Forming a Company in India: Step 1 - Obtain a Digital Certificate

The first step in the formation of a company is to obtain the digital certificate from one of the Ministry of Corporate Affair's (MCA) Certifying Authorities.

The Information Technology Act, 2000 provides for use of Digital Signatures on the documents submitted in electronic form in order to ensure the security and authenticity of the documents filed electronically. This is the only secure and authentic way that a document can be submitted electronically. As such, all filings done by the companies under MCA21 e-Governance programme are required to be filed with the use of Digital Signatures by the person authorized to sign the documents. More information about Digital Signatures can be found at http://www.mca.gov.in/MinistryWebsite/dca/dsc/certifying-new.html.

The list of Certifying Authorities can be found at:
http://www.mca.gov.in/MinistryWebsite/dca/dsc/certifying-new_1.html.

Some Frequently Asked Questions can be found at
http://www.mca.gov.in/MinistryWebsite/dca/dsc/faq_dsc.html.

Make sure of the following when you get the digital certificate:
1) Obtain only a Class - 2 or a Class - 3 certificate.
2) Obtain a USB Cryptotoken (This is safer than keeping the digital signature on a desktop / laptop). It should cost a bit extra.