Changing the name of an enterprise is not a common exercise among promoters unless there is a genuine business need for it. Changing the name could be a significant decision for an enterprise and may have both positive and negative impacts. Some of the situations when a business usually seeks to change its name are rebranding strategy, merger or acquisition, trademark issue, international expansion, etc. Getting a new name, however, can risk a change in positioning in the market among consumers. Hence, a promoter or founder must be sure about its future goals and targets before changing the name.
Here’s how promoters can change the name of their business:
- Call a board meeting to pass a resolution among the board to change the name of the company
- If approved, a director or company secretary has to be authorised to check for a suitable name and apply for it under the RUN (Reserve Unique Name) facility of the Ministry of corporate affairs, similar to the process for getting the initial name of the company.
- Enter details such as Corporate Identification Number, proposed name (after verifying it with ‘Check Company Name’ under ‘Company Services’ under the ‘MCA Services’ tab
- After MCA approval, call an ‘extraordinary general meeting’ (EGM) to pass a special resolution for changing the name and for incorporating the new name in the Memorandum of Association (MoA) and Articles of Association (AoA)
- File the special resolution within 30 days of passing it along with form MGT-14 having details about the resolution with the registrar of companies (RoC).
- File the INC-24 form with the Service Request Number of MGT-14 with the RoC. INC-24 is to take the government’s approval for the name change
- Documents required with INC-24 are copy of minutes of the EGM, copy of resolution passed, MoA, AoA with the new name, etc.
- Once RoC approves INC-24 with documents, it will issue a new certificate of incorporation in around 15-20 days.
- After the name change, the company needs to renew various documents to reflect the new name such as its bank account, company seal, permanent account number, tax deduction and collection account number, letterheads, employment contracts, and more.