Private Limited Company Registration in Maharashtra
Register your Pvt Ltd company online anywhere in Maharashtra with a CA-led team — SPICe+ filing, DSC, DIN, name approval, MoA & AoA drafting, PAN, TAN, GST and profession tax. Since 16 February 2026 the state has four Registrars of Companies and two Regional Directorates, and the incentive map lines up with neither. We confirm all three before we file.
- We confirm your Registrar first
- Taluka incentive check included
- DSC & DIN for all directors
- PAN, TAN & CIN included
- PTEC & PTRC through SPICe+
- FDI & FEMA practice in-house
Maharashtra Company Registration Changed on 16 February 2026
Until today this page told you that "RoC Mumbai handles most private limited company incorporations for Maharashtra, while RoC Pune covers the Pune division." That was accurate right up to 15 February 2026. It is now two Registrars out of date.
On 16 February the Ministry of Corporate Affairs brought into force a reorganisation notified as S.O. 4850(E) on 23 October 2025. The old RoC Mumbai, which had covered twenty-eight of the state's thirty-six districts, was broken into three offices. Maharashtra went from two Registrars to four, and from one Regional Directorate to two.
None of this changes how you file. SPICe+ on the MCA portal, entirely online, seven to ten working days for a clean file. It changes which office holds your company for the rest of its life — and, as the section on moving a registered office below explains, how hard it now is to change your mind. For the process itself, see our guide to private limited company registration in India.
The Map, As It Now StandsMaharashtra's Four Registrars of Companies
Here is the whole state, allocated exactly as the notification allocates it.
| Registrar | Seated at | Districts | Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| RoC Mumbai-I | Mumbai | Mumbai, Mumbai Suburban | 2 |
| RoC Mumbai-II | Navi Mumbai | Aurangabad (Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar), Dhule, Jalgaon, Nandurbar, Nashik, Palghar, Raigad, Thane | 8 |
| RoC Nagpur | Nagpur | Akola, Amravati, Beed, Bhandara, Buldhana, Chandrapur, Gadchiroli, Gondia, Hingoli, Jalna, Latur, Nagpur, Nanded, Osmanabad, Parbhani, Wardha, Washim, Yavatmal | 18 |
| RoC Pune | Pune | Ahmednagar, Kolhapur, Pune, Ratnagiri, Sangli, Satara, Sindhudurg, Solapur — unchanged | 8 |
RoC Pune does not appear in the February 2026 notification at all, which is how we know its eight districts were left alone. The arithmetic confirms it: 2 + 8 + 18 + 8 = 36 — every district in Maharashtra, accounted for exactly once. That check is also how we satisfied ourselves that Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg stayed with Pune rather than moving.
And Two Regional Directorates, Split Two Districts Against Thirty-Four
Above the Registrar sits the Regional Director, who decides compounding of offences, condonation of delay, certain approvals under the Companies Act, and confirmations of registered-office shifts between Registrars. That level was reorganised on the same date, and it is barely being reported.
Regional Director, Western Region-I — at Mumbai
Now covers only the districts of Mumbai and Mumbai Suburban, the State of Goa and the Union Territory of Daman and Diu.
Regional Director, Western Region-II — at Navi Mumbai (new)
Covers all districts of Maharashtra other than Mumbai and Mumbai Suburban — thirty-four districts, including everything under RoC Mumbai-II, RoC Nagpur and RoC Pune.
Which yields a fact worth stating plainly. Mumbai City and Mumbai Suburban are the only part of Maharashtra that kept both its Registrar and its Regional Director. Every other district in the state moved at least one level on 16 February 2026, and most of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region moved both.
Maharashtra Now Runs on Three Maps, and They Do Not Line Up
If you take one thing from this page, take this. There are now three separate jurisdictional maps of Maharashtra that matter to a company, and a business can sit in a different position on each of them.
1. The Registrar map
Four offices. Mumbai-I, Mumbai-II at Navi Mumbai, Nagpur and Pune. Decides where your file lives and which office name appears on your Certificate of Incorporation.
2. The Regional Directorate map
Two offices, split two districts against thirty-four. Decides who hears compounding applications and who confirms a registered-office shift.
3. The incentive map
Taluka groups A to D+, plus regional bands. Decides what the state will pay towards your fixed capital investment. It follows neither of the other two.
Three worked examples that prove the point
| Where | Registrar | Regional Director | Incentive band |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (Aurangabad) | Mumbai-II, Navi Mumbai | WR-II | Marathwada — 80% |
| Ratnagiri & Sindhudurg | Pune | WR-II | Named in the 80% band |
| Dhule | Mumbai-II, Navi Mumbai | WR-II | Named in the 80% band |
| Nandurbar | Mumbai-II, Navi Mumbai | WR-II | Aspirational district — 100% |
| Greater Mumbai | Mumbai-I | WR-I | Group A — nil |
Read the first row again. Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar is a Marathwada district, so it sits in the same 80 per cent incentive band as Nagpur's entire territory — but its Registrar is Mumbai-II at Navi Mumbai, alongside Thane and Palghar. It has Mumbai's Registrar and Nagpur's incentives. Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg do something similar from the other direction: Pune's Registrar, Vidarbha-level incentives. And Nandurbar files with Mumbai-II while carrying the state's highest incentive ceiling.
