As per the definition under Section 2(71) of the Companies Act, 2013 Public Limited Company is defined as: a company which is not registered as a private company, a company with minimum paid-up share capital of Rs 5 lakh.
A Public Limited Company is a company that has limited liability and the shares are offered to the general public. For incorporation of your company, a minimum of 7 shareholders & 3 directors is required. The directors can also be shareholders along with other public. Public Limited Company has all advantages of a private limited company. The shareholders in public limited company can purchase and transfer their shares with great ease. The liabilities are limited. Registering as a Public Limited Company is a suitable option for a large scale business that requires tremendous capital.
What should we take care of, before commencing business of Public Limited Company?
You should have the minimum required legal pay up share capital, directors, shareholders for starting with the Public Limited Company.
You should get DIN number and DSC from the proper authorities for directors of Public Limited Company.
The directors have to be individuals who are of Indian nationals and the total number of directors cannot exceed 50.
You should have the proper address of the Registered Office of the Company before applying for Public Limited Company. Registered Office address should be registered with registrar of Companies under whose jurisdiction the office location falls.
Also, before registering you will need the name of the Company which has to be approved by ROC. It is always a good idea to provide a list of names in the order of preference that you want, in case a particular name is not available.
Once your company's name is approved by ROC, the crucial documents of the Company – MoA and AoA should be executed. Once all the documents have been prepared, they are submitted to the ROC for verification.
Registration and COI
Once verification is done, ROC registers the company and issues a Certificate of Incorporation along with the CIN number of the Company.
Certificate of Commencement of Business
A public limited company has to apply for Certificate of Commencement of Business within 180 days of receiving the COI, only after which they can start the business.