SPICe has Emerged to Be the Most “Fast-Track Company Registration System”

Narendra Kumar

04 Dec, 2020

Fast Track Company: An Overview

The MOA and Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), over the last couple of years, has come up with some amendments to speed up the process of company registration. In a notification on October 1, 2016, it introduced the Fourth Amendment Rules 2016, wherein new e-forms were launched to expedite the Fast Track Company Registration process significantly. The introduction of (Simplified Performa for Incorporating Companies Electronically) SPICe under the “Companies Fourth Amendment Rules 2016” is a similar bold step. The online application ensures transparency and efficiency and eliminates corruption by by-passing the corrupt elements in the system. It simplifies the company incorporation process through a new online application form, INC-32, in addition to online application forms for Memorandum of Association (INC-33) and Articles of Association (INC-34).

Before an Amendment, the incorporation of a company requires the applicant to fill up several documents. It includes DIR-3 (acquiring of the Director Identification Number), INC-1 (obtaining of name approval), INC-7 (registering a company with the Memorandum and Articles of Association), and INC-22 (approval of registered office). The newly introduced INC-29 includes all the details to be filled in the previous five forms and reduces the processing time to as less as 48 hours.

The important features of SPICe are highlighted as follows:

• One is allowed to file INC-32^[1] even the filing for the name of the company has been done through INC-1already, which was not the case during the tenure of INC-29.
• Another innovation has been the e-filing of AOA and MOA through forms INC-34 and INC-33 respectively. Since they are to be filed digitally, the signatures of directors (digital signatures) can be affixed to the respective forms.
• However, with the new INC-32, an applicant can register with only one name. If one wishes to offer more than one name, one has to file INC-1, under which up to six names can be filed.
• There is no longer any requirement for filing INC-22 if the company’s registered office address is the same as mentioned in INC-32. If not so, then INC-22 has to be filed within 30 days.
• It is mandatory to use e-MOA (for Field 3a, the character limit is 20,000, and for Field 3b, it is 100,000) and e-AOA for all Indian subscribers and foreign individuals with a valid DIN if the number of subscribers is not more than seven.
• For the incorporation of producer companies, SPICe cannot be used. In such cases, the updated version of INC-7 is to be used.
• If an applicant does not have a valid DIN, he/she has to use INC-7 with physical copies of MOA and AOA.
• Nidhi companies and OPCs can be incorporated using SPICe forms. However, LLPs cannot be incorporated, since they come under a different Act.
• Subscribers’ photo is not required in the e-forms. Only two resubmissions are allowed for SPICe forms.
• Both SPICe e-MOA and SPICe e-AOA forms have to be uploaded to linked forms
• Both the subscribers to e-MOA and e-AOA can be witnesses only after all subscribers sign it. All of them need to be in one place to complete the transaction in the best possible manner, with no legal hassles.

The various documents that are required for form INC 32 are- memorandum of association, of the company, articles of association of the company, affidavit as well as declaration from the directors and subscribers, address proof of the registered office of the company, identity proof of the directors, identity proof as well as residential proof of the subscribers and NOC from the partners or associates or the proprietors of the company.  By looking at the advantages of the SPICe system, it is an advisable system.