So the 80 per cent regional band spans three of the four Registrars. Anyone who tells you your incentive position follows from your Registrar has not read either document.
Group A Exists Only in Two Metropolitan Regions. Nowhere Else.
Maharashtra's incentive architecture classifies every taluka in the state from Group A — the most developed, and entitled to nothing from the main basket of incentives — down through B, C, D and D+. We have read the taluka annexure to the government resolution in full, division by division. Here is the complete Group A list for the entire state:
| District | Group A talukas |
|---|---|
| Greater Mumbai | Greater Mumbai |
| Thane | Thane, Kalyan, Ulhasnagar, Ambernath, Bhiwandi (the part inside the MMR) |
| Palghar | Vasai, Palghar |
| Raigad | Uran, Panvel, Khalapur, Pen, Roha, Alibag and Karjat (the parts inside the MMR) |
| Pune | Pune City, Maval, and — inside the PMR — Haveli, Mulshi, Bhor, Daund, Shirur, Khed, Purandar, Velhe |
That is the whole of it. Group A in Maharashtra is the Mumbai Metropolitan Region and the Pune Metropolitan Region, and nothing else. Nagpur City is Group D. Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar city is Group D. Nashik is Group B — the only district headquarters in the state in that group.
Group B statewide is almost as short a list: Nasik, Murbad in Thane, Dahanu in Palghar, and Alibag and Sudhagad in Raigad. Everything else in Maharashtra — every taluka of Vidarbha, all of Marathwada, all of Solapur, Satara, Sangli, Kolhapur, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Ahmednagar, Jalgaon, Dhule and Nandurbar, and most of Nashik district — is Group C or lower, which is to say eligible.
And Some Talukas Are in Two Groups at Once
This is the part of the annexure that almost nobody has noticed, and it is worth real money. Several talukas are listed twice, in two different groups, distinguished by a printed legend — and the legend is not the same in every division:
Konkan Division
"@: Within Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR)"
"$: Outside MMR"
Bhiwandi — Group A inside, Group C outside.
Karjat (Raigad) — Group A inside, Group C outside.
Alibag — Group A inside, Group B outside.
Pune Division
"@: Within Pune Metropolitan Region (PMR)"
"$: Outside PMR"
Bhor, Daund, Shirur, Khed, Purandar — Group A inside, Group C outside.
Velhe — Group A inside, Group D+ outside.
Velhe is the extreme case: nothing at all inside the Pune Metropolitan Region, sixty per cent of eligible fixed capital investment over ten years outside it, in one taluka.
And the boundary is a village list, not a line on a map. The Pune Metropolitan Region is a notified list of 674 villages across nine talukas — Mawal 189, Mulshi 116, Khed 114, Shirur 68, Haveli 60, Daund 51, Velhe 46, Bhor 15 and Purandar 15. So the question "is my site inside the PMR?" is answered by looking up a village name, not by measuring a distance. We do that check against the address on the 7/12 extract before a client commits to land, and we do not guess at it in print — a claim like that is worth forty to sixty per cent of fixed capital investment.
What Each Classification Is Actually Worth
The ceiling on the basket of incentives, expressed as a percentage of eligible fixed capital investment, from the government resolution:
| Classification | Ceiling as % of fixed capital investment | Eligibility period |
|---|---|---|
| Group A — the MMR and PMR only | Nil — the table carries a dash | — |
| Group B | 30% | 7 years |
| Group C | 40% | 7 years |
| Group D | 50% | 10 years |
| Group D+ | 60% | 10 years |
| Vidarbha, Marathwada, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg & Dhule | 80% | 10 years |
| No-industry districts, naxalism-affected areas and aspirational districts | 100% | 10 years |
The resolution names the aspirational districts as Osmanabad, Gadchiroli, Washim and Nandurbar. It prints "NO INDUSTRY DISTRICT" across the entire rows of Gadchiroli and Hingoli. And a separate annexure names the naxalism-affected talukas: all of Gadchiroli and Gondia, nine talukas of Chandrapur, three of Bhandara, five of Yavatmal, and Kinwat in Nanded.
A Group A unit is not shut out of everything — the resolution expressly extends its additional incentives for strengthening MSMEs to Groups A and B: five per cent on capital equipment for technology upgradation up to ₹25 lakh, seventy-five per cent of quality certification costs up to ₹1 lakh, twenty-five per cent on cleaner-production equipment up to ₹5 lakh, and seventy-five per cent of patent registration costs. Useful, and measured in lakhs. The basket that moves a business case is the one with a dash against it.
