Check Indian company registration status in 2026 on MCA V3 in minutes. Decode Active, Strike Off, Dormant, and Under Liquidation states with confidence.
How to Check Company Registration Status in India
Checking a company's registration status in India takes under five minutes on the MCA V3 portal (mca.gov.in) and costs nothing. Enter the Corporate Identity Number (CIN) or company name under View Company/LLP Master Data, and the portal returns the current status in real time — Active, Strike Off, Dormant, Under Liquidation, or several intermediate states. This single check, combined with a review of recent annual filing dates, gives you a reliable picture of whether an entity is legally capable of transacting before you commit money or sign a contract.
What Each MCA Status Code Actually Means
The MCA database holds multiple status values, and each one carries distinct legal consequences. Treating "Active" as a binary green light — and everything else as an automatic red — misses important nuance in the intermediate states. Here is what each status actually signals.
Active
The company is on the Register of Companies, its incorporation documents are in order, and it has not been flagged for strike-off. Note carefully: Active status does not guarantee current compliance. A company can sit in Active status while carrying two or more years of overdue AOC-4 (Financial Statements) and MGT-7 (Annual Return) filings. The ROC has not yet initiated strike-off proceedings — but the non-compliance is already there, waiting.
Active in Progress
A recently filed form — typically a change of registered office (INC-22), a directorship alteration, or a share capital change — is under Straight Through Processing or manual scrutiny. The status will revert to Active once the form is approved, or change to another value if rejected. Transactions are generally safe during this state, but verify what form is in progress and whether it concerns a material change in the entity.
Dormant
Declared under Section 455 of the Companies Act, 2013, a dormant company has had no significant accounting transactions for two or more consecutive financial years. The board passes a special resolution (or obtains written approval from all shareholders), files Form MSC-1 with the Registrar of Companies (ROC), and pays the prescribed fees. In return, the company files a simplified return (Form MSC-3) each year instead of the full AOC-4 and MGT-7 suite, and directors are not disqualified solely for serving on a dormant company.
Dormant is not inherently dangerous — it means the promoters chose to preserve the entity's existence without active operations. But a dormant company cannot legally carry on any business during the dormancy period. Transacting with it exposes you to an unenforceable contract.
Under Process of Strike Off
The ROC has issued a notice under Section 248(1) or 248(2) of the Companies Act, 2013, proposing to remove the company from the register. The company typically has 30 days to respond before the process concludes. This is a hard red flag. Any payment, new contract, or credit extended during this window carries acute recovery risk. If the ROC completes the strike-off, the entity ceases to exist as a legal person — and your contract becomes a claim against a void.
Strike Off / Dissolved
The company has been removed from the Register of Companies. It cannot legally enter contracts, employ staff, hold property, or operate a bank account. Banks typically freeze the accounts of struck-off companies upon receiving the updated MCA data feed or on RBI guidance. Restoration is available under Section 252 of the Companies Act, 2013, on petition to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), within 20 years of the date of strike-off. Restoration is legally possible — but expensive and slow.
Under Liquidation
A winding-up order has been passed, or the company is in Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC). A licensed Insolvency Professional (IP) or Official Liquidator now controls the company's assets and operations. You cannot contract with an "Under Liquidation" entity without the IP's written approval. If the company owes you money, you must file your claim with the liquidator — not pursue the company directly through civil courts.
Amalgamated / Converted
The company has merged into a surviving entity (Amalgamated) or changed its form — for example, from a private limited company to an LLP, or vice versa. The master data screen typically references the successor entity's CIN or LLPIN. Always verify the surviving entity before proceeding with any transaction.
