INC-20A Filing India — Commencement of Business: The Process, Start to Finish
The mechanics of INC-20A Filing India — Commencement of Business are what clients ask about once they have decided to proceed. The questions below are the ones raised most often in practice; the full scope of the service is on the INC-20A Filing India — Commencement of Business page.
What is INC-20A in simple terms?
It is a declaration a newly incorporated company must file with the Registrar of Companies confirming that the money its founders promised to invest as share capital has actually been paid into the company's bank account. Until this declaration is filed, the company cannot commence any business or exercise any borrowing powers (Section 10A).
In practice: Many founders assume the Certificate of Incorporation means they are free to operate immediately. Legally, INC-20A is the missing piece — and it has its own hard deadline.
Which companies are required to file INC-20A?
Every company incorporated on or after 2 November 2018 that has a share capital — this covers Private Limited Companies, Public Limited Companies, One Person Companies, Section 8 companies with share capital, and Producer Companies. Companies incorporated before that date, and companies without share capital, are outside the scope of Section 10A.
In practice: Two facts determine whether Section 10A applies: the incorporation date and whether the company has a share capital.
What is the exact deadline for filing INC-20A?
Within 180 days from the date of incorporation as shown on the Certificate of Incorporation. This is a hard statutory deadline under Section 10A of the Companies Act 2013 — there is no automatic extension, though MCA has occasionally allowed extra time by general circular in exceptional circumstances (for example, an additional 180 days under General Circular 11/2020 during COVID-19).
In practice: We count the 180 days from the COI date, not from any later event like bank account opening. Anchoring to the wrong start date is an easy way to miscalculate.
Can a company be struck off the register for not filing INC-20A?
Yes, in the worst case. If the Registrar has reasonable cause to believe, after the 180-day period, that the company is not carrying on any business or that the subscribed capital has still not been brought in, the Registrar may initiate proceedings to remove the company's name from the register of companies under Section 248 of the Companies Act 2013.
In practice: In practice this is typically reserved for companies with prolonged, unaddressed non-compliance — but it is a real risk, not a theoretical one, and we treat any client past the deadline as urgent.
What is the government fee for filing INC-20A?
The MCA charges a filing fee for INC-20A based on the company's authorised share capital, on the same fee schedule that applies to other MCA e-forms. If filed after the 180-day deadline, additional fees apply under the MCA fee rules, and separately Section 10A(2) makes the company and every officer in default liable to a statutory penalty. PNPC computes the exact fee applicable to your specific capital slab and filing date before submission.
In practice: We always confirm the current fee schedule at the time of filing rather than quoting from memory — MCA fee schedules are revised periodically, and a stale figure is worse than no figure.
How does INC-20A relate to the ADT-1 auditor appointment filing?
They are separate obligations that happen to fall in a similar early window. The Board must appoint the company's first statutory auditor within 30 days of incorporation, and since 14 July 2025 Form ADT-1 must be filed for that first appointment too, within 15 days of the appointment. INC-20A has a longer 180-day window and depends on subscriber capital actually being paid in. PNPC tracks both on the same post-incorporation compliance calendar so neither is missed while attention is on the other.
In practice: The two are easy to confuse because both are 'early' filings. The first-auditor appointment (within 30 days of incorporation) and its ADT-1 filing (within 15 days of appointment) run on a much tighter timeline and are unrelated to capital infusion — it should never wait for INC-20A to be ready.
What if a subscriber cannot pay their share capital within 180 days?
If a subscriber genuinely cannot bring in their capital within the 180-day window, the company faces a real compliance problem — INC-20A cannot be filed truthfully without the capital being received, and the 180-day statutory clock does not pause for a subscriber's personal delay. Options in this situation include the subscriber arranging funds urgently, another party stepping in to subscribe to those shares through a formal amendment process, or the company accepting the penalty exposure while resolving the capital issue. This scenario should be flagged to your CA the moment it looks likely, not after the deadline has passed.
In practice: We ask about each subscriber's readiness to fund their subscription during the pre-incorporation consultation itself, precisely to avoid this problem arising after incorporation when options narrow.
Can INC-20A be filed if the company has not yet opened a bank account?
No. INC-20A requires proof that subscriber capital has been credited to the company's own bank account. A company cannot file the declaration until its bank account is open and the capital has actually landed in it. This makes bank account opening the practical first bottleneck in the 180-day timeline, which is why PNPC prepares the account-opening documentation immediately after incorporation rather than waiting for the client to initiate it.
In practice: Bank account opening timelines depend on the bank and its KYC process; confirm the current processing time. We start this as soon as the COI is issued so it does not become the reason a filing runs late.
Does a foreign subscriber's capital contribution to INC-20A trigger any FEMA obligations?
Yes. When a person resident outside India subscribes to shares of an Indian company, that inflow constitutes Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) under FEMA, and separately from INC-20A, the company must report the share allotment to the RBI by filing Form FC-GPR through the Single Master Form on the RBI's FIRMS portal within 30 days of allotment. INC-20A and FC-GPR are distinct filings with different timelines and different authorities, but both stem from the same subscriber capital event, so PNPC tracks them together for companies with foreign subscribers.
In practice: We flag the FC-GPR requirement the moment a foreign subscriber is identified — it is easy to focus on the INC-20A deadline alone and lose sight of the separate RBI reporting obligation.
Where this sits in the wider engagement
INC-20A Filing India — Commencement of Business rarely arrives on its own. The statutory basis and the current requirements are set out on the INC-20A Filing India — Commencement of Business service page, and the related services are grouped under Corporate Law.
What PNPC does
PNPC Global has practised since 1986 across India and the UAE. On INC-20A Filing India — Commencement of Business we take the work end to end — reviewing the facts, preparing and filing what is required, and dealing with the authority through to closure.