How to register an FPO under Section 8 of the Companies Act
What this guide covers
This guide walks you through registering a Farmer Producer Organisation (FPO) as a Section 8 company under the Companies Act, 2013. It covers who qualifies, what documents you need, the step-by-step filing process on the MCA portal, and what happens after your Certificate of Incorporation arrives.
If you are still deciding between a Section 8 company, a cooperative, or a producer company under Chapter XXIA of the Companies Act (formerly referenced via Section 465 / Part IXA of the 1956 Act), read our companion guide — FPO structure comparison: which legal form suits your collective?
Why Section 8?
A Section 8 company is a not-for-profit company licensed under the Companies Act, 2013. For FPOs, it offers three practical advantages over other structures.
First, it carries credibility with institutional funders. NABARD, SFAC, and most CSR donors recognise a Section 8 company immediately and have established disbursement mechanisms for it. Second, it allows you to receive grants, donations, and equity funding without the rigid profit-distribution constraints of a producer company. Third, it is governed by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), which means your compliance obligations — annual returns, board resolutions, audited accounts — are standardised and well-documented.
The trade-off is that Section 8 companies cannot distribute profits to members. All surplus must be reinvested into the company's objects. If your FPO's primary goal is dividend distribution to farmer-shareholders, a producer company under Chapter XXIA of the Companies Act may be a better fit.
Is Section 8 the right structure for your FPO?
Under the Government of India's central 10,000-FPO scheme, the FPOs themselves are typically registered as Producer Companies or Cooperative Societies — not as Section 8 companies. A Section 8 company cannot distribute profits to farmer-members, so it is usually the right choice for the promoting organisation, CBBO, or nonprofit arm that receives grants, runs training, and holds programme funds — not for the farmer collective itself if its main goal is paying members from trading surplus.
If you're unsure which entity you're actually forming, that's exactly what our free consultation is for — book a slot here.
Who can apply
To register an FPO as a Section 8 company you need:
- A minimum of two directors at incorporation (you can have more). All directors must be individuals, not entities.
- At least two subscribers to the Memorandum of Association. These are typically the founding farmers or their representatives.
- A registered office address in India. This can be a member's home address at the time of incorporation — it does not need to be a commercial premises.
- A clear charitable or social object in the Memorandum. For FPOs, the object is typically the promotion of agriculture, rural livelihoods, and farmer welfare.
There is no minimum paid-up capital requirement for a Section 8 company. The MCA waives this as part of the not-for-profit concession.
Documents required
Prepare these before you begin the online application. Gathering documents in advance reduces the back-and-forth that delays most applications by two to four weeks.
For each director and subscriber:
- PAN card (mandatory)
- Aadhaar card or passport or driving licence (address proof)
- Passport-size photograph (recent, white background)
- Personal mobile number and email address linked to Aadhaar (required for Digital Signature Certificate)
For the registered office:
- Utility bill not older than two months (electricity, water, or telephone) in the name of the premises owner
- NOC (No Objection Certificate) from the premises owner if the office is not owned by a director or subscriber — a simple signed letter on plain paper is sufficient
Company documents you will draft:
- Memorandum of Association (MoA)
- Articles of Association (AoA)
Mujanti provides standard MoA and AoA templates for agricultural FPOs. Download the FPO MoA template — it includes pre-approved objects language that has been accepted by the MCA for similar registrations.
Step-by-step process
Step 1 — Obtain Digital Signature Certificates (DSC)
Every director must have a Class 3 DSC to sign the incorporation forms electronically. If none of your founders already have one, this is the first thing to arrange — it takes three to five working days through an authorised certifying agency.
Authorised agencies include eMudhra, Sify, NSDL, and several others listed on the MCA website. The cost is typically ₹1,000–₹1,500 per DSC per year. All directors must have individual DSCs — a single DSC cannot be shared.
Step 2 — Apply for Director Identification Numbers (DIN)
If any director does not already have a DIN, it is now obtained automatically through the SPICe+ form in Step 4. You do not need to apply separately unless a director has applied for a DIN before under an older process.
Step 3 — Name reservation through SPICe+ Part A
Before filing for incorporation, you reserve your company name through SPICe+ Part A on the MCA V3 portal. This is the current route for all new company incorporations — the standalone RUN (Reserve Unique Name) service now applies only to existing companies that want to change an already-registered name, not to new incorporations.