Step-by-Step: Checking Status on MCA V3 Portal
MCA V3 replaced the older MCA21 system and is the definitive source for company and LLP data in India. No login or registration is required for a basic status check. Here is the exact sequence:
- Open your browser and navigate to mca.gov.in
- Click MCA Services in the top navigation bar
- Under the Company/LLP Master Data section, click View Company or LLP Master Data
- In the search field, enter one of the following identifiers:
- CIN (Corporate Identity Number) — a 21-character alphanumeric string, for example
U72900DL2020PTC370214 - LLPIN (LLP Identification Number) — for limited liability partnerships
- Company or LLP Name — use a partial name if you do not have the CIN; the system returns a list of matches
- Complete the CAPTCHA and click Submit
- The Master Data screen loads. Locate the Company Status field in the first section
If you are reading a CIN for the first time: the leading letter (U or L) denotes Unlisted or Listed, the five-digit code is the National Industrial Classification, the two-letter code is the state of incorporation, the four-digit number is the year of incorporation, the three-letter code is entity type (PTC = private company, FLC = foreign company, LLP = limited liability partnership), and the six-digit trailing number is a sequential registry number. This structure lets you instantly confirm the state of ROC jurisdiction and the year the entity was formed.
How to Read the Master Data Screen Thoroughly
The status field is one line on the screen. A genuinely useful due-diligence review covers several additional data points on the same page.
Date of Incorporation and Registered Address
Verify that the registered address matches what the counterparty has provided to you in correspondence, invoices, or the contract. A mismatch between the MCA-registered address and the invoice address is a yellow flag: it may indicate an outdated registration, a branch-level mistake, or, in adverse cases, fraud.
Annual Filing Recency
Scroll to the Filing Details section. Look specifically for:
- AOC-4 — the form for filing financial statements. For a company with financial year ending 31 March 2025 and AGM held by 30 September 2025, the AOC-4 due date is 29 October 2025
- MGT-7 / MGT-7A — the annual return form. Due 60 days after the AGM, so by 28 November 2025 for the same timeline
- For One Person Companies (OPCs): forms are due 180 days from the close of the financial year, i.e., by 27 September 2025 for FY 2024-25
If the last AOC-4 or MGT-7 on MCA V3 is for a financial year that ended more than 18 months ago, the company is almost certainly in default — even if its status still shows Active.
Index of Charges
Click the Index of Charges tab on the master data screen. This shows mortgages, hypothecations, and charges registered in favour of lenders, along with their creation dates and satisfaction status. Open charges from recent years on a small or mid-sized vendor signal that the company's assets are encumbered — which affects your priority in any recovery scenario.
Director Information and DIN Status
The master data lists each director's name and DIN (Director Identification Number). You can verify DIN status separately on MCA V3 to confirm whether a director has been disqualified under Section 164(2) of the Companies Act, 2013 — typically for non-filing of returns for three consecutive years. A director disqualified under Section 164(2) cannot serve on any company's board; a company with such a director is itself non-compliant.
Checking LLP Status: Same Portal, Different Forms and Deadlines
The View Company or LLP Master Data flow applies equally to Limited Liability Partnerships using the LLPIN. But LLPs file different statutory forms with different deadlines:
- Form 8 (Statement of Account and Solvency): due 30 October each year for the preceding financial year. For FY 2025-26, due 30 October 2026
- Form 11 (Annual Return of LLP): due 30 May each year. For FY 2025-26, this deadline was 30 May 2026
Late filing fee for both forms: Rs. 100 per day per form, starting the day after the due date, with no statutory cap.
A practical example: an LLP that files Form 11 for FY 2025-26 on 30 August 2026 instead of 30 May 2026 has delayed by 92 days. The additional fee due is Rs. 100 × 92 = Rs. 9,200 on that single form alone, on top of the normal filing fee. If Form 8 is also delayed by a similar margin, total excess fees can easily cross Rs. 18,000-20,000 per financial year — a material compliance cost for a small professional LLP.
Why Active Status Alone Is Not Enough
This is the most critical insight for any buyer, lender, or investor using MCA V3. Active status is a necessary condition for a legally viable counterparty — not a sufficient condition for a commercially safe one.
