SPICe Plus Incorporation: The Complete Guide for 2026

If you are a founder in the United States, United Kingdom, European Union, Canada or the Middle East planning to set up a company in India, you will almost certainly encounter the term SPICe plus early in the process. It is the single web form through which the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, commonly called the MCA, processes company incorporation in India. This guide walks through it field by field, with particular attention to the parts that trip up foreign directors and foreign parent entities.

What SPICe Plus Is And Replaced

What SPICe Stands For

SPICe stands for Simplified Proforma for Incorporating Company Electronically. It was introduced to consolidate what used to be a series of separate applications, for company name approval, incorporation, PAN and TAN, into a single integrated filing. SPICe plus, often written as SPICe+, is the current version of this form, and under current regulations it is the only route available for incorporating a company in India, whether that company is a Private Limited company, a One Person Company, or certain other structures.

Why The 2026 Shift Matters

Most comparisons circulating online still describe SPICe versus SPICe plus as if the older, non integrated SPICe form were still a live alternative. It is not. For a founder incorporating in 2026, the relevant question is not which form to choose but how to navigate SPICe plus correctly, because the form now bundles company incorporation with several other registrations that used to be filed separately. Getting the linked filings wrong, particularly the ones affecting foreign directors and foreign shareholders, is now a more common cause of delay than choosing the wrong form altogether.

Part A Reserving The Name

Part A of SPICe plus is where you propose and reserve the name of your company. You can either use this step purely for name reservation and file Part B later, or you can combine both in a single submission if you are confident the name will be approved and you are ready with the rest of the incorporation details at the same time. For foreign founders unfamiliar with Indian naming conventions, it is generally sensible to reserve the name first and file Part B once approval comes through, rather than risking a rejection on a combined filing.

Name Rules That Cause Rejections

Under current rules, a proposed name is checked against existing registered companies, trademarks, and a list of words that are restricted or require prior government approval. Names that are too similar to an existing company or an existing registered trademark are a frequent cause of rejection. Names that use words suggesting government affiliation, or words like international, corporation, or India in certain combinations, may also require additional justification or approval. Foreign founders sometimes propose a name that mirrors their overseas brand, only to find it conflicts with an existing Indian trademark or company name that was not visible to them during their own research.

Resubmission Strategy

If a name is rejected, the registrar generally allows a limited number of resubmission attempts within the same application before a fresh filing becomes necessary. It is worth using the first attempt to propose two or three name options rather than one, since the form typically allows multiple choices in order of preference. If your brand name is central to your India strategy, it is advisable to run a preliminary trademark and company name search before filing Part A at all, rather than treating the MCA check as your only screening step.

Part B The Incorporation Engine

Part B is where the substantive incorporation details go: registered office address, subscriber and director details, share capital structure, and the declarations required under company law. This is also where several linked forms are pulled into the same filing.

The Linked Forms Explained

SPICe plus incorporation is not a single document but a set of linked filings submitted together. AGILE PRO is the linked form used to apply for additional registrations such as GST, EPFO, ESIC and a bank account request, alongside the main incorporation. The eMoA and eAoA are the electronic versions of the Memorandum of Association and Articles of Association, the constitutional documents of the company, which subscribers sign electronically as part of the same filing. INC 9 is the declaration filed by the first subscribers and directors confirming they are not disqualified from acting in those roles. Foreign subscribers and directors who cannot use the Indian digital signature and electronic verification methods in the standard way are generally required to sign physical versions of these documents, which then need to be authenticated for use in India, a point covered further below.

DIN Inside SPICe Plus

A Director Identification Number, or DIN, is a unique identifier every director of an Indian company needs. One of the practical improvements SPICe plus brought was allowing first time directors to apply for a DIN within the same incorporation filing, rather than through a separate application beforehand. Under current rules, a limited number of proposed directors can be allotted a DIN this way as part of a single incorporation. If your company already has directors with an existing DIN from a previous Indian entity, those numbers are simply referenced in the form rather than reapplied for.

