One person company (OPC) is a new form of business introduced by Companies Act, 2013. It is hybrid form of business where a sole proprietorship concern can get a corporate outlook. An OPC is a hybrid structure, wherein it combines most of the benefits of a sole proprietorship and a company form of business. It has only one person as a member who will act in the capacity of a director as well as a shareholder. Thus, it does away with the hassles of finding the right kind of co-partner/s for starting a business as registered entity. The best part is, legal and financial liability is limited to the Company and not the member.

Only One Shareholder : Only a natural person, who is an Indian citizen and resident in India shall be eligible to incorporate a One Person Company.# Number of Directors : Must have a minimum of One Director, the Sole Shareholder can himself be the Sole Director. The Company may have a maximum number of 15 directors.# Paid-up Capital : A one person company can be started with 1 lac. If the paid up capital of the company increase to 50 lacs or more the OPC will become automatically.# Easy Funding : Like a Private company, One Person Company can raise funds through venture capital, financial institutions, angel investors etc. A One Person Company can raise funds thus graduating itself to a private limited company.# Minimum compliances : One Person Company have to face little compliance burden as compared to private limited companies , hence One Person Company can more focus on other functional and core areas.# Complete Control Of The Company With The Single Owner : This leads to fast decision making and execution. Yet he/she can appoint as many as 15 directors in the OPC for administrative functions, without giving any share to them.# Suitable only for small business: OPC is suitable only for small business. OPC can have maximum Paid up share capital of Rs.50Lakhs or Turnover of Rs.2 Crores. Otherwise OPC need to be converted into Private Ltd Company.#

DIN&DSC Digital signature for the director of the company to be obtained # Name Approval 4-6 proposed names should be provided that should be unique and suggestive of company business. # MOA & AOA Memorandum and Articles of Association should be drafted. # Application to ROC Sign and file various documents including MOA & AOA with the Registrar of Companies electronically # Company Registered Once the application is duly filed and accepted by ROC, Certificate of incorporation is issued and the company is all set to start it’s operations. #

A Director and a nominee are required to incorporate a OPC.

A nominee is a person who takes over the company in the event of death or incapacity of the promoter.

The OPC shall inform ROC in form INC-5, if the threshold limits is exceeded and is required to be converted into private or public company.

A person can be member in only one OPC.

The company shall file form INC-4 in case of cessation of member of OPC on account of death, incapacity to contract or change in ownership. In the same form, user needs to provide details of the new member of the OPC.

In case the paid up share capital of an OPC exceeds fifty lakh rupees or its average annual turnover exceeds during the relevant period exceeds two crore rupees, then the OPC has to mandatorily convert into private or public company.

Only a natural person who is an Indian citizen and a resident in India is eligible to incorporate a One Person Company or be a nominee member.

Form INC-5 shall be filed within sixty days of exceeding threshold limits

In such a case, such person shall meet the criteria of being a member in only one OPC within a period of one hundred and eighty days i.e., he/she shall withdraw his membership from either of the OPC’s within one hundred and eighty days.

Company’s proposed name should be unique i.e., it should not be identical to any existing name. Names that infringe others’ rights, trademarks or patents are likely to be rejected by ROC.