Section 8 Company (NGO)

Overview

A Section 8 company is the corporate form for a not-for-profit. It is incorporated under the Companies Act, 2013 to promote charity, education, science, art, sport, research, social welfare, environmental protection and similar objects, and its profits must be applied to those objects rather than distributed to members.

Funders prefer it, and that is usually the deciding factor. CSR committees, grant bodies and institutional donors read a Section 8 company as governed and accountable in a way a trust or society may not be, because it carries a company's board structure, audit and filing discipline. Members get limited liability, and the company may drop "Private Limited" from its name on approval.

It is the most demanding of the three non-profit forms to set up and to run. We handle the licence application, the memorandum and articles drafted around your actual objects, and the incorporation — and can take it through 12A and 80G afterwards, which is what makes the funding side work.

Why choose this

Benefits of Section 8 Company (NGO)

• Recognised non-profit form

  Incorporated specifically to promote charitable objects, with profits applied to those objects and not distributed.

• Limited liability for members

  Members are not personally liable for the organisation's obligations.

• Credibility with funders

  CSR donors, grant bodies and institutional partners routinely prefer this structure for governance reasons.

• Name without the suffix

  A Section 8 company may drop "Private Limited" from its name on approval.

How it works

1. 01

   Objects and governing structure agreed

2. 02

   Digital signatures and director identification

3. 03

   Name reserved with the Registrar

4. 04

   Section 8 licence application filed

5. 05

   Incorporation filed on licence approval

6. 06

   Certificate, PAN and TAN handed over