A company can be Active on MCA V3 and simultaneously have:
- Two or more years of overdue financial statements, making its current finances completely opaque
- Directors disqualified under Section 164(2) whose disqualification is recorded at DIN level, not at company level
- A cancelled or suspended GSTIN on the GST portal — entirely separate from MCA data
- An inoperative PAN (not linked to Aadhaar, per the Income-tax Department's notification) — which triggers TDS deduction at 20% under Section 206AA instead of the standard rate, creating unexpected cash-flow consequences for you as the payer
- Live charges to multiple lenders that subordinate any future claim you might have
The five-point pre-transaction check:
| Data Point | Portal / Source | What to Confirm |
|---|---|---|
| Company / LLP Status | MCA V3 Master Data | Active; not Under Process or Strike Off |
| Annual Filing Recency | MCA V3 Filing Details | AOC-4 + MGT-7 within 18 months |
| Index of Charges | MCA V3 Charges Tab | Understand open charges and lenders |
| GSTIN Status | GST Portal → Search Taxpayer | Active; returns filed recently |
| PAN Status | Income Tax Portal (e-Filing) | Active; linked to Aadhaar |
Running all five checks takes 15 minutes and uses entirely free, public portals. The cost of skipping them can be several orders of magnitude higher.
Worked Example: Vendor Due Diligence Before Releasing a Rs. 45 Lakh Advance
You are a finance manager at a mid-sized manufacturer. A new vendor — Rampur Plastics Private Limited — has quoted competitively for a Rs. 45 lakh raw material supply contract. Your standard terms require a 30% advance: Rs. 13.5 lakh to be released before dispatch.
MCA Status Check: CIN search on MCA V3 returns status: Active in Progress. A Form INC-22 (change of registered office) is pending. Not alarming by itself, but you note the new registered address and cross-check it against the address printed on the vendor's GST invoice. They match — good.
Annual Filing Recency: AOC-4 last filed: October 2024 (for FY 2023-24). MGT-7 last filed: November 2024. Today is May 2026. This means the FY 2024-25 annual filings — due October and November 2025 — are six months overdue. The company's financial position for the year ending March 2025 is invisible to you. Yellow flag.
Index of Charges: Two open, unsatisfied charges: a term loan registered in 2024 (Rs. 1.8 crore) and a working capital facility registered in 2025 (Rs. 90 lakh). For a company chasing a Rs. 45 lakh contract, total bank indebtedness of Rs. 2.7 crore as notified is material context.
GSTIN Check: Active on the GST portal. GSTR-3B filed through February 2026. March 2026 pending — not unusual in May.
PAN Status: Active and linked to Aadhaar. TDS on the contract proceeds normally under Section 194C at 2% (company payee), not the elevated 20% under Section 206AA.
Decision: The overdue FY 2024-25 filings and the two open charges together justify a deeper ask before releasing Rs. 13.5 lakh. You request provisional financials for FY 2024-25 and a recent bank statement. You also strengthen the contract with a representations and warranties clause requiring the vendor to confirm no pending winding-up proceedings and no overdue statutory dues exceeding Rs. 1 lakh.
The cost of skipping this check: Had you skipped the five-point check and released Rs. 13.5 lakh, and the ROC subsequently initiated strike-off proceedings in September 2026 (routine when two consecutive annual returns are missing), Rampur Plastics would move to Under Process of Strike Off and eventually Strike Off. Your advance becomes an unsecured claim against a dissolved entity. Pursuing it requires an NCLT petition under Section 252 — involving advocate fees, NCLT filing fees, and procedural costs that can reach Rs. 2–5 lakh with a timeline of 6–18 months. That is the price of a 15-minute check not taken.
What to Do When You Find a Problematic Status
Status: Under Process of Strike Off
Do not release any payment or sign any new contract. If you have an existing unpaid contract, immediately send a formal demand notice to create a paper trail. As an aggrieved creditor, you can submit an objection to the relevant ROC office during the notice period — this can pause the strike-off process while your claim is examined.