Two rows of that table can describe the same place — Nagpur City is a Group D taluka and it is in Vidarbha. Our reading is that the regional row sets the ceiling for units in Vidarbha and Marathwada, which is how the scheme is generally applied, but the resolution does not spell the interaction out in a single sentence and we would rather say so than pretend otherwise. For a specific project we confirm the applicable ceiling in writing before it goes into a business plan.
The Thresholds Move Too — Which Matters More Than the Percentage
The percentage is only half the story. The other half is how much you have to invest before the state treats you as a Large Scale Industry or a Mega Project at all, and that threshold is set by the same classification.
| Classification | Large Scale Industry: min FCI / employment | Mega Project: min FCI / employment |
|---|---|---|
| Group A & B | ₹750 crore / 1,000 | ₹1,500 crore / 2,000 |
| Group C | ₹500 crore / 750 | ₹1,000 crore / 1,500 |
| Group D | ₹250 crore / 500 | ₹750 crore / 1,000 |
| Group D+ | ₹150 crore / 400 | ₹500 crore / 750 |
| Vidarbha, Marathwada, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg & Dhule | ₹100 crore / 300 | ₹350 crore / 500 |
| No-industry, naxalism-affected and aspirational districts | ₹100 crore / 250 | ₹200 crore / 350 |
| Ultra-Mega — entire State, no regional relief | — | ₹4,000 crore / 4,000 |
Which produces the single most useful sentence on this page. A ₹350 crore project in Vidarbha, Marathwada, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg or Dhule is a Mega Project. The same ₹350 crore project in Mumbai or Pune does not even qualify as a Large Scale Industry — the threshold there is ₹750 crore. Same money, same machines, same promoters. Two entirely different tiers of the state's incentive architecture, decided by where the plant stands.
There is also a power tariff subsidy for eligible new MSMEs: ₹1 per unit in Vidarbha, Marathwada, North Maharashtra, the Konkan districts of Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg, the no-industry districts, the naxalism-affected areas and the aspirational districts, against ₹0.50 per unit elsewhere, for three years from commencement of commercial production. In the resolution's own words, "the Units in Group 'A' areas will however not be eligible for this incentive."
These figures are from the 2019 Package Scheme of Incentives, read directly from the government resolution. The current policy is the Maharashtra Industries, Investment and Services Policy 2025, notified on 31 December 2025 and running to 30 December 2030, with a stated target of ₹70.5 lakh crore of investment and around 50 lakh jobs. Published analyses report that it carries over the 2019 area classification rather than notifying a new one, and that its services chapter — IT and ITeS, tourism, medical value travel, logistics, financial services, education — reaches Groups A and B, but at the highest employment thresholds in the state, reported at around 350 employees for an MSME-category services unit and around 750 for a special large-scale unit. Those 2025 figures come from published analyses rather than the resolution itself, which we have not read end to end.
The Question This Page Exists to AnswerWhere in Maharashtra Should You Actually Register?
There is no single answer, and any page that gives you one is selling something. Here is how we work through it.
Start with where the business physically is
The registered office is an address the Registrar can and does verify, and the whole compliance calendar hangs off it. If your people and your operations are in one place, that is where you register. Everything below is a tie-breaker, not an override.
If capital is going into the ground, the incentive map decides a great deal
For a manufacturing project the difference between a Group A address and a Vidarbha or Marathwada one is a dash against eighty per cent of fixed capital investment, plus a much lower bar to qualify as Large Scale or Mega. That is not a rounding error on a business plan; it is often the plan.
If it is a services business, the calculus inverts
Talent density, client proximity and regulator access are worth more than a subsidy you cannot reach. Mumbai and Pune are Group A for a reason — that is where the people and the counterparties are. The 2025 policy's services incentives do reach Group A, but at headcounts most companies take years to hit.
Then check the taluka, and if necessary the village
Not the district — the taluka. And in Bhiwandi, Karjat, Alibag, Bhor, Daund, Shirur, Khed, Purandar and Velhe, the village, because those talukas sit in two groups at once.
Finally, ask how likely you are to move
Since February 2026 an intra-state move between Registrar territories needs a special resolution and a Regional Director's order. Getting the registered office right on day one costs nothing; getting it wrong costs a filing programme. The next section sets it out.
And the honest version of the trade-off. Maharashtra's incentives are generous in Vidarbha and Marathwada precisely because those regions have struggled to attract industry. What the state is offering is money in exchange for a thinner vendor ecosystem and a shallower experienced-hiring pool. For a capital-intensive plant that trade is often clearly worth taking — and the Samruddhi Mahamarg, fully operational since 5 June 2025 and running 701 kilometres from Nagpur to Mumbai in a reported eight hours against roughly sixteen before, has made it materially easier to take. For a services business that needs to hire two hundred experienced engineers in a quarter, it usually is not. We will work through which one you are rather than tell you the answer in advance.
