Public Limited Company should be the preferred choice of business in India if you are planning to raise funds from the general public through Initial Public Offering (“IPO”) because public limited companies have got privileged under Securities Laws to access capital market. Public Limited Companies in India are considered to be a more transparent business model as compared to other business structures.

It gives investors a choice of transferring their ownership in the company without any hassle by just selling the shares.

A Public Limited Companies have following features:

• It allows a significant degree of separation between operations and ownership.
• One can provide stock ownership or ESOPS to employees. Only Limited companies are allowed to offer this feature of distributing their stocks among current and prospective employees.
• Only Public Limited Companies can list its shares on Indian Stock Exchanges such as National Stock Exchange (NSE), Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and so on.
• Only Public Limited Companies can accept Deposits from public under Companies Act, 2013.

Eligibility Criteria for Public Limited Company Registration in India

1. Minimum 3 Directors
2. Maximum 15 Directors required
3. At least one director should be an Indian resident.
4. 7  Shareholders required (minimum)