accountants handle it end-to-end — your company incorporated and certificate in hand in as little as 7 days.
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