Far More Intra-State Moves Now Need a Regional Director's Order
The proviso to section 12(5) of the Companies Act 2013 provides that a company shall not change the place of its registered office from the jurisdiction of one Registrar to the jurisdiction of another Registrar within the same State unless the change is confirmed by the Regional Director on an application made in the prescribed manner.
That proviso has been on the statute book for years. What changed on 16 February 2026 is how often it bites. Maharashtra used to have two Registrar territories, one of them covering twenty-eight districts. It now has four. Moves that were internal a year ago now cross a boundary:
| Move | Before 16 Feb 2026 | Now |
|---|---|---|
| Mumbai → Thane or Navi Mumbai | Plain INC-22 | Registrar and Regional Directorate both change |
| Mumbai → Nashik or Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar | Plain INC-22 | Registrar and Regional Directorate both change |
| Nagpur → Nashik | Plain INC-22 | Registrar changes; same Regional Director |
| Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar → Jalna | Plain INC-22 | Registrar changes; same Regional Director |
| Pune → Mumbai | Registrar changed already | Registrar and Regional Directorate both change |
| Thane → Nashik | Plain INC-22 | Still inside RoC Mumbai-II — plain INC-22 |
What the move takes when the proviso applies
Board resolution and special resolution
Board meeting to approve the shift and convene the general meeting, then a special resolution of the members, with the registered-office clause of the MoA altered where required.
Form MGT-14
The special resolution is filed with the Registrar within thirty days.
Form INC-23 to the Regional Director
Application under rule 28 of the Companies (Incorporation) Rules 2014, with declarations that there is no default in payment of dues to workmen, that creditors have consented or their dues are provided for, and that the change will not prejudice the jurisdiction of any pending prosecution.
The Regional Director's order
Rule 28 requires the order approving or rejecting the application to be passed within fifteen days of receipt of an application complete in all respects. A query on the application restarts that clock, which is why the file has to be right first time.
Forms INC-28 and INC-22
The certified copy of the order is filed in INC-28 within thirty days, and the new address in INC-22 with address proof, utility bill and the owner's no-objection.
The good news: the 2017 amendment to rule 28 removed the earlier requirement to advertise the proposed shift in newspapers and to serve individual notices on every creditor and debtor. The creditor position is handled by declaration now, which is what keeps this a matter of weeks rather than months. Separately, if the company has claimed or intends to claim state incentives, a move out of a Group D, D+ or regional-band location has consequences under the incentive scheme as well as under the Companies Act — those need checking before the special resolution is passed, not after.
Company Registration Across Maharashtra
We file across the state. Each card shows the Registrar and the incentive position, and the city pages carry the detail.
Thane & Navi Mumbai
Thane, Kalyan, Dombivli, Bhiwandi, Vashi, Airoli, Belapur.
RoC Mumbai-II · WR-II · Group A, B or C by taluka
Pune
Pune City, Hinjawadi, Kharadi, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Chakan, Baramati.
RoC Pune · WR-II · Group A to D by taluka
Nagpur
Nagpur, MIHAN, Butibori, Hingna, and seventeen more districts.
RoC Nagpur · WR-II · Vidarbha 80% band
Nashik
Nashik, Sinnar, Niphad, Igatpuri, Malegaon.
RoC Mumbai-II · Nasik is Group B; the rest of the district C to D+
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar
The city, Waluj, Shendra, Paithan, Vaijapur.
RoC Mumbai-II · Marathwada 80% band · city is Group D
Amravati & the Vidarbha belt
Amravati, Akola, Washim, Buldhana, Yavatmal, Wardha, Chandrapur.
RoC Nagpur · Group D+ · 80% band
Kolhapur, Sangli, Satara & Solapur
The southern belt.
RoC Pune · Group C to D+
Ratnagiri & Sindhudurg
The Konkan coast.
RoC Pune · named in the 80% band
Why Maharashtra, and Where the State Is Genuinely Strong
The financial system is here
The Reserve Bank of India and the Securities and Exchange Board of India are headquartered in Mumbai, as are both stock exchanges and most scheduled commercial banks. For anything that needs a regulator's approval, the decision-makers are in this state.
Two complete manufacturing ecosystems
The Pune–Chakan–Ranjangaon automotive cluster and the Vidarbha and Marathwada industrial belts serve different needs — one deep in vendors, the other deep in incentives. Very few states offer both.
Ports, and now two airports in the MMR
JNPA at Nhava Sheva, plus Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International and, since 25 December 2025, Navi Mumbai International Airport at Ulwe in Raigad district.
The Samruddhi Mahamarg
701 kilometres, fully operational since 5 June 2025, Nagpur to Mumbai in a reported eight hours against roughly sixteen. It is what turns Vidarbha's incentives from theoretical into usable.
Courts and tribunals with real depth
The Bombay High Court with benches at Nagpur and Aurangabad, the Mumbai NCLT, and a commercial bar that specialises. For a company likely to litigate or restructure, that is an unglamorous but real advantage.
