What the baseline looks like
Q1 2026 (January–March) saw approximately 47,000 new company incorporations across all forms — Private Limited, Public Limited, One Person Company, and Section 8 non-profits. Private Limited (PTC) dominates, as always, at roughly 92% of all new incorporations.
Year-over-year, the Q1 2026 volume is broadly flat compared to Q1 2025. The longer-term view over eight quarters shows a gentle upward trend with quarterly variance driven by processing cadence at individual ROC offices rather than underlying demand shifts.
Sector distribution — services continues to tilt
Looking at the primary NIC section at incorporation:
Section J (information and communication) — roughly 19% of Q1 2026 incorporations. Large subsectors: computer programming and consultancy (NIC 62), software publishing, data processing.
Section M (professional, scientific, and technical activities) — roughly 14%. Subsectors: management consultancy, legal and accounting activities, scientific research and development.
Section G (wholesale and retail trade) — roughly 20%. Long-tail of trading, distribution, wholesale; this remains the largest section by count but the share is slowly contracting.
Section C (manufacturing) — roughly 9%. Down from ~12% two years ago; the shift from manufacturing incorporations to services is a multi-year story.
Section F (construction) — roughly 7%.
Section K (financial and insurance activities) — roughly 5%.
The tilt toward services is unmistakable. Ten years ago, Sections C + G + F collectively dominated; today it's Sections G + J + M leading, with tech and professional services expanding their footprint in each quarterly cohort.
Geographic concentration
Q1 2026 state distribution:
Maharashtra — roughly 18% of new incorporations. Dominated by ROC Mumbai, with a material contribution from ROC Pune.
Delhi — roughly 11%. Dominated by ROC Delhi, which also handles Haryana.
Karnataka — roughly 9%. Dominated by ROC Bangalore; Section J share is noticeably higher here than the national average.
Tamil Nadu — roughly 9%. ROC Chennai + ROC Coimbatore. Manufacturing share is higher than the national average.
Gujarat — roughly 8%. ROC Ahmedabad; construction and trade share is higher than average.
Together, these five states account for about 55% of Q1 incorporations. The long tail of the remaining 20+ states accounts for the rest, with Telangana, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan each in the 3-5% range.
Form distribution — OPC continues to rise
One Person Company (OPC) incorporations, which used to be a niche form, have been rising gradually since 2021 when thresholds were relaxed. In Q1 2026, OPCs accounted for about 4% of new incorporations — not dramatic but notable.
Section 8 (non-profit) incorporations remain stable in the ~1% of incorporations range, with most new Section 8s in education, social welfare, and environmental protection categories.
Public Limited Company (PLC) new incorporations are very low in absolute terms — the PLC form is primarily for existing mature businesses going public rather than for new formations.
What this means
For a sector researcher, the ongoing tilt toward Section J and Section M is the most meaningful signal. It reflects the continued shift of Indian corporate formation from traditional trade and manufacturing toward services and knowledge work. Whether the shift accelerates or plateaus over the next year is an open question we'll track on subsequent quarterly snapshots.
For a state-level observer, the concentration of formation in the five metro states is stable — this is not a quarter where any tier-2 state suddenly surged. Growth in Telangana, Karnataka, and Maharashtra is steady; other states are steady-to-flat.
For practitioners, the OPC rise is worth watching. If OPC formation continues to grow as a share, the profile of small Indian companies shifts — single-founder entities with limited-liability protection are becoming more accessible as a default structure for solo founders.
How we computed this
The figures in this piece are derived from our own ingest of the MCA bulk release feed for January, February, and March 2026, cross-checked against the data.gov.in mirror. We classify incorporations by the primary NIC section captured in the company's CIN and by the state code embedded in the same identifier.
Two caveats: NIC classification reflects declared intent at incorporation, not current activity, so the sector distribution is a formation-time signal rather than an activity-time one. And the state reflects the registered office state at incorporation; subsequent interstate transfers are not back-captured into the quarterly formation stats.