How to Verify an Indian Company Before Doing Business
Indian company verification is concentrated in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) portal. Here is the workflow, the CIN structure, and the GST cross-check that catches most shells.
Table of contents
India has one of the better-organised company registers globally. The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) maintains a centralised national database at mca.gov.in, supplemented by the GST portal at gst.gov.in. Together they support reliable verification.
The CIN — Corporate Identification Number
Every Indian company has a 21-character CIN. It is structured:
L17110MH1973PLC019786
- Position 1:
L(listed) orU(unlisted). - Positions 2–6: industry code (17110 = textiles).
- Positions 7–8: state (MH = Maharashtra).
- Positions 9–12: year of incorporation.
- Positions 13–15: ownership type (PLC, PTC, FTC, etc.).
- Positions 16–21: sequential registration number.
A malformed CIN is an immediate red flag. The MCA portal will tell you if the CIN belongs to an active company.
What to pull from MCA
The GST cross-check
Every Indian operating company with turnover above the threshold (currently INR 40 lakh for goods, INR 20 lakh for services in most states) must be registered for GST. The GSTIN should:
- Be in the same legal name as the MCA record.
- Be active (verifiable at gst.gov.in/services/search/gstin).
- Show return-filing status — non-filers for the last 6 months are commercially inactive.
A supplier without a GSTIN, claiming a turnover above the threshold, is operating outside the law. That is not a counterparty to wire to.
LLPs and partnerships
Limited Liability Partnerships have LLPINs (different format) and are also on MCA. Sole proprietorships are not on MCA and have minimal verifiable footprint — for an LLP or sole proprietorship invoicing over USD 25,000, escalate to a site visit.
Conflicts of interest: none disclosed. Last reviewed May 29, 2026.
Marcus is KeyBS Trust's senior compliance lead. Before joining, he ran sanctions screening operations at two EU EMIs and advised on AML controls for cross-border payment corridors into China, Hong Kong, and Vietnam.
View profileElena owns editorial governance and operational risk review for KeyBS Trust Intelligence. She approves every published article and chairs the methodology review board.
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