Talent at three price points
Mumbai, Pune and the Nagpur–Nashik tier price very differently for comparable skills. A company that is honest about which tier it needs can save a great deal without leaving the state.
Instant Cost Estimator — Pvt Ltd in Maharashtra
Get an indicative professional-fee estimate based on your company structure. Government fees (ROC, stamp duty, DSC tokens) are charged at actuals and confirmed on your free call.
Setting up an Indian subsidiary for an overseas parent? Use our foreign subsidiary set-up cost estimator instead — the cost structure is different.
Step-by-Step Registration Procedure
Settle district, taluka and — where it matters — village
The district confirms the Registrar. The taluka decides the incentive classification. In the nine split talukas the village decides it. All three are settled before we draft.
Digital Signature Certificate (DSC)
A Class 3 DSC for every proposed director, through Aadhaar OTP or video KYC. For a foreign director the route is passport-based with notarisation and apostille, usually the longest item on the critical path.
Director Identification Number (DIN)
Allotted through SPICe+ itself for first-time directors. At least one director must be resident in India.
Name reservation and approval
Two proposed names through SPICe+ Part A. Check first with our company name availability tool. Maharashtra carries one of India's largest company registries, so near-identical names are refused more often here than in most states.
Drafting MoA and AoA
Objects, share classes, reserved matters, transfer restrictions and board composition, aligned to any shareholders' agreement. For a manufacturing project the objects clause will be read later by MIDC and by whoever issues the eligibility certificate, so it is worth getting broad enough at incorporation.
Filing SPICe+ with the correct Registrar
SPICe+ Part B with AGILE-PRO-S (INC-35) and INC-9. In Maharashtra that single form also carries your profession tax registration — one of only three states where this is built into incorporation.
Certificate of Incorporation, PAN and TAN
The certificate carries the CIN and names the office — Mumbai-I, Mumbai-II, Nagpur or Pune. Since 2026 "Mumbai" on its own is no longer an answer.
Post-incorporation setup
Current account activation, GST registration if not taken through AGILE-PRO-S, Udyam registration, the shops and establishments intimation or registration, and — if foreign money is coming in — the time-bound FC-GPR filing through the RBI's Single Master Form.
Documents Required for Registration
For Indian directors and shareholders
- PAN card (mandatory for Indian nationals)
- Aadhaar card
- Passport-size photograph
- Identity proof — Voter ID, Passport or Driving Licence
- Address proof — bank statement or utility bill, not older than two months
- Email ID and mobile number linked to Aadhaar
For a foreign parent or foreign director
- Passport and address proof, notarised and apostilled in the home country
- Board resolution of the parent authorising the Indian investment and naming the authorised signatory
- Certificate of incorporation and charter documents of the parent, apostilled
- Proof of the registered office — utility bill, NOC from the owner, and the leave and licence agreement
A residential address is valid anywhere in the state. Co-working works where the agreement and a utility bill in the provider's name are available. Two cautions that recur across Maharashtra: many co-operative housing societies restrict commercial use, so check the byelaws before the address goes into the MoA; and for an MIDC plot, confirm the allotment position and permitted use first.
Timeline & Cost Overview
| Stage | Typical time | What decides it |
|---|---|---|
| DSC for all directors | 1–2 working days | Same day for Indian directors with Aadhaar OTP; several days if a foreign director needs apostilled documents |
| Name approval (SPICe+ Part A) | 1–3 working days | Distinctiveness against a very large state registry |
| Drafting and signing MoA, AoA, INC-9 | 1–2 working days | Longer where a shareholders' agreement or a manufacturing objects clause has to be reflected |
| SPICe+ Part B, AGILE-PRO-S processing | 3–5 working days | Registrar queue and whether the file attracts a resubmission |
| Total, clean file | 7–10 working days | A resubmission typically adds three to five working days |
Profession Tax Comes With Your Incorporation
Most states leave profession tax to be sorted out afterwards. Maharashtra does not. Under MCA's own service list, profession tax registration is applied for through SPICe+ itself for new companies incorporated in Maharashtra, with effect from 23 February 2020. Only two other states have this — Karnataka from 8 October 2020 and West Bengal from 12 March 2020.
PTEC — Profession Tax Enrolment Certificate
What the company itself pays for the privilege of carrying on business, and what each director pays personally. A flat ₹2,500 a year per certificate. Every company needs one, employees or not.
PTRC — Profession Tax Registration Certificate
The certificate under which the company deducts profession tax from employees' salaries and pays it over. Needed once you have salaried employees above the threshold.
| Monthly salary or wage | Profession tax per month |
|---|---|
| Up to ₹7,500 | Nil |
| ₹7,501 to ₹10,000 | ₹175 |
| Above ₹10,000 | ₹200, and ₹300 in February — ₹2,500 for the year |
| Women, up to ₹25,000 a month | Nil — exempt since 1 April 2023 |
The February figure is not a mistake. Maharashtra collects ₹200 for eleven months and ₹300 in the twelfth so the annual total lands exactly on the ₹2,500 ceiling that Article 276 of the Constitution sets for taxes on professions, trades, callings and employments. Payroll software configured for a flat ₹200 will under-deduct every February.
