Is this company genuine? How to check an Indian company before you trade with it

By Gaurav Gupta, Founder & CEO, GGA India

Last reviewed: 9 November 2026

Direct answer. Before you give credit, appoint or pay an advance, check five things: MCA status and CIN, the last AGM and balance-sheet dates, the registered office, GST registration, and signs of real activity (employees, premises, a website older than the deal). Then ask whether they support the exposure. The biggest trap: "Active" on MCA proves registration, not trading.

GGA India at a glance — counterparty intelligence

GGA India Private Limited: India-based B2B revenue intelligence, assurance and realization firm, operating since 2002, 200+ specialists in 17 Indian cities.
Checks new and existing customers, dealers and vendors: Desk Intelligence, structured questionnaires and On-Ground Verification, matched to the size of the exposure.
Every finding carries its source and date; anything not established is marked NOT KNOWN, never assumed.
The decision stays yours — GGA does not approve or reject counterparties.
Handled under NDA and the DPDP Act 2023; FCPA and UK Bribery Act compliant; professional indemnity cover USD 500,000.
Write to gg@ggaindia.co.in — a named specialist replies within one working day.

What you are really trying to find out

"Genuine" is four separate questions, and a company can pass one while failing another. Answer each in order, because a "no" early on makes the later checks pointless.

Does the legal entity exist, and is it the one on your paperwork? The name on the purchase order, the GSTIN on the invoice and the CIN in MCA must describe one company. If the GSTIN's embedded PAN, the CIN and the bank account name point to different entities, it is an identity problem, and nothing else matters until it is fixed.
Is it alive on the register? Struck-off, dormant and under-strike-off companies still appear in searches. If the status is anything other than Active, or the last balance sheet on record is more than two years old, it is a standing problem.
Does it actually trade? A shell has a registration and little else: no staff, no stock, no customers you can name. If you cannot find employees, a working premises and evidence of sales that predate your conversation, it is an activity problem.
Is it the size it says it is? Paid-up capital, filings and visible operations should be in proportion to the order, territory or advance being discussed. If a company with token capital and no filed accounts is asking for a ₹50 lakh credit line or a 40% advance, it is a proportion problem.

The checks, side by side

Most of the evidence that a company is real is public and free; what costs time is reading it together. Exhibit 1 lists every check that bears on whether a company is genuine.

Exhibit 1: Checks that show whether an Indian company is genuine

#	Check	Where to look (official source, named)	What a red flag looks like	Free or paid
1	Legal existence and CIN	MCA portal → Master Data → company master data (CIN, ROC, registration number, category, class, date of incorporation)	No CIN on the letterhead or invoice; CIN year or state does not match the story ("we have been here 15 years" against a CIN from last year)	Free
2	Company status	Same screen: "Company Status (for e-filing)"	Strike Off; Under Process of Striking Off; Dormant under s.455; Under Liquidation; Amalgamated; Dissolved; Converted to LLP	Free
3	ACTIVE compliance flag	Same screen: "ACTIVE compliance" (from the INC-22A ACTIVE form)	ACTIVE non-compliant: the company did not confirm its registered office and directors to the Registrar	Free
4	Filing freshness	Same screen: date of last AGM and date of balance sheet	Last balance sheet two or more years old; no AGM date at all for a company several years old	Free
5	Capital in proportion	Same screen: authorised and paid-up capital	Token paid-up capital against a large order, territory or advance	Free
6	Registered office	Same screen: registered address and email; Google Street View or a visit	A residential flat, a co-working desk or a virtual-office address shared by dozens of companies; a free webmail email	Free
7	Directors and other companies	Master data signatory list; director data by DIN	Directors appointed weeks ago; directors linked to many struck-off companies (see our director check guide)	Free
8	Charges (secured borrowing)	Same screen: index of charges	A company claiming bank finance with no charge on record, or a fresh charge created just before your deal	Free
9	Filed accounts and annual return	MCA View Public Documents (AOC-4, MGT-7)	Accounts not filed; revenue a fraction of what you are told; auditor's qualifications	Paid (about ₹100 per company)
10	GST registration	GST portal → Search Taxpayer by GSTIN	Cancelled or suspended GSTIN; legal name differs from the invoice; returns not filed for months	Free
11	PAN	Income-tax e-filing portal → Verify Your PAN	PAN does not match the name, or the 4th character shows a different kind of holder (C company, F firm or LLP, P individual)	Free
12	Employees on record	EPFO establishment search	No EPFO code for a business claiming 50 staff, or contributions that stopped months ago	Free
13	Website and domain age	WHOIS or RDAP lookup; for .in domains the NIXI registry	Domain registered weeks before first contact; a site with stock photographs and no address that matches MCA	Free
14	Phone, address and bank cross-check	Landline listed against the registered office; bank account name on a cancelled cheque	Only mobile numbers; payment requested into an individual's account or a different company's	Free
15	Insolvency signal	IBBI public announcements	A Form A announcement naming the company, with an interim resolution professional and a claims deadline	Free