PAN TAN EPFO ESIC GST

One of the genuine efficiencies of SPICe plus is that a single successful filing can also generate the company's PAN, its TAN, and where applicable its EPFO and ESIC registrations, along with the option to apply for GST registration through the linked AGILE PRO form. PAN is the company's Permanent Account Number, its basic tax identity, and TAN is the number required for entities that deduct tax at source, a common requirement once the company starts paying employees, vendors, or making certain payments to non residents. For a foreign parent setting up an Indian subsidiary, having these identifiers issued together with incorporation removes several separate applications that used to add weeks to the process.

The Foreign Founder Path

Most guides to SPICe plus are written as if every director and subscriber is resident in India, using an Indian address, an Indian bank account, and standard Indian identity documents. That is rarely the reality for a founder incorporating from the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Canada or the Middle East, so it is worth walking through the differences directly.

Foreign Directors And DIN

A foreign national can be a director of an Indian company and can obtain a DIN through the SPICe plus filing in the same way as a resident director, subject to identity verification. Because a foreign director will not typically hold an Indian identity document such as an Aadhaar number, the application instead relies on their passport and other government issued identification from their home country. These documents generally need to be properly attested, and in many cases apostilled or notarised depending on whether the founder's country is party to the relevant international convention, before they are acceptable for the DIN application and the broader incorporation filing.

Apostille And Notarisation Needs

For founders from the United States, United Kingdom, most European Union countries, and Canada, documents can typically be apostilled under the Hague Convention route, which is generally a faster and more standardised process than consular attestation. Founders from certain Middle Eastern jurisdictions that are not party to the same convention may instead need consular attestation through the Indian embassy or consulate in their country, which usually takes longer and involves additional steps. Either way, it is important to plan for this authentication timeline well before you intend to file SPICe plus, since document preparation abroad is often the slowest part of an otherwise fast Indian filing process.

Foreign Parent As Subscriber

Where the subscriber to the company's shares is a foreign parent entity rather than an individual, the incorporation filing needs board resolutions or equivalent corporate authorisations from that foreign entity, along with its own constitutional documents, again generally apostilled or notarised as applicable. Where foreign shareholding is involved, the incorporation also sits alongside India's foreign investment rules under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, commonly referred to as FEMA, which govern how much foreign shareholding is permitted in the relevant sector and what reporting follows once shares are issued. It is worth coordinating the SPICe plus filing with whoever is advising on the FEMA reporting, since the two are closely linked in practice even though they are technically separate compliances.

Common Rejection Reasons And Fixes

Even straightforward incorporations get sent back for correction. The recurring patterns are worth knowing in advance.

Name Conflicts

As covered above, name rejections remain the single most common reason a SPICe plus filing is sent back, usually because of an existing company name or trademark that was not identified before filing.

Document Mismatches

A frequent and avoidable rejection reason is a mismatch between the name, address or spelling used in one document and the same detail used in another, for example a passport that spells a director's name slightly differently from the apostille certificate, or a registered office proof with an address that does not exactly match the address entered in the form. For foreign founders juggling documents issued in different countries, it is worth having every document cross checked for consistency before submission rather than after a rejection.

Registered Office Proof Issues

SPICe plus requires proof of the company's registered office, typically a utility bill or property tax receipt along with a no objection letter from the property owner if the premises are rented or otherwise not owned by the company. A common issue for foreign founders is using a virtual office or a shared coworking address without the correct supporting documentation, or submitting a proof document that is older than what current rules generally accept as valid. Confirming the exact form of registered office proof accepted at the time of filing, rather than relying on what worked for someone else's incorporation some time ago, avoids this rejection entirely.

Fees Stamp Duty And Timeline

Government Fees By Capital

SPICe plus filings attract government fees and stamp duty that vary depending on the company's authorised share capital and the state in which the registered office is located, since stamp duty is a state subject in India and rates differ across states. Because these fees and duty rates are revised from time to time, it is best to confirm the applicable fee and stamp duty with your filing practitioner at the time of incorporation rather than relying on older published figures.

A Realistic Day By Day Timeline

For a domestic incorporation with straightforward documents, name approval and the full SPICe plus filing can often move fairly quickly once all details are ready. For a foreign founder path, the realistic bottleneck is rarely the MCA processing itself but the time needed to apostille or notarise documents abroad, courier them to India, and have them reviewed for consistency before filing. It is sensible to build in additional time for this authentication stage specifically, and to treat the MCA's own processing time as only one part of the overall runway to a fully incorporated company.