Diary note for 2026. An amendment to rule 11(3) effective 28 February 2026 moved the Maharashtra profession tax due dates onto the 15th, replacing the older month-end, 31 March and 30 June references. PTEC for the year is due by 15 June where enrolment was before 15 May. PTRC is annual by 15 March where the previous year's liability was under ₹50,000, and monthly by the 15th above that — and a company in its first year of PTRC files monthly regardless of amount.
Shops & Establishments: The Ten-Worker Line
The governing law is the Maharashtra Shops and Establishments (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 2017, which replaced the 1948 Act and applies across the state.
Ten or more workers — section 6
- Apply online for registration within 60 days of commencing business
- The Facilitator issues a registration certificate and a Labour Identification Number
- Valid for the period requested, up to a maximum of ten years; renewal at least 30 days before expiry
Fewer than ten workers — section 7
- No registration at all. An intimation to the Facilitator within 60 days
- Online, with self-declaration and self-certified documents
- You receive a receipt of intimation, not a licence
- Penalty for not doing it: ₹1,000
Most newly incorporated companies in Maharashtra are on the section 7 side on day one and do not need the "Gumasta licence" that a great many websites will sell them. A factory is governed by the Factories Act instead.
Stamp Duty on MoA & AoA in Maharashtra
| Instrument | Article | Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Memorandum of Association | Article 39, Maharashtra Stamp Act 1958 | Flat ₹1,000 |
| Articles of Association | Article 10, Maharashtra Stamp Act 1958 | 0.3% of authorised share capital, maximum ₹1 crore |
The 2024 increase most quote sheets have not caught up with. The Maharashtra Stamp (Amendment) Ordinance took effect on 14 October 2024 and raised Article 10 from 0.2% of share capital, capped at ₹50 lakh, to 0.3%, capped at ₹1 crore — a fifty per cent increase in the rate. The same ordinance raised the stamp on an affidavit and on an Article 5(h) agreement from ₹100 to ₹500.
On ₹10 lakh of authorised capital the Articles now attract ₹3,000 rather than ₹2,000; on ₹1 crore, ₹30,000 rather than ₹20,000. The same 0.3% applies on later increases through Form SH-7, on the increase — so deferring does not save duty, but nor does it cost extra. Compare states with our stamp duty calculator.
This is a different exemption from the stamp duty exemption on industrial land that the incentive schemes provide to eligible units in the less developed groups. The two are regularly confused. The incorporation duty above is payable everywhere in the state, Vidarbha included.
FDI, FEMA and the Filings That Follow Incorporation
Maharashtra takes more foreign investment than any other Indian state, and Mumbai is where most of the banking and regulatory counterparties sit. Incorporation is the easy half; the filings that follow are time-bound and the penalties for missing them are real.
Entry route
Most sectors permit 100% foreign investment under the automatic route with no prior approval. Some — defence, broadcasting, print media, multi-brand retail — need government approval, and a few are prohibited. Sector and activity are checked against the FDI Policy before the objects clause is drafted.
Entity Master and the Single Master Form
Before the first FC-GPR the company registers on the RBI's FIRMS portal through the Entity Master. Companies routinely discover this only when the FC-GPR is already due.
Pricing and valuation
Shares issued to a non-resident cannot be priced below fair value determined by an internationally accepted methodology, certified by a merchant banker or a chartered accountant. Section 56(2)(viib) and rule 11UA also have to be satisfied on the income-tax side.
Form FC-GPR
Filed within 30 days of allotment. Allotment must happen within 60 days of receiving the money, failing which the money is refundable within 15 days. FC-GPR filing →
Annual FLA return
The Foreign Liabilities and Assets return is due by 15 July each year for every company holding foreign investment, including in years when nothing new came in.
FC-TRS on transfers
Any transfer of shares between a resident and a non-resident is reported in FC-TRS within 60 days. Secondary transfers are missed far more often than fresh issues.
Where there is a foreign parent there will usually be international transactions with associated enterprises, bringing transfer pricing documentation and Form 3CEB, and outward remittances requiring Form 15CA and 15CB. If the structure is a branch, liaison or project office rather than a subsidiary, see branch office, liaison office and project office registration, or our foreign subsidiary company service.