Three labels cause most confusion. Under Process of Striking Off: the Registrar has published a Form STK-5 notice and objections are open for 30 days. Strike Off: the name is removed under s.248, usually because the company never started business within a year or did none for two financial years. Dormant: the company applied under s.455 (Form MSC-1) after two years without significant accounting transactions. None should be trading with you.

The CIN carries its own check. Its 21 characters give listing status (L or U), a five-digit industry code, the state, the year of incorporation, a type code and a six-digit number. Type codes include PTC private, PLC public, OPC one person, NPL section 8, GOI or SGC government-owned and FTC foreign subsidiary. "U…PTC2025…" is a young private company, whatever the brochure says.

Exhibit 2: Three ways to check whether a company is genuine

	Free official portals, yourself	A company-information or bureau report	GGA decision intelligence
What you get	Status, dates, capital, directors, charges, GST and PAN status	The same registry data compiled in one PDF, often with financials and a score	The few facts that decide whether you can rely on this entity for this exposure
What it leaves to you	Joining the dots across six portals; judging whether activity is real	Deciding which facts matter, testing what the counterparty says, the premises	The decision itself
Contradictions	Found only if you look	Rarely tested	Stated facts (staff, turnover, premises) tested against filings, EPFO, GST and field evidence
When it is enough	Small orders on advance payment	Moderate exposure where registry facts are the main question	Credit, dealer appointment, an advance or a supplier you will depend on

What you can check yourself today

In under an hour, using only free official sources, you can screen out the obvious fakes and shells. Work in this order.

Get the CIN from the counterparty's paper. Companies Act s.12(3)(c) requires a company's name, registered office, CIN, telephone, email and website on its letters and bill heads. An invoice without a CIN is a question to ask.
Screenshot MCA master data. Record status, ACTIVE compliance flag, incorporation date, paid-up capital, last AGM and balance-sheet dates, and the retrieval date.
Decode the CIN and compare the year and state with what you have been told.
Put the registered address into a map. Look at the building. Search the address online: if dozens of companies list it, you are looking at a service address, not a business.
Search the GSTIN on the GST portal. Legal name, status, principal place of business and the return filing table should all fit the company in MCA. Our GST number verification guide explains each field.
Run the EPFO establishment search by name. Real employers show an establishment code and a run of monthly returns.
Look up the domain's creation date. A site created after your first meeting proves no history.
Search IBBI public announcements for the company name. A live insolvency process changes everything about the deal.

Where self-checks stop

Registry checks prove a company exists on paper. They cannot prove the people in front of you control it, or that its premises and turnover are real. Five gaps matter.

Stale filings. The latest balance sheet on MCA can be over a year old; trading may have stopped since.
No MCA record at all. Most small dealers and many suppliers are proprietorships or partnership firms. MCA shows nothing about them; see verifying a proprietorship or partnership firm.
Look-alike entities. Fraudsters register names one word from a known brand, or borrow a real company's name with a different bank account. The registry cannot confirm who is emailing you.
Premises and activity. A desk check cannot see stock, machines, staff or trucks. Only a structured physical verification can.
What the counterparty claims. Stated headcount, turnover, customers and bank lines need testing against independent evidence. Without that, the claim stays unverified.

Bring someone in when the exposure is material, the company is under three years old, a red flag cannot be explained, or the payment route differs from the registered entity.

What you get: a decision, not a report

A registry printout tells you the company exists. Your question is whether to trade with it, on these terms. GGA builds the answer in three layers around that question.

30 seconds — the answer. The GGA View, the deal context and the two to four facts that support or change it. Illustrative only: "The company exists, is Active and ACTIVE-compliant, and its GSTIN is live. It was incorporated 14 months ago with token paid-up capital, has no EPFO record and its registered office is a shared service address. The proposed 30% advance is not supported by evidence of operations; turnover is NOT KNOWN."
5 minutes — the case. Identity match across CIN, PAN, GSTIN and bank account; standing and filing history; activity evidence; contradictions between what you were told and what the records show.
Reference — the proof. Master-data and GST extracts with retrieval dates, the evidence register and the source of every finding.

