Guide on How to Select Your India Company Name

Here is a simple, secure, yet comprehensive guide to selecting your India company’s name. One of the first and significant things one has to do concerning starting an India company is finding a suitable company name. While it is essential to be creative and take into account market research and economic and strategic factors while deciding the company name, something that people often overlook is the law.

There are two explanations why you need to consider the rules of the naming of a company – firstly, registering a business or LLP you need to file the name with the Registrar of Corporations, and secondly, you need to secure the name as a trademark. A trademarked name is something that anyone company or person can use – because someone else has already licensed it – you couldn’t have it at all. If by mistake, you start a business with the same name, you may be brought to court and made to pay compensation other than being forced to discontinue the use of that name. In business terms, that’s potentially damaging because your customers know you by a name – changing it can confuse them, and in an online market – makes it hard to find. Also, because you cannot file a trademark yourself, it could open you up to extreme abuse from someone who might use the same brand and get a free pass on your reputation – or create a poor image for you because they are providing unsatisfactory services or products.

 

How to Choose The Name For Your Startup?

The name of the India Company is the identity of the company and what people use to refer to it. It may also be easier to choose a company name than choosing a market opportunity, so in many instances, people have gone ahead so launched a company without an appropriate name. It can hurt the reputation of the product or the business itself because you’re losing customers who don’t understand what your product is doing, so many similar companies or because of the brand name, it’s just hard for them to find you. So, here’s a guide to picking the name of your business in India.

 

The Law Says

Section 20 of the Companies Act, 1956 declares that no business should be registered with an unacceptable name. A name is considered to be undesirable if it is identical with or too nearly resembling with the name of a company in existence or a registered trademark or a trademark which is subject of a request for registration, of any other individual under the Trade Marks Act, 1999. Once the new rules made by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) are given effect to, before applying for registration of a company, one would be required to search on the MCA website for same names before and be sure that the suggested name is odd before applying.

 

Your name must be different from the names of existing companies:

Remember that company names are not distinguished with prefixes/suffixes, tense changes or adding words like ‘The’ or ‘and’ or ‘co’ or ‘industries’ which are generic. The keyword(s) in the name must be considerably contrasting.

 

The following are to be dismissed when examining whether the suggested name of a company is similar to one already in existence or not: 

• The words Limited Liability Partnership, Private, Pvt, Pvt., (P), Limited, Ltd, Ltd., LLP;
• The words showing at the end of the names – company, and company, co., co, corporation, corp, corpn, corp.;
• The plural type of any of the words reflecting in the name;
• The variations and case of letters, the spacing between letters and punctuation marks;
• Combining words together or separating the words does not make the name recognizable
• The use of opposing tense or number of the similar meaning (eg Chaar & Four or 3 & three)
• Using different phonetic spellings or spelling types does not recognize one name from another
• The inclusion of an internet-related designation, such as – COM, .NET, .EDU,.GOV, ORG, .IN. even if “.” is written as “dot”
• Inclusion of words to a name used by another company is not permissible

 

The following are allowable given no objection by way of Board resolution of the current company is received:

• Different combination of the same words
• The following are to be observed for the Exact Hindi translation of the name of an existing company in English as well:
• If the proposed name resembles that of a company in liquidation, the name shall not be allowed for two years after the dissolution.
• In case a company is disseminated under Section 560 of the Companies Act, 1956 a same name cannot be registered until 20 years have passed after liquidation.
• Even a different spelling of a word does not work as long as the sound is the same. If there is a business named Intelligent Pvt Ltd, you cannot name your new company Intelizent Pvt Ltd or The Intelizent Pvt Ltd.

 

Name Must Not Recommend a Connection With Government or Foreign Institutions

Next, you should also ensure that the name does not contain (or imitates or in any way conveys a relation to) any of the following, as set out in the Act, 1950, Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use).

Here are the provided organisations you need to check with:

• United Nations Organisation
• World Health Organisation
• The Indian National Flag, the Government of India or any State, a Department of any such Government
• St. John Ambulance Association (India)
• The president, governor (Sardar-I-Riyasat) or Republic or Union of India, any name which may suggest or be calculated to suggest the patronage of the Government of India or the Government of a State; or link with any local authority or any company or body constituted by the Government
• Mahatma Gandhi,
• Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru
• Shrimati Indira Gandhi
• Chhatrapati Shivaji or the Prime Minister of India or the words Gandhi, Nehru or Shivaji
• International Civil Aviation Organisation
• Interpol
• International Criminal Police Organisation
• World Meteorological Organisation
• Tuberculosis Association of India
• International Atomic Energy Agency
• Ashoka Chakra
• Dharma Chakra, the name of the Parliament or the legislature of any State, or the Supreme Court, or the High Court of any State, or the Central Secretariat, any other Government office or the Secretariat of any state
• Ramakrishna Math and Mission
• Sri Sarada Math and Ramakrishna Sarada Mission
• Bharat Scouts and Guides
• International Olympic Committee
• National Youth
• Auroville
• The name of Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust
• Sri Sathya Sai
• National Human Rights Commission

 

Once you find that you have not used any of the above regarding the name, you should also consider whether the proposed name might be offensive to any section of the people, whether it contains any profanity or words or phrases that are generally considered to be a slur against any ethnic group, religion, gender or inheritance.

Also, it’s not just one name you can choose from. In order of preference, you must provide the Registrar with no less than six different names on the e-form, and the names should indicate the main objects of the company.

Key Words in the Name of a company and Approved Capital Required (INR)

1. Corporation – 5 crores
2. International, Globe, Global, Universal, Universe, Continental, Inter-Continental, Asiatic, Asia, Asian, World being the first word of the name – 1 crore
3. If any of the keywords at (2) above is used within the name (with or without brackets) or Hindustan, Hindustani, Hindustanee, India, Indian, Bharat, Bharati, Bharatiya, Bharateeya, being the first word of the name – 50 lakhs
4. Hindustan, Hindustani, Hindustanee, India, Indian, Bharat, Bharati, Bharatiya, Bharateeya is used within the name (with or without brackets) – 5 lakhs
5. Industries, Udyog, Industrial, Industry – 1 crore
6. Enterprises, Enterprise, Products, Product, Business, Manufacturing, Manufacture – 10 lakhs

 

All of the above applies to name an LLP as well.

We are here to help you. For more information on selecting your company name, contact us today.