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Read This Before Deciding Your Company Legal Name. ✅️ Restrictions on Names and Use of Words or Expressions (Sub-sections 2 and 3) Sub-section 2 of the Companies Act restricts the use of certain names in a company's Memorandum of Association. A company name: a. Must not be identical to or too closely resemble the name of an existing company registered under the current or any prior company law. b. Must not include any word or phrase that, if used, would be an offence under any existing law (e.g., use of names prohibited under the Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act). c. Must not include words considered "undesirable" by the Central Government (this authority is delegated to the Registrar of Companies or RoC). ✅️ Sub-section 3 further states that, unless prior approval from the Central Government is obtained, a company name must not: d. Contain any word or expression that implies the company is affiliated with or supported by the Central Government, State Government, local authority, or any body established by law. e. Include specific words or expressions such as: "Board", "Commission", "Authority", "Undertaking", "National", "Union", "Central", "Federal", "Republic", "President", "Rashtrapati", "Small Scale Industries", "Khadi and Village Industries Corporation", "Financial Corporation", "Municipal", "Development Authority", "Prime Minister", "Chief Minister", "Minister", "Nation", "Forest Corporation", "Development Scheme", "Statute", "Statutory", "Court", "Judiciary", "Governor", "Bureau", or use of the word "Scheme" with references to "Government", "State", "India", "Bharat" or any public authority, or resembling names of government schemes. ✅️ Names are considered to 'resemble' if the only differences are: a. Singular vs. plural (e.g., Green Technology Ltd. vs. Greens Technology Ltd.) b. Use of punctuation, spaces, or capitalization (e.g., ABC Ltd. vs. A.B.C. Ltd.) c. Different verb tenses (e.g., Ascend Solutions Ltd. vs. Ascending Solutions Ltd.) d. Minor spelling or grammatical variations (e.g., Disc Solutions Ltd. vs. Disk Solutions Ltd.) e. Phonetic or misspelled variations (e.g., Bee Kay Ltd. vs. B.K. Ltd.) f. Full translation or transliteration of an existing name (e.g., National Electricity Corporation Ltd. vs. Rashtriya Vidyut Nigam Ltd.) g. Use of domain names or extensions (e.g., Ultra Solutions Ltd. vs. Ultrasolutions.com Ltd.) h. Word order changes (e.g., Ravi Builders and Contractors Ltd. vs. Ravi Contractors and Builders Ltd.) i. Use of articles (e.g., Congenial Tours Ltd. vs. The Congenial Tours Ltd.) j. Adding a place name to an existing name without one (e.g., Salvage Technologies Ltd. vs. Salvage Technologies Delhi Ltd.) k. Adding, removing, or modifying numerals unless the numeral is part of a brand (e.g., Thunder Services Ltd. vs. Thunder 11 Services Ltd.) Note: Rule 8A of the Companies (Incorporation) Rules, 2014 lists 23 more cases of what constitutes an “undesirable” name.