Company search in India: MCA, GST, IEC and Udyam look-ups

MCA company search: free master data

An MCA company search is the quickest way to confirm that a private or public limited company, or an LLP, exists and is still active. On the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) website, the service for viewing company or LLP master data is free. Search by the company's name or its CIN and you see:

• the CIN (LLPIN for an LLP), the date of incorporation and the Registrar of Companies it falls under;
• its status, such as active or struck off;
• the registered office address and the email address filed with MCA;
• authorised and paid-up capital, and the dates of its last annual general meeting and balance sheet;
• its directors or designated partners, with their dates of appointment.

The CIN itself can be read. In an example CIN such as U74999MH2016PTC123456, U means unlisted (L means listed), the five digits are an industry code, MH is Maharashtra, 2016 is the year of incorporation and PTC means private limited company.

Filed documents, such as annual returns and financial statements, are a separate paid service on the same website. And MCA holds only companies and LLPs: a proprietorship or a partnership firm will not be there, however large it is.

GST search by GSTIN or PAN

The GST portal's public taxpayer search shows a business's legal name and trade name, its principal place of business, its constitution (proprietorship, partnership, company and so on), its date of registration, and whether the GSTIN is active, suspended or cancelled. It also shows a table of recent return filings, which suggests whether the business is still trading.

You can search by GSTIN, or by PAN to see every GST registration under that PAN, usually one per state. A GSTIN has 15 characters. The first two are the state code (27 is Maharashtra, 29 Karnataka, 24 Gujarat, 33 Tamil Nadu, 07 Delhi), the next ten are the PAN, and the last three identify the registration. The fourth character of the PAN shows the type of holder: P for an individual, so a proprietorship, F for a firm or LLP, and C for a company.

What about GST search by name?

The public search does not offer it: you need a GSTIN or a PAN. Take the GSTIN from the business's invoice, letterhead or website, or simply ask for it. Third-party sites that offer a search by name are not the official portal, so confirm anything they show on the GST portal itself.

IEC code search on the DGFT website

An Importer-Exporter Code (IEC) is needed to import or export goods. For most businesses today it is the same ten characters as the business's PAN. The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) website lets you check an IEC: enter the code, and the firm's name where asked, to see whether it is active and the name and address on record. Use it when a supplier says it exports. To find exporters by product rather than check one, see our guide to exporter and importer databases.

Udyam registration search and the "MSME list"

A Udyam registration number follows the pattern UDYAM-MH-00-0000000: the state, then the district, then a serial number. The Udyam Registration portal has an option to verify a Udyam number, which shows the enterprise's name, whether it is classed as micro, small or medium, and a few other basic details. Buyers check it before treating a supplier as an MSME, for example for payment terms or public procurement preferences.

Udyam registration is self-declared and linked to PAN and GST data. It shows that a business has registered, not how good it is at its work.

Many people search for an MSME list. There is no downloadable public list of all MSMEs: the Udyam portal verifies one number at a time and publishes statistics, not a directory. Lists of MSMEs by trade and town come from industry associations, District Industries Centres, trade directories and data providers.

Checking a new customer: a worked example

Say a Rajkot engineering unit gets a first order for pump parts from a new customer in Vapi, on 60 days' credit. Before dispatch, someone in the office can:

1. Take the GSTIN from the purchase order. It starts with 24, so it is a Gujarat registration, which fits a Vapi address.
2. Search it on the GST portal. Check that the legal name matches the purchase order, the status is active and recent returns have been filed.
3. Read the fourth character of the PAN inside the GSTIN. If it is C, or F with LLP in the name, open the MCA master data and see who the directors or partners are. A partnership firm will not appear on MCA, and that is normal.
4. Call the number on the customer's own website, not only the mobile on the order, and confirm the order with whoever placed it.

It takes about fifteen minutes and screens out many fake or closed businesses.

What these look-ups do not give you

The official registers confirm identity and status. They are not contact lists. None gives the mobile number of the owner or the purchase head, the email filed with MCA often belongs to whoever handles the company's filings, and none lets you pull every business in one trade and city. Our guide to the list of companies in India explains where full lists come from.

Questions people ask

How do I look up a proprietorship or a partnership firm?

Use the GST portal with its GSTIN or the owner's PAN, and the Udyam portal if it gives you a Udyam number. Neither kind of business is registered with MCA, so a company search by name there will find nothing.

How can I tell whether a company is still running?

Look at three things together: its status in the MCA master data, the dates of its last balance sheet and AGM, and the GST return filings for its GSTIN. A company active on paper that has filed nothing recently deserves a careful call before you give credit.

Use directors' names and other personal details from these registers only for checking the businesses you deal with.