MCA Master Data: How to Check It, Read It and Export It in Bulk
Where MCA master data lives on the V3 portal, what each field on the company master data screen actually tells you, and how teams pull it for thousands of companies without touching the portal.
By the Algoura team · Updated 7 August 2026
MCA master data is the official snapshot the Ministry of Corporate Affairs holds on every company and LLP registered in India — CIN, status, incorporation date, registered address, capital, class and category, plus the directors attached to it. It is free to view one company at a time, and it is the record most diligence, onboarding and credit teams in India check first.
This guide covers three things: how to check MCA master data on the current V3 portal, how to read each field without misinterpreting it, and how to export company master data for hundreds or thousands of companies when one-by-one lookups stop being realistic.
How to check MCA master data on the MCA portal
- 1Go to the MCA portal at mca.gov.in and open MCA Services → Master Data → View Company or LLP Master Data.
- 2Enter the CIN or LLPIN if you have it. If you don't, use the search icon to look the company up by name, then pick the exact entity — names repeat, CINs don't.
- 3Complete the captcha and submit. The master data screen loads with the company's registration and status details.
- 4For people rather than companies, use View Director or Designated Partner Details and search by DIN or name.
- 5For charges, use the Index of Charges option; for filed documents, use View Public Documents (this is the paid route and needs an MCA login).
Master data view is free and needs no login. Public documents, certified copies and signatory details sit behind an MCA account and per-document fees — that's the point where most teams start looking for an API.
What each MCA master data field means
| Field | What it tells you | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| CIN / LLPIN | The permanent 21-character identifier. Encodes listing status, industry code, state, year and registration number. | The only reliable key. Names change; CINs don't. |
| Company status | ACTIVE, STRIKE OFF, UNDER LIQUIDATION, AMALGAMATED, DORMANT. | 'ACTIVE' means registered, not compliant. Cross-check the last filing date. |
| Date of incorporation | When the entity legally came into existence. | Not the same as when the current business started trading. |
| Authorised & paid-up capital | Capital ceiling versus capital actually issued. | Paid-up capital is the meaningful number for size checks. |
| Registered address & email | The official address for service of notices. | Often a CA's or registered-office provider's address, not an operating site. |
| Class / category / sub-category | Public or private, limited by shares, government or non-government. | Drives which filing obligations apply. |
| Previous names / CIN history | Every earlier name and any CIN change. | Essential for matching legacy contracts and invoices. |
| Directors / signatories | DIN, name, designation, date of appointment. | Cessations can lag; check the DIN's own record for current roles. |
Why the portal breaks down at scale
- One company per search, one captcha per search. Fifty vendors is an afternoon; five thousand is a project.
- The screen is built for reading, not for exporting — no CSV, no JSON, no clean copy-paste.
- Re-keying registry data into a CRM or credit sheet is where typos enter, and a wrong CIN silently poisons every downstream report.
- There is no change notification. If a supplier moves to STRIKE OFF next quarter, nothing tells you.
- Charges and filings live on separate screens, so building one company view means stitching four lookups together by hand.
How to export MCA master data in bulk
The practical route is an API that reads the registry for you and returns structured data you can store. Send a reference — company name, CIN, LLPIN, DIN or director name — and get master data, directors, charges and the filings list back as JSON, ready to load into a spreadsheet, CRM or scoring model.
- 1Build a clean input list. CIN wherever you have it, exact registered name where you don't.
- 2Resolve names to CINs first, and store the CIN as your permanent key for every entity.
- 3Pull master data, then enrich only the entities that matter with directors, charges and filings — that keeps cost proportional to value.
- 4Write the response into your own store with a fetched-at timestamp so you always know how fresh a record is.
- 5Re-pull on a schedule for anything live — suppliers, borrowers, portfolio companies — and alert on status changes rather than re-checking manually.
That is exactly what MCA Explorer does. It sources directly from the MCA registry rather than a reseller cache, refreshes daily with a live pull available on demand, returns in under a second, and charges per successful lookup — failed requests cost nothing.
Common master data mistakes
- Matching companies by name. Near-identical names across states are routine; match on CIN.
- Reading ACTIVE as healthy. Pair status with last filing date and open charges before concluding anything.
- Ignoring the LLP distinction — LLPs have designated partners and a different filing set, not directors and annual returns.
- Treating a one-off pull as permanent truth. Registry data changes; store a timestamp and refresh.
- Skipping the charges index in credit checks — that is where existing lender security shows up.
Send us your company list and we'll return enriched MCA master data so you can see the format and coverage before committing to anything.
Get MCA master data accessFrequently asked questions
What is MCA master data?
MCA master data is the Ministry of Corporate Affairs' official record for a registered Indian company or LLP: CIN or LLPIN, company status, date of incorporation, registered address and email, authorised and paid-up capital, class and category, previous names, and the directors or designated partners attached to it.
How do I check company master data on the MCA portal?
Open mca.gov.in, go to MCA Services → Master Data → View Company or LLP Master Data, enter the CIN or LLPIN (or search by name to find it), complete the captcha and submit. The lookup is free and needs no MCA login.
Is MCA master data free?
Viewing master data for one company at a time is free. Public documents, certified copies and signatory details require an MCA account and per-document fees, and bulk or programmatic access needs a data API.
Can I export or download MCA master data in bulk?
Not from the portal — it shows one company per search with no export option. For bulk you need an API such as MCA Explorer, which returns structured master data, directors, charges and filings per reference so you can load thousands of companies into your own systems.
How often is MCA master data updated?
The registry updates as companies file. MCA Explorer refreshes its data daily and supports a live pull on demand, so time-sensitive checks read the current registry rather than a stale cache.
What is the difference between MCA master data and company filings?
Master data is the current-state summary of the entity. Filings are the historical documents submitted to the registrar — annual returns, financial statements, charge forms — listed separately and available for download.
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