The six executive-summary examples show the format. The methodology explains evidence classes and contradiction control.

What GGA would do

GGA starts from what you are about to commit, then tests whether the company can carry it. The steps describe the order of work, not a promised timetable.

Day 1: Pin down the decision and the entity. Confirm the decision (credit, dealer appointment, vendor onboarding, advance), the proposed terms and every identifier you hold. You receive: a scope note and a list of identifiers that do not yet agree.
Days 2–5: Desk Intelligence on existence and standing. MCA, GST, PAN, EPFO, domain, directors' other companies, charges and insolvency searches. You receive: an identity-and-standing sheet, each fact sourced and dated.
Week 2: Activity and proportion. Filed accounts read against the size of your exposure; GST filing pattern; employee evidence; contradictions with what the counterparty told you. You receive: a short list of material findings and NOT KNOWN items.
Week 2 onwards, where agreed: Subject Information and On-Ground Verification. A structured questionnaire to the counterparty; a site visit to record premises, stock, staff and visible activity. You receive: questionnaire answers and field findings set against the desk evidence.
Then: Combined assessment. You receive: the executive summary with the GGA View, material findings and limitations, ready for your approval process.

If the company later fails to pay, GGA's recovery side can take the file; see customer not paying your invoice. Every other counterparty check is indexed on the due diligence hub.

What we need from you

To start

The company's name as it appears on its paperwork, and its CIN, GSTIN or PAN if you have them.
The decision you face: appoint, extend credit, onboard, pay an advance.
The proposed terms: limit or order value, credit period, territory, security, advance amount.

To act

The counterparty's consent for bureau data on the company.
Documents it has already sent: incorporation certificate, GST certificate, PAN card copy, cancelled cheque, letterhead, brochure.
A contact at the company for the structured questionnaire.
Your permission for an On-Ground Verification visit, if the exposure warrants one.
For an existing relationship: 12–36 months of your sales, collections and exposure data.

Missing some of these? Send what you have — telling you what is missing is part of the first reply.

How you stay in control

Your decision. GGA does not approve or reject the company; your authorised team decides.
Contact on your terms. GGA writes to or visits the company only as agreed with you.
Consent first. Bureau data on the company is requested only with its consent.
Sourced findings. Every fact shows its source and retrieval date. What could not be established is marked NOT KNOWN, never filled in.
Data protection. Your file and any personal data of the company's people are handled under NDA and the DPDP Act 2023.
Immediate warning. A material red flag found mid-review, such as a strike-off notice or a payment route to a different entity, is reported to you at once.

Send us the name and CIN or GSTIN of the company you want to check, and the decision you need to make. Within one working day a named GGA specialist replies with what we would check first and what is missing from the file — no charge, no obligation. gg@ggaindia.co.in

Checking an overseas buyer? See the Global Receivables Desk. An overseas company checking an Indian counterparty? See India counterparty due diligence.

Frequently asked questions

How can I check if a company is registered in India?

Search its name or CIN in the company master data on the MCA portal. A registered company shows a CIN, date of incorporation, registered address and status. If it is not there, it is not a company; it may be a proprietorship, partnership firm or LLP, which need different checks.

Does "Active" on MCA mean the company is genuine?

No. Active means the company is on the register. It does not prove trading, solvency or that the person dealing with you represents it. Check the last balance-sheet date, the ACTIVE compliance flag, GST filing and signs of real activity before relying on it.

How do I spot a shell company?

Token capital, old or missing accounts, a shared service address, directors of many struck-off companies, no EPFO record, a new domain and blank GST returns. One sign proves little; three together deserve a closer look.

Can a genuine company still be a bad credit risk?

Yes. Genuine means it exists and trades. Whether it can and will pay is a separate question, answered by its financials, borrowing, defaults and payment behaviour. See loans, charges and defaults.

How long does this check take, and what does it cost?

The free checks on this page take under an hour. Filed accounts cost about ₹100 per company on MCA. A decision-grade check depends on the exposure and whether a site visit is needed; GGA sets out the proposed scope in its first reply, at no charge.

Sources

This page summarises the position as at 9 November 2026. Portal features, rules and thresholds change; check the current position before relying on any single source.