Small Scale and medium size organizations can voluntarily register themselves as “Small Scale Industry”, which entitles them to various benefits from Central and State Government. They are eligible as Small Scale Industry based upon investment limits in its Plant and Machinery, which are upto Rs 10 crores for Manufacturing enterprises and upto 5 crores for Service enterprises. .

Before, applying for registration, it is necessary that Small Scale Industry Unit should obtain prior Sanction from the electricity board, Ownership/tenancy rights of the premises where unit is located, BIS/QC certificate and also clearances from Municipal Corporation and State Pollution Control Board.

Registration entitles Small Scale Industries to various benefits like tax exemptions like Income/Sales Tax, Excise Exemption, Price and Purchase preference, availability of Raw Material and other Concessions like in power/water tariff, etc.

A BPO or call center has to be compulsorily registered with Department of Telecommuications, New Delhi or at any of its regional centers. As per the Telecom Policy of 1999, Other Service Providers (OSP), such as tele-banking, tele-medicine, tele-trading, e-commerce, etc, were allowed to operate by using infrastructure provided by various access providers for non-telecom services.

The Telecom Commission in May 1999, accorded in principle approval for registration of Call Centers, both International and Domestic, in the country under the above category. The Registration was granted to any company to provide Application Services, on the condition that these service providers will not infringe on the jurisdiction of other Authorised Telecom Service Providers and they will not provide switched telephony.

The registration as a Call Center is done with Department Of Telecommunication on an application in prescribed format with necessary documents and a processing fees of Rs 1,000. The following kind of OSP (other service provider) registrations are allowed in India:

International Call Centers
Domestic Call Centers
Standalone Domestic Call Centre
Sharing of common infrastructure
Network Operation Center
Tele-banking
Tele-medicine
Tele-trading
Tele-education
E-Commerce
Vehicle Tracking System
Long Range Alarm System
Bill Payment Terminal

‘Partnership’ is the relation between persons who have agreed to share the profits of a business carried on by all or any one of them acting for all, is defined under section 4 of Indian Partnership Act, 1932. Partnerships are governed by Indian Contract Act, 1872 and Indian Partnership Act, 1932. Two or more persons may form a partnership form of business by registering themselves with Registrar of Firms.

Partnership Firm form of business offers various advantages like Easy to form, Sharing of Risk, Lesser Legal Formalities, etc. But the major disadvantage of partnership form of business is its ‘Unlimited Liability’. Partners are liable for the debts and liabilities of the firm, i.e. partners personal property can be attached for the payment of debts and loans of Partnership Firm. Therefore, Company form of organization is sometimes preferred over it.

Section 11 of Partnership Act 1932 states that the mutual rights and duties of the partners of a firm may be determined by contract between the partners, and such contract may be express or may be implied by a course of dealing. Mostly, a Partnership deed is entered between partners which regulate relations between partners by providing for:
(a) the firm-name,
(b) the nature of business of the firm,
(c) the place or principal place of business of the firm,
(d) the date when each partner joined the firm,
(e) the names in full and permanent addresses of the partners, and
(f) the sharing of profits/losses, remuneration, interest, etc.

Partnership Deed is the most important document from the point of view of Partnership form of organization. Partnership Firm is registered by filing Form No 1 with affidavit, Partnership Deed and ownership proof of principal place of business with Registrar of Firms.

Limited Liability Partnership is of recent origin, came into being with the passing of The Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008 in January 2009. The major advantages offered by the said Act are the Perpetual Succession, Separate Legal Entity and Limited Liability, which was till now available to Company form of organization only.

Partnership form of organization is the most common among professionals such as Advocates, Chartered Accountants, Company Secretaries and Cost Accountants, who can now join in to reap benefits of partnership form of organization, with features of a Company.

Section 11 of The Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008 provides for the incorporation of Limited Liability Partnership and states that for Limited Liability Partnership incorporation, two or more persons associated for carrying on a lawful business with a view to profit shall subscribe their names to an incorporation document.

The incorporation document is to be filed with the Registrar of the State in which the registered office of the limited liability partnership is situated and along with the incorporation document, one has to file a statement in the prescribed form, made by either an advocate, or a Company Secretary or a Chartered Accountant or a Cost Accountant, who is engaged in the formation of the limited liability partnership and by any one who subscribed his name to the incorporation document, that all the requirements of this Act and the rules made thereunder have been complied with, in respect of incorporation and matters precedent and incidental thereto. The above provision is somewhat similar to incorporation of a Company.

A name of the business in India, can be suffixed with words like ‘Private Limited’ or ‘Limited’, only if it is formed as a Company under the Companies Act, 1956/2013 and rules & regulations framed there-under. ‘Company’ form is not only matter of reputation but it also offers numerous benefits like ‘perpetual succession’, ‘Corporate Veil’, ‘Limited Liability’, ‘Transfer of Shares’, etc. Therefore, it is always advisable to form a Private Limited company with the expansion in business, the minimum requirements being atleast two members and paid up capital of Rs 1 lakh.

The company form of organization has been the only one to have ‘Limited Liability’ till 2008. Since 2009, now even partnership ca be registered as LLP (i.e. Limited Liability Partnership). But still Company form of organization still scores over LLPs for various other privileges available to companies only, like comprehensive regulations like Companies Act, 1956.

The procedure for Company Registration has been simplified over the years, with the launch of MCA21 project by Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India, whereby company can be registered online through the legal professionals, whose Digital Signature are compulsorily required before one can upload forms online.

The first step toward Company Registration / Formation is to check for Name Availability, as similar names cannot be registered. But as a prerequisite, one should also apply for Digital Signature in the name of one of the promoter and get the Proivisional DIN (Director Identification Number) for all the proposed directors. Once name is approved, the promoters can take steps for registration by completing different formalities within 60 days of name approval, else the name need to be re-applied.