Company Name Availability
Getting proper approval to any of the proposed company names, is one of the major and most significant processes associated with incorporation of a company in India or abroad. For acquiring this approval from the concerned Registrar, the prescribed company naming guidelines must be followed strictly, which are described briefly on this webpage, especially in the section below.
The company name availability must be checked well before filing an application for company incorporation, in order to avoid delay in the process of incorporation or blunt rejection of the filed application. Here, it may be just mentioned that, your company name is the name of the entity which supremely runs and manages your all businesses under different brands. A company may conduct many businesses under different brand names. Thus, a company name is different from a brand name or brand.
Company Naming Guidelines
In light of all the amendments (in Rule-8, Rule-9, and Rule-36) made in the Companies (Incorporation) Rules of 2014, which were notified by MCA vide notification dated 22nd January 2016 through issuing the Companies (Incorporation) Amendment Rules, 2016, the following are the brief summary of the paramount guidelines and suggestions recommended by the MCA to ensure ready approval to the proposed company name:
- There should be the following three distinct parts in the name of a company:
- Part-I: Keyword - This indicates your brand name
- Part-II: Business Activity word - Implying your main business
- Part-III: Structure word - Showing the structure of your proposed entity, whether it is a 'Private Limited' Company, or an 'LLP', or an 'OPC Private Limited'. This structure wording must be put at the end of the company name.
- The proposed company name must be unique. This means that, the proposed company name must not be strikingly or objectionably similar or identical to any company name or trademark registered previously or seeking registration through filed application, under any office of the ROC or Trade Marks Registry located anywhere in entire India. Hence, verification of the originality and uniqueness of the proposed company name must be made through searching across all MCA databases and Trademark databases of entire India. Here, it may also be noted that, with any specific company name, only one type of company can be incorporated. To get answer to the question, "how to check company name is trademarked or not?", please visit the website of the Indian Intellectual Property Office and its trademark databases (under the categories of already registered and pending for registration). Avoid generic names, as these lack uniqueness.
- The proposed company name must not be undesirable or objectionable from views of the law, ethics, social decorum, communal or religious harmony, etc. Again, the proposed company name must not violate the Section 3 of the Indian Emblems Act of 1950.
- The proposed company name must be in consonance with the principal activity/business of the company as mentioned in its MOA. In cases of finance-related activities, such as financing, leasing, chit fund, investments, securities or combination thereof, the company name must include the relevant words or wording.
- The proposed company name must not imply association or connection with any of the following ---- any separate and distinct type of business constitution or legal entity (such as Co-Operative, Sehkari, HUF, Society, Trust, etc.); any embassy or foreign country/Government/city; any eminent celebrity; and so on.
- Acronyms, vague, or abbreviated names will not be approved.
- Words, wording, or names commonly used by the Governmental bodies and agencies, will not be accepted as company names, without the approval of the State/Central Government. Again, any of the following words which forms a part of the proposed company name, will require approval of the relevant regulator (such as RBI, SEBI, MCA, IRDA, etc.) ----'Insurance', 'Bank', 'Stock Exchange', 'Venture Capital', 'Asset Management', 'Nidhi', 'Mutual fund' etc.