Licences & Registrations Applicable in Maharashtra
Applies to almost every Maharashtra company
- PTEC — profession tax enrolment, ₹2,500 a year, from day one
- PTRC — once you have salaried employees above the threshold
- Shops and establishments — intimation under section 7, or registration under section 6 at ten workers
- GST registration — on crossing the threshold, or immediately for inter-state supply, e-commerce and exports
- Udyam (MSME) registration — free, and it unlocks the 45-day payment protection
- EPFO and ESIC — applied for through AGILE-PRO-S; obligations bite at the statutory headcounts
Sector and project-specific
- MIDC plot allotment and transfer approvals
- MPCB consent to establish, then consent to operate — before construction, not after
- Eligibility Certificate from the District Industries Centre — the document the whole incentive claim runs on
- Factories Act licence and Directorate of Industrial Safety and Health approvals
- Import Export Code for anything crossing a customs frontier
- FSSAI, SEBI registration, RBI authorisation and PESO licences by sector
- POSH — an internal committee is mandatory at ten or more employees
- Trademark registration — in the company's name, not a founder's
Why Choose TAXAJ for Your Maharashtra Company
We confirm all three maps
Registrar, Regional Director and incentive classification. They no longer follow one another, and getting any of the three wrong costs either time or money.
We have read the annexure
Every table on this page is quoted from the government resolution, division by division, not paraphrased from another website. Where the resolution is ambiguous we say so rather than smoothing it over.
India entry, end to end
Apostille chains, entry route, valuation, Entity Master, FC-GPR, FLA, FC-TRS and transfer pricing — the work that decides whether a subsidiary runs cleanly.
Maharashtra payroll compliance from day one
PTEC, PTRC, the February ₹300 deduction, the 2026 due-date change and the shops and establishments position — set up correctly at incorporation rather than corrected in year two.
CA, CS and lawyer in one team
Incorporation, tax, GST, ROC, FEMA and legal drafting handled by one accountable team instead of four vendors who each blame the others.
We will tell you not to
If the right answer is a different district — or a different state — we will say so before you file. We have said exactly that on our Mumbai page about subsidies and on our Nagpur page about vendor ecosystems.
TAXAJ does not have an office in Maharashtra. We serve clients across the state from our offices in Delhi, Bengaluru, Bihar and Goa, and the entire incorporation is online — DSC by video KYC, documents by secure upload, filings through the MCA portal. We say this plainly because a firm that invents a local address on its website is telling you something about how it will handle yours.
Post-Incorporation Compliances
Immediate — first 30 to 180 days
- Bank account activation and deposit of subscription money
- Form INC-20A declaration of commencement of business within 180 days
- First board meeting within 30 days of incorporation
- Auditor appointed within 30 days, in Form ADT-1
- PTEC enrolment and, where applicable, PTRC
- Shops and establishments intimation or registration within 60 days
- FC-GPR within 30 days of allotment, if foreign money has come in
Annual
- AOC-4 — financial statements, within 30 days of the AGM
- MGT-7 or MGT-7A — annual return, within 60 days of the AGM
- DIR-3 KYC for every director, by 30 September
- Income tax return and, where applicable, tax audit and Form 3CEB
- FLA return by 15 July where there is foreign investment
- PTRC annual return by 15 March, or monthly by the 15th above ₹50,000
- Incentive claim filings where an Eligibility Certificate is held
See our full annual compliance guide for private limited companies, and our Maharashtra company compliance page.
Private Limited vs LLP vs OPC in Maharashtra
| Question | Private Limited | LLP | OPC |
|---|---|---|---|
| Can it raise equity from investors? | Yes | No | No — must convert first |
| Minimum members | 2 | 2 | 1, plus a nominee |
| Foreign investment | Automatic route in most sectors | Automatic route only where 100% FDI is allowed without conditions | Not permitted for non-residents to hold |
| Suits a capital-intensive project | Yes — the structure lenders and incentive schemes assume | Workable, but harder to fund | No |
| ESOPs | Yes | No | Not practical |
| Annual compliance burden | Highest | Lighter | Moderate |
| Profession tax in Maharashtra | PTEC for the company and each director | PTEC for the LLP and each partner | PTEC for the company and the member |
| Suits | Anything that will raise money, hire, build or be acquired | Professional services, family businesses, holding structures | A single founder testing an idea |
Compare in detail: private limited company, LLP registration and one person company.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many Registrars of Companies does Maharashtra have now?
Four. RoC Mumbai-I at Mumbai (Mumbai and Mumbai Suburban), RoC Mumbai-II at Navi Mumbai (Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Dhule, Jalgaon, Nandurbar, Nashik, Palghar, Raigad and Thane), RoC Nagpur (eighteen Vidarbha and Marathwada districts) and RoC Pune (Ahmednagar, Kolhapur, Pune, Ratnagiri, Sangli, Satara, Sindhudurg and Solapur). The first three were created or reorganised by notification S.O. 4850(E) with effect from 16 February 2026; RoC Pune is unchanged and does not appear in the notification.
How do I know the district allocation is complete?
By arithmetic. Two districts with Mumbai-I, eight with Mumbai-II, eighteen with Nagpur and eight with Pune is thirty-six — every district in Maharashtra, accounted for exactly once. That is also how we satisfied ourselves that Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg stayed with RoC Pune rather than moving.
Who is my Regional Director?