Go to mca.gov.in → MCA Services → SPICe+ → Part A. You can submit up to two name options. The name must:
- Not be identical or deceptively similar to an existing company or trademark
- Include a word that signals its nature — for FPOs, names typically include "Farmers Producer Organisation", "Agri Collective", "Krishi Producer", or similar
- Not use words like "National", "India", "Government", or words implying government affiliation without specific approval
Name approval or rejection typically comes within one to two working days. If both names are rejected, you can reapply. Mujanti's experience across multiple FPO registrations suggests including the district or region name (e.g., "Tumkur Coconut Farmers Producer Organisation") significantly reduces rejection rates. Once approved, a Part A name is reserved for 20 days, within which you must file SPICe+ Part B.
Step 4 — File SPICe+ Part B on the MCA portal
The SPICe+ (Simplified Proforma for Incorporating Company Electronically Plus) form is the primary incorporation form, filed on the MCA V3 portal in two parts.
Part A captures basic company details — name, state, type of company (Section 8), main objects, and the number of directors and subscribers (covered in Step 3 above).
Part B captures director details, registered office address, professional certification details, the Section 8 licence attachments (see Step 5), and GST and EPFO/ESIC registration options (which can be deferred to post-incorporation).
Linked forms filed alongside SPICe+ include:
- eMoA (INC-33) — electronic Memorandum of Association
- eAoA (INC-34) — electronic Articles of Association
- AGILE-PRO-S — for GST, EPFO, ESIC, bank account, and professional tax registrations (optional at this stage)
All directors and subscribers must affix their DSC to the relevant sections of the form before submission.
Step 5 — The Section 8 licence: now part of SPICe+
Since the Companies (Incorporation) Sixth Amendment Rules, 2019 (effective 15 August 2019), new Section 8 companies no longer file a separate Form INC-12. The Section 8 licence is now applied for and granted as part of the SPICe+ incorporation itself — it is a single-window process, and the licence number is issued together with the Certificate of Incorporation.
What you still need to attach to SPICe+ for a Section 8 applicant — the same substantive requirements INC-12 used to carry — are:
- Form INC-14 — a declaration by a practising professional (advocate, chartered accountant, cost accountant, or company secretary) that the MoA and AoA are compliant
- Form INC-15 — a declaration by each subscriber/applicant
- A statement of estimated income and expenditure for the next three years (a rough projection is acceptable at this stage — it does not need to be audited), along with a note on how the company's objects promote agriculture, rural livelihoods, or farmer welfare
The licence letter is issued separately from — or alongside — the CoI, and both documents should be retained together; they are both needed when applying for NABARD or SFAC empanelment.
If you are converting an existing company: INC-12 still applies. An already-incorporated company converting into a Section 8 company must file Form INC-12 separately to obtain the licence — this guide covers new incorporations, where INC-12 is no longer required.
Step 6 — Pay filing fees
Filing fees for SPICe+ depend on the authorised share capital. For Section 8 companies, the minimum share capital is typically set at ₹1 lakh for administrative purposes, which attracts a nominal fee. There is no separate INC-12 fee for new incorporations — the Section 8 licence fee is bundled into the SPICe+ filing.
Total government fees for most FPO incorporations, including DSC, name reservation, and SPICe+ filing (with Section 8 licence), typically fall in the range of ₹4,000 to ₹8,000.
Step 7 — Receive Certificate of Incorporation
Once the CRC (Central Registration Centre) approves your application, you receive a Certificate of Incorporation (CoI) with your Company Identification Number (CIN) and, for Section 8 companies, the licence number. The CoI is issued digitally and can be downloaded from the MCA portal.
The Section 8 licence letter is issued separately from, or alongside, the CoI and must be retained along with it — both documents are needed when applying for NABARD or SFAC empanelment.
After incorporation — immediate next steps
Registration is the beginning, not the end. Within 30 to 60 days of receiving your CoI:
Open a current account. Most banks require the CoI, PAN of the company, board resolution authorising account opening, and KYC documents of all directors. The SBI FPO scheme and Axis Bank both have dedicated FPO current account products with lower minimum balance requirements.
Apply for PAN and TAN. PAN for the company is automatically applied through AGILE-PRO-S if you opted in during SPICe+. If not, apply through the NSDL portal. TAN is required if you will be paying salaries or deducting TDS.
