What is Corporate Identity Number (CIN)?

Corporate Identity Number (CIN), is a unique 21 digit Alpha-Numeric Code issued by Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) for all the Companies registered under Companies Act, 2013. 

Here in the example above, we have taken CIN of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) from MCA Website and code is broken into different categories for reader to understand the structure of CIN with ease.

1) Listing Status - First Alphabet

First Letter (alphabet) of CIN suggests Listing Status of the Company. Where L indicates, the Company is listed on recognised stock exchange in India and U indicates it is unlisted Company

2 to 5) Industry Code - next 5 numbers

Immediately, after Listing status, CIN has 5 numeric digits which represents Industry Code of the Company. Every Company, registered under Companies Act, 2013, has a Main Object. All those main objects are divided into few broad categories and these 5 digits represents the major activity or the industry of the Company. Click here to access all Industry codes.

6 & 7) State of Registration - 2 Alphabets

While Company registered under Companies Act, 2013 can have operations anywhere in India, it is mandatory for Companies to have 1 Registered Office address. The Registered office generally denotes primary place of business for various purposes including Tax. 2 digit denotes State in which Company is primarily registered. For eg. in case of RIL, MH denotes Maharashtra as Registered Office of RIL is located in Mumbai.

8 to 11) Year of Incorporation - 4 numbers

4 number immediately after state code represent year of Incorporation (registration) of the Company. So in case of RIL, 1973 means RIL was incorporated and registered in the records of Registrar of Companies (ROC) first time in the year of 1973.

12 to 14) Status of the Company - 3 Alphabets

Under the Companies Act, 2013, the Companies are divided into various types, such as Private Company, Public Company, Government Companies, Section 8 Companies etc. So the 3 Alphabets immediately after incorporation indicates the status of the Company.Here:

• PLC means a Public Company
• PTC means a Private Company
• NPL means a Section 8 Company or Company incorporated with charitable objects
• FTC means a Foreign Company; and
• GOI indicates a Government Company.

15 to 21) Registration Number - 6 digit numeric code

Last 6 digit numeric code, is ROC registration number or a number with which the Company is registered with ROC. Prior to introduction of CIN, the Company registration number consist of this 6 digit preceded by respective State code of ROC. So in case of Companies which are registered prior to introduction of CIN, the certificate of Incorporation generally consist this 6 digit number. While, any company registered/incorporated after the introduction of CIN, has full fledged CIN on Certificate of Incorporation. 

While, CIN is very important number for the Company as all the records maintained by respective ROC (and now MCA since the introduction of MCA 21) are stored and can be traced easily by punching CIN of the Company. In case you dont have CIN, you can easily search it on MCA website.