Status: Strike Off / Dissolved
Do not attempt any transaction under the dissolved company's name. If you are an existing creditor, engage an advocate experienced in NCLT matters to file a restoration petition under Section 252. Gather all documentary evidence — signed contracts, invoices, bank transfer records, correspondence — before initiating the petition. The 20-year window under Section 252 is generous, but delay in filing reduces your practical recovery chances as assets dissipate.
Status: Dormant
Ask the company to file Form MSC-4 with the ROC to revoke dormant status before you proceed commercially. Reversion to Active takes effect on approval of MSC-4. Confirm the Active status on MCA V3 after the form is processed — do not rely on the company's word that the filing has been made.
Status: Under Liquidation
Identify the Insolvency Professional or Official Liquidator appointed to the matter. Any commercial engagement requires the IP's written consent. If you are a creditor, submit your proof of claim to the liquidator within the window specified in the public notice issued under the IBC. Missing the claims window can result in your debt being treated as extinguished.
Common Mistakes When Verifying Company Status
1. Searching by name and accepting the first result without verifying the CIN Company names are not unique across ROC jurisdictions. "Sunrise Technologies Private Limited" may exist as several distinct entities registered in different states. Always confirm the full 21-character CIN against documents provided by the counterparty.
2. Treating Active status as a real-time compliance certificate MCA V3 status is updated when the ROC processes a change or initiates an action — not continuously. A company in full compliance default can sit in Active status for months before the ROC formally initiates strike-off. The filing recency check is the real-time signal.
3. Ignoring the charges tab First-time users often check status and filing dates but skip the Index of Charges. For contract risk or lending decisions, a company with multiple open charges is a materially different counterparty from one with a clean charge register.
4. Skipping the GSTIN check MCA and GST are separate databases. A company can be Active on MCA V3 and simultaneously have a cancelled or suspended GSTIN. Receiving a tax invoice from a supplier with a cancelled GSTIN creates ITC eligibility problems for you under CGST Act, 2017 — a downstream compliance and cash-flow issue you could have avoided.
5. Accepting a screenshot provided by the counterparty Screenshots can be outdated or altered. The five-minute check directly on mca.gov.in is free and eliminates all ambiguity. Always run it yourself.
6. Not saving evidence of the check If a dispute arises later, you want documentary proof of your due diligence at the point of contracting. Use your browser's Print to PDF function on the MCA V3 master data screen. Save it with the date visible. This takes 30 seconds and can be valuable evidence in arbitration or litigation.
Key Takeaways
- Company registration status is freely searchable on MCA V3 (mca.gov.in) using the CIN, LLPIN, or company name — no login, no cost, no delay.
- Seven status values carry distinct legal and commercial meanings: Active, Active in Progress, Dormant (Section 455), Under Process of Strike Off (Section 248), Strike Off, Under Liquidation (IBC/winding up), and Amalgamated. Know the difference before you act.
- Active status is necessary — not sufficient. Combine it with annual filing recency, the Index of Charges, GSTIN status, and PAN validity for a complete picture of counterparty health.
- "Under Process of Strike Off" is a hard stop. Do not release payments or execute new contracts. Escalate existing claims immediately.
- A dissolved company's assets are legally frozen. Recovering money from a struck-off entity requires an NCLT petition under Section 252 — expensive, slow, and avoidable with a pre-payment check.
- LLP deadlines differ from company deadlines: Form 11 due 30 May, Form 8 due 30 October; late fee is Rs. 100 per day per form with no cap, and it compounds daily.
- Build the five-point check — MCA status, filing recency, charges, GSTIN, PAN — into every vendor onboarding, credit approval, and contract-signing workflow. Fifteen minutes of verification now routinely saves multiples of that in legal and financial recovery costs later.
