Private Limited Company Registration

PRIVATE LIMITED COMPANY

Private Limited Company, the most popular legal structure for businesses, should be chosen by anyone looking to build a scalable business. It is one of the most popular legal structure option for businesses in India. A Private limited company has a minimum of two members and a maximum of fifty members. A director of a private limited company has limited liability to creditors. In case of a default, banks / creditors can sell only company’s assets but not the personal assets of a directors. A Private limited company is considered one of the most popular corporate entity amongst the small, medium and the large businesses in India due to its various advantages.

Start-ups and growing businesses choose to register a company in India because it allows outside funding to be raised easily, limits the liabilities of its shareholders and enables them to offer employee stock options to attract top talent. As these entities must hold board meetings and file annual returns with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), they tend also to be viewed with more credibility than a Limited Liability Partnership (LLP), One Person Company (OPC).

To incorporate a private limited company, a minimum of two shareholders are required. A minimum of two shareholders and a maximum of up to 200 shareholders are allowed in a private limited company.  The shareholders could be natural persons or companies, including foreign companies.

Unique features of a private limited company like limited liability protection to shareholders, ability to raise equity funds, separate legal entity status and perpetual existence make it the most recommended type of business entity for millions of small and medium sized businesses that are family owned or professionally managed.

Advantages of Private Limited Company

  1. Ownership

In a public company, regulation and ownership of shares can be sold to the public on an open market. On the other hand, in a private company, shares can be sold or transferred to other people by the choice of the owner.

2 Separate Legal Entities

 

A Private Limited Company is legal entity and juristic person established under the Companies Act. Therefore, a company has a large range of legal capacities including that of opening of a bank account, hiring employees, taking on the equity or obtaining the licenses and more as an independent corporate entity. A member (Shareholders/Directors) of a company has no personal liability to the creditors of a company for company’s debts.

 

3 Legal Formalities

Legal formalities are sometimes very expensive and time-consuming, aren’t they? If you’re planning to start a public company, you better be prepared because there is a long list of legal formalities for forming a public company. Private companies have comparatively shorter list.

  1. Disclosing Information

A public company is required to disclose their financial reports to public every quarter, as it will affect public investment; private companies are not subjected to any such compulsion.

 

  1. Investment-ready

Private limited companies easily accommodate equity funding as there is a clear distinction between shareholders and directors as well as limited liability. In fact, venture capitalists and private equity funds are unlikely to invest in any other structure. This is because LLPs would require them to become partners in the business, while an OPC can have only one shareholder. This feature also gives you the ability to hire top talent you may not be able to afford by merely paying a salary.

  1. Uninterrupted Existence

A Private Limited Company has ‘perpetual succession’, that means, it has an uninterrupted existence until it is legally dissolved. As a company is a separate legal person, it is unaffected by death or other the departure of any member and it continues to be in existence irrespective of the changes in ownership.

  1. Easy Transferability

The ownership of a business can be very easily transferred in a company by transferring the shares. The signing, transfer and filing of share transfer form and the share certificates is adequate to transfer the ownership of a company. In a private limited company, the consent of other shareholders may be required to effect share transfers.