Dates, portals and straight answers.

A Practicing Company Secretary is a professional licensed by the Institute of Company Secretaries of India to certify and file corporate documents, conduct secretarial audits, maintain statutory records, and represent clients before the Registrar of Companies, the Regional Director, the NCLT and other authorities. In practical terms, a CS is the person who keeps a company legally in existence and in good standing — and who signs off that its records are correct.

Where all promoter documents are in order and the proposed name is available, incorporation is typically completed within 7 to 12 working days. Delays usually come from three places: name rejection by the Central Registration Centre, mismatched KYC documents, or a delay in obtaining Digital Signature Certificates. We check all three before filing, which is why our applications rarely go back for resubmission.

In most cases, yes. Overdue AOC-4 and MGT-7 filings can be made with additional fees, and where a company has been struck off, restoration can be sought before the NCLT. Where there has been a default that attracts penalty, compounding of the offence is often the cleaner route. The correct approach depends on how long the default has run and whether any notice has already been issued — bring the papers and we will tell you honestly which path applies.

Under Section 204 of the Companies Act, 2013, secretarial audit is mandatory for every listed company and for public companies crossing prescribed thresholds of paid-up capital or turnover, as well as companies with significant outstanding borrowings. Many unlisted companies also commission a voluntary secretarial audit before fundraising or an acquisition, because it surfaces record-keeping gaps well before a buyer's due diligence does.

Yes. ROC, income tax and GST filings are entirely electronic, so entity location is rarely a constraint — we act for clients across India. Where physical appearance is required before a bench or an authority, we advise at the outset whether the matter can be handled by us directly or requires local counsel, and what that means for cost.

Do not let the reply window lapse — most notices carry a fixed response period, and an unanswered notice usually converts a manageable issue into a contested one. Send us the notice along with the relevant filings and we will assess the exposure and draft the response. Where the matter progresses to a hearing, we appear before the concerned authority, CIT(A), ITAT or NCLT as applicable.

Routine work — incorporation, annual filings, registrations — is quoted as a fixed professional fee, stated separately from government and statutory fees so you can see exactly what goes where. Advisory, audit and litigation work is scoped after the initial consultation. You receive the scope and fee in writing before any work begins.

Yes — that is a large part of why clients consolidate here. We handle GST registration, periodic and annual returns, reconciliations and departmental matters, along with income tax returns, notices and representation up to the ITAT. Keeping corporate and tax records with one office means the two stop contradicting each other, which is a surprisingly common source of trouble.

It depends on liability, funding and credibility rather than on scale alone. A proprietorship is simplest and cheapest to run but gives you no separation between business and personal liability, and outside investment is effectively impossible. A private limited company costs more to maintain but provides limited liability, perpetual succession and a structure investors and lenders recognise. We will tell you which is genuinely appropriate rather than defaulting to the more expensive option.