MCA-style name
pre-screening

A proposed name is refused if it is identical or too similar to an existing registered company or LLP name, or to a registered trademark, under s.4(3) of the Companies Act 2013 read with Rule 8 of the Companies (Incorporation) Rules 2014. Names containing undesirable words or implying government patronage are also blocked (Rules 9 and 10). This checker applies those same tests before you spend on a RUN or SPICe+ filing.

Rules 9 and 10 of the Companies (Incorporation) Rules 2014 restrict names containing words like Bank, Insurance, National, Reserve, Central, Union, Government and similar expressions that imply state patronage or a regulated activity — those need prior approval from the relevant authority (RBI, IRDAI, etc.). Financial-sector terms such as Finance, Capital, Securities, Forex also attract regulatory scrutiny. The checker's restricted-word list mirrors these grounds.

You can run a free name-availability search on the MCA portal (mca.gov.in), and for a formal reservation you file the RUN (Reserve Unique Name) application — now integrated into Part A of the SPICe+ web form for incorporation, under Rule 12 of the Companies (Incorporation) Rules 2014. A reserved name is valid for 20 days and can be extended for another 20 days on payment of the prescribed extension fee under Rule 9A, applied for before the current validity expires.

The government fee for reserving a name is prescribed under Rule 12(1) of the Companies (Registration Offices and Fees) Rules 2014 — ₹1,000 at present; the fee is revised from time to time and the MCA portal shows the current figure. If the name is approved and you proceed to incorporation in SPICe+, the same application continues into the incorporation process and the fee is adjusted.

A company name that infringes a registered trademark can be objected to under s.16(3) of the Trade Marks Act 1999 (comparative examination of trademark vs company name), and a trademark proprietor can sue for passing off or infringement even after the company is registered. Checking both registries before incorporation is the cheap fix — that is exactly what this tool's resemblance test does.