If your registered office is in Mumbai City or Mumbai Suburban, the Regional Director, Western Region-I at Mumbai, which also covers Goa and Daman and Diu. Everywhere else in Maharashtra, the new Western Region-II at Navi Mumbai, which covers all thirty-four remaining districts. Mumbai City and Mumbai Suburban are the only part of the state that kept both its Registrar and its Regional Director.
Does my incentive classification follow from my Registrar?
No, and this is the most common mistake. The three maps are independent. Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar files with RoC Mumbai-II but sits in the Marathwada 80 per cent band. Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg file with RoC Pune and are named in the same 80 per cent band. Nandurbar files with RoC Mumbai-II and is an aspirational district at the 100 per cent ceiling. The 80 per cent band spans three of the four Registrars.
Which parts of Maharashtra are Group A?
Only the Mumbai Metropolitan Region and the Pune Metropolitan Region. The complete list is Greater Mumbai; Thane, Kalyan, Ulhasnagar, Ambernath and the in-MMR part of Bhiwandi; Vasai and Palghar; Uran, Panvel, Khalapur, Pen, Roha and the in-MMR parts of Alibag and Karjat; and Pune City, Maval and the in-PMR parts of Haveli, Mulshi, Bhor, Daund, Shirur, Khed, Purandar and Velhe. Nowhere else in the state is Group A. Nagpur City is Group D, and Nashik is the only district headquarters classified Group B.
Why is one taluka listed in two different groups?
Because the taluka annexure marks certain talukas twice, with a printed legend distinguishing the part inside a metropolitan region from the part outside it — and the legend differs by division. In the Konkan Division it is the Mumbai Metropolitan Region; in the Pune Division it is the Pune Metropolitan Region. Bhiwandi, Karjat and Alibag are split in Konkan; Bhor, Daund, Shirur, Khed, Purandar and Velhe in Pune. Velhe is the extreme case, Group A inside the PMR and Group D+ outside it.
How do I find out whether my site is inside the metropolitan region?
The boundary is a notified list of villages, not a radius. For the Pune Metropolitan Region the authority publishes 674 villages across nine talukas — Mawal 189, Mulshi 116, Khed 114, Shirur 68, Haveli 60, Daund 51, Velhe 46, Bhor 15 and Purandar 15. The village name on the 7/12 extract is checked against that list. We do not guess at it in print, because the answer is worth forty to sixty per cent of eligible fixed capital investment.
Is it easier to qualify as a Large Scale or Mega project outside the metros?
Substantially. A Large Scale Industry needs ₹750 crore of fixed capital investment in Group A and B areas but only ₹100 crore in Vidarbha, Marathwada, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg and Dhule. A Mega Project needs ₹1,500 crore in Group A and B and ₹350 crore in those regions. So a ₹350 crore project in Vidarbha is a Mega Project, while the same project in Mumbai does not even qualify as a Large Scale Industry.
Can I move my registered office within Maharashtra later?
Yes, but since 16 February 2026 it depends which territories you are crossing. A move inside the same Registrar's territory — Thane to Nashik, for instance — remains a plain INC-22. A move between Registrar territories requires confirmation by the Regional Director under the proviso to section 12(5): board resolution, special resolution, MGT-14, an application in INC-23 under rule 28, the Regional Director's order, then INC-28 and INC-22. Because the state went from two territories to four, far more moves now trigger this than used to.
Do I have to register for profession tax anywhere in Maharashtra?
Yes, statewide. Maharashtra is one of only three states — with Karnataka and West Bengal — where profession tax registration is applied for through the SPICe+ incorporation form itself. Your company needs a PTEC from day one at ₹2,500 a year and each director enrols personally; a PTRC follows once you have salaried employees above the threshold. Deduction is ₹200 a month above ₹10,000 of salary, with ₹300 in February; women earning up to ₹25,000 a month are fully exempt.
How much is stamp duty on incorporation in Maharashtra?
The Memorandum attracts a flat ₹1,000 under Article 39. The Articles attract 0.3% of authorised share capital under Article 10, capped at ₹1 crore — raised from 0.2% with a ₹50 lakh cap by the Maharashtra Stamp (Amendment) Ordinance effective 14 October 2024. This is separate from the stamp duty exemption on industrial land that the incentive schemes provide to eligible units.
Do I need to be in Maharashtra to register a company there?
No. The whole process is online — DSC through Aadhaar OTP or video KYC, documents by secure upload, and filing through the MCA portal. TAXAJ has no Maharashtra office; we serve clients across the state from Delhi, Bengaluru, Bihar and Goa. You will need a genuine registered-office address in the state, which the Registrar can and does verify.
Private Limited Company Registration in Other States & Cities
Ready to Register Your Company in Maharashtra?
CA · CS · Lawyer — one team for your incorporation, FDI and FEMA filings, tax, GST, profession tax and ROC compliance, filed with the correct Registrar for your district. Tell us the taluka and we will set out your incentive position before you build a plan on it. Get started in a 15-minute free call.