Hold the first board meeting. Within 30 days of incorporation, the first board meeting must be held. Agenda items include appointing a company secretary (if applicable), fixing the financial year, approving the company's registered office, and adopting the FPO's operational plan.
Register with SFAC. The Small Farmers' Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC) maintains a national registry of FPOs. Registration with SFAC is required to access equity grants under the SFAC FPO promotion scheme (up to ₹15 lakh per FPO depending on farmer membership numbers).
Register with NABARD's FPO portal. NABARD's dedicated FPO promotion and development programme (under the Government's ₹6,865 crore FPO scheme) requires separate registration. Mujanti assists with this as part of our FPO onboarding service.
Common mistakes that delay or derail registration
⚠ Object clause too narrow or too broad
The MoA's objects clause is the most frequently rejected element. "Promoting agriculture" alone is too vague. "Selling organic rice in Karnataka" is too narrow. The right formulation covers the full range of activities — production, processing, aggregation, marketing, input sourcing, training — while staying connected to farmer welfare. Use Mujanti's template to avoid this.
⚠ Name conflicts with existing cooperatives
SPICe+ Part A only searches the MCA company database. State cooperative societies are registered under state acts and do not appear in this search. Conduct a manual search of your state's cooperative registrar database before submitting your name preference.
⚠ Missing NOC for registered office
If the registered office address belongs to a family member of a director, many applicants assume an NOC is not needed. The MCA requires it regardless of the relationship. A one-paragraph signed letter from the property owner is sufficient.
⚠ DSC on wrong device
DSCs are device-specific tokens. If a director signs using a different computer or browser profile from the one where the token was installed, the signature will be rejected. All directors should sign from the same device where the DSC was initially activated.
⚠ Resubmission spirals on SPICe+
The CRC (Central Registration Centre) typically allows two resubmissions before a fresh filing is needed. Incomplete attachments — especially the INC-14/INC-15 declarations and the three-year income & expenditure statement required for Section 8 applicants — are the most common trigger. Getting a CS/CA to pre-check the full attachment set before you submit avoids losing 2–3 weeks to resubmission cycles.
Timeline to expect
| Stage | Working days |
|---|---|
| DSC procurement for all directors | 3 – 5 |
| Name reservation (SPICe+ Part A) | 1 – 2 |
| SPICe+ Part B preparation and filing | 5 – 10 |
| CRC processing — CoI with Section 8 licence | 7 – 15 |
| Total (typical) | 15 – 30 working days |
Note: resubmission rounds (common on first filings) can add 1–2 weeks to this timeline.
Costs at a glance
| Item | Approximate cost |
|---|---|
| DSC per director (2 directors minimum) | ₹1,000 – ₹1,500 each |
| Name reservation (SPICe+ Part A) | ₹1,000 |
| MCA filing fees (SPICe+ incl. Section 8 licence) | ₹3,000 – ₹6,000 |
| Professional fees (CA/CS for drafting and filing) | ₹8,000 – ₹20,000 |
| Stamp duty (varies by state) | ₹500 – ₹2,000 |
| Total range | ₹15,000 – ₹30,000 |
Note: If Mujanti is managing your registration, our fee covers professional charges and includes MoA/AoA drafting, SPICe+ attachment preparation (including INC-14/INC-15 declarations), post-registration board meeting agenda, and SFAC/NABARD registration support.
Templates and downloads
- FPO Section 8 MoA template (Word) — pre-approved objects language, ready to customise
- FPO AoA template (Word) — standard governance rules suitable for farmer collectives
- Income/expenditure projection template (Excel) — three-year financial projection for the Section 8 licence attachment
- First board meeting agenda template (Word)
- NOC letter template for registered office (Word)
Need help with registration?
Mujanti has supported FPO formations across Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, and Odisha. We handle the full process — from name reservation to the first board meeting — and continue as your compliance partner through annual filings and NABARD scheme applications.
Book a free 30-minute consultationThis guide reflects the Companies Act, 2013, the Companies (Incorporation) Rules as amended (including the Sixth Amendment Rules, 2019), and MCA V3 portal procedures as of July 2026. Government procedures and fee structures are subject to change. Always verify current fee schedules and forms on the MCA portal before filing.