Tax, GST and company law glossary

CIN (Corporate Identity Number)

The 21-character number given to every company on incorporation.

In short

It encodes whether the company is listed, its industry, state, year of incorporation, type and registration number. It must appear on letterheads and invoices.

What it means

The Corporate Identity Number (CIN) is a unique 21-character code that the Registrar of Companies gives to every company when it is incorporated. It works like a company’s permanent ID with MCA. It lets anyone look up the company’s status, directors and filings on the MCA portal. LLPs get a different number called the LLPIN.

How it works

Each part of the CIN tells you something about the company:

  • Character 1: L for a listed company or U for unlisted

  • Characters 2 to 6: a 5-digit industry code showing the main business activity

  • Characters 7 and 8: the state code of the registered office, such as MH for Maharashtra or GJ for Gujarat

  • Characters 9 to 12: the year of incorporation

  • Characters 13 to 15: the type of company, such as PTC for private limited, PLC for public limited, OPC for one person company, or NPL for a section 8 company

  • Characters 16 to 21: the 6-digit registration number

The CIN changes if the company changes something it encodes. Examples are converting from private to public, getting listed, or shifting its registered office to another state.

Example

Take the CIN U72900MH2020PTC123456:

  • U: unlisted company (1 character)

  • 72900: industry code for IT and computer-related services (5 characters)

  • MH: registered in Maharashtra (2 characters)

  • 2020: incorporated in 2020 (4 characters)

  • PTC: private limited company (3 characters)

  • 123456: registration number (6 characters)

Total: 1 + 5 + 2 + 4 + 3 + 6 = 21 characters. Just by reading it, a bank officer can tell this is an unlisted Mumbai-registered IT private company incorporated in 2020.

Key points to remember

  • The CIN, name, registered office address, phone number, email and website must be printed on letterheads, invoices, bills and other official documents.

  • Not showing these details can lead to penalties on the company and its officers.

  • After a conversion or a change of state, update the CIN everywhere, including GST, bank records and letterheads.

  • Always check a vendor’s or customer’s CIN on the MCA portal to confirm the company is active and not struck off before you sign big contracts.

Company Law

All glossary terms

Need help with this?

Finaccle’s chartered accountants handle income tax, GST, ROC compliance and business setup for 2,000+ businesses. Use the WhatsApp or Book a call button to speak to the team, or browse our guides by topic in the Knowledge Centre.