WHAT IT COSTS
Four separate costs, four separate lines. There is no single figure.
“Company registration fee” is not one amount. It is a Union filing fee, a State stamp duty charged on three documents at three different rates, and two private prices that no government sets. Every site that quotes you one number is folding its own margin into a line you cannot see. This one refuses to add them up.
These two are not added together on this page, and that is deliberate. One is a levy you owe whether or not you engage anyone. The other is a price you negotiate. A portal that merges them hands you a number you cannot check and cannot reduce.
Payable to government
| Levy | Charged by | Amount | Working |
|---|---|---|---|
| MCA registration feeSPICe+ (INC-32) filing under the Companies Act 2013 | Ministry of Corporate Affairs | Nil | |
| Stamp duty on the incorporation formKarnataka Stamp Act, on eForm INC-32 | Government of Karnataka | Rs 20 | |
| Stamp duty on the MemorandumKarnataka Stamp Act, on the Memorandum of Association | Government of Karnataka | Rs 1,000 | |
| Stamp duty on the ArticlesKarnataka Stamp Act, on the Articles of Association | Government of Karnataka | Rs 500 | |
| Government subtotal | Rs 1,520 | ||
Payable to private parties
| Digital signature certificatesBought from a licensed Certifying Authority, not from MCA | Rs 1,000 – Rs 2,500market range, not a government levy |
|---|---|
| Professional certificationCharged by the CA, CS or CMA who certifies the forms | Rs 3,000 – Rs 15,000market range, not a government levy |
Digital signature certificates. Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,500 per Class 3 signature, per subscriber. Priced by the certifying authority, so this is a market range and not a government levy.
Professional certification. Rs 3,000 to Rs 15,000 is the observed market spread. No published rate exists because none is prescribed. This is the line most quoted "registration fees" are actually made of.
The next rupee of capital
At Rs 10,00,000 of authorised capital the government cost is Rs 1,520. At Rs 10,00,001 - one rupee over the threshold - it is Rs 2,020. That single rupee costs Rs 500.
This is the figure a founder can still act on. Authorised capital is chosen once, in the incorporation form, usually without anyone showing where the thresholds sit. Afterwards, moving it costs another filing and another round of stamp duty.
Once the company exists
Authorised capital Rs 10,00,000 falls in the Rs 5,00,000 to below Rs 25,00,000 band, so each document filed costs Rs 400.
At Rs 25,00,000 of authorised capital this becomes Rs 500 per document.
File late and this figure is the base the additional fee multiplies, or it is replaced by a flat Rs 100 per day for annual filings. See what a late filing costs today →
- Widely republished as a flat Rs 500 on both documents. The MCA schedule says Rs 1,000 on the MoA and Rs 500 for every Rs 10,00,000 of authorised capital on the AoA. This engine follows the schedule.
- Section 8 companies pay nil stamp duty on the MoA and AoA in most States and are not computed here.
- State-wise stamp duty rules for eForm INC-2 / INC-7 / INC-29, MoA, AoA, SH-7 and FC-1 — Ministry of Corporate Affairs, retrieved 2026-08-23. No local copy is hosted: MCA's CDN refuses non-browser requests, so a mirror could not be captured honestly and a link to one that does not exist would be worse than none. MCA publishes this schedule with its own caveat: refer to the Stamp Act of the State or Union Territory concerned for the authentic version.
- Companies (Registration Offices and Fees) Rules 2014, Annexure - Table of Fees — Ministry of Corporate Affairs, retrieved 2026-08-23.
Rule set mca-fees-2026.08.1 · all 35 States and Union Territories in the MCA schedule are covered. Anything outside it returns “not covered” rather than an estimate.