I receive a question on Quora which may interest readers of this Blog. The question is –
Doing Business As (DBA) name for a Private Limited company in India?
Typically in US, we can have a company registered name as JP Morgan Chase Limited and they have a DBA as Chase which is very business friendly name. Can I have similar DBA name for a Private Limited Company in India?
DBA Name
For Indian readers, it may be beneficial to understand, what is “Doing Business As (DBA) names. This is a fictitious name (or assumed name, trade name or DBA name) is a business name that is different from legal or personal name, the names of your partners or the officially registered name of your LLP or company.
When you form a business, the legal name of the business is the name of the person or entity that owns the business, unless you choose to rename it and register it as a DBA name. The legal name of your business is required on all government forms and applications, including your application for identity documents, licenses and permits.
A Business organization may register its DBA name with county clerk’s office or with local state government. Few states do not require registration of these DBA names.
Indian Law
Present Indian Law (the companies Act, 2013 and other such law) does not have such provision.
Though, in practice many Indian companies known by their nick name or brand name, but not officially use their nick name. In recent past, many Indian companies became popular by their nick names and later adopted that name as official name. ICICI, HDFC, adopted their new names in place of their earlier long names. Few companies are popular with brand names used for their product and services like PayTM. However, these nick names and brands names are not technically their DBA names.
Readers may reach original reply written on 16th October 2016 here.
AishMGhrana 