Use cases · for developers and KYB teams choosing a vendor

Best Indian company data APIs in 2026: an honest comparison

Last updated 11 November 2026 · by Venu Gopal Reddy Muvva, founder

There is no single best Indian company data API; it depends on the job. To search and enrich Indian companies from your own code or an AI agent, with CIN, LEI, ISIN and NSE identifiers, free CIN and GSTIN checks, a source on every field and an MCP server, IndianFirmData is built for that, self-serve and free for 3 months. For deep MCA-based records of unlisted companies, such as financials and charges, look at Probe42. For regulated KYC and KYB onboarding with live GST status, director (DIN) checks and person KYC, look at Perfios Karza, Signzy, Gridlines or Surepass, which mostly start with a demo or a sales contact.

Steps in IndianFirmData

1. Write down the ID you start from
Most onboarding flows start from a CIN, a GSTIN, a PAN, a website or just a company name. Pick the vendor that accepts the ID you actually have. IndianFirmData enriches by CIN, LEI, ISIN, NSE symbol, website domain or name, and decodes CIN, GSTIN, PAN, Udyam, LEI and ISIN numbers for free.
2. Decide whether you need live government status
A checksum check tells you a GSTIN or CIN is well formed. Whether a GST registration is active today, or who the directors are by DIN, needs a vendor with licensed live access. If your compliance team needs that, shortlist a KYC/KYB vendor for that step.
3. Check how each vendor lets you start
Some give you an API key the same day; others start with a demo, a sandbox request or a contract. If you want to test this week, prefer a self-serve key and public prices.
4. Test on 20 companies you already know
Run the same 20 companies through each shortlisted API and count matches, wrong matches and missing fields. With IndianFirmData, add ?dry_run=true to see the cost first; a call with no match costs nothing.

What each one is built for

IndianFirmData: a self-serve Indian company data API, MCP server and dashboard. It joins NSE main-board and SME lists, Nifty index lists, GLEIF LEI records and Wikidata, and says for every field which source it came from, under which licence and how old it is. It has open-source Python and JavaScript clients.

Probe42: company and LLP data intelligence for businesses, banks and NBFCs, with an API. Its site talks about financial ratios, open charges and legal data, and claims coverage of 17 lakh active unlisted companies.

Perfios Karza: KYC and KYB products sold by Perfios. Its KYC/KYB page lists verification of entity IDs and documents including GST, MCA signatories and MCA documents for due diligence, with demos and a sandbox through Perfios Hub.

Signzy: a global identity verification and compliance platform, sold through demos, covering person KYC and business verification in many countries.

Gridlines (by OnGrid): a digital onboarding platform with video KYC, DigiLocker and eSign workflows; its blog names APIs to fetch company details, search a company by name, verify directors and DINs, and authenticate GST and Udyam numbers.

Surepass: an Indian identity verification platform with MCA (CIN and DIN) APIs and a GST verification API that detects fake and inactive GSTINs.

Questions to ask any vendor

Which source did each field come from, under what licence, and when was it last checked? Do you charge for a lookup that finds nothing? Can I see the price before I sign? Do you return personal data about directors, and on what legal basis under India's DPDP Act? Is there an MCP server or SDK so my agent or code can call you without glue code? The answers tell you more than a feature list.

Indian company data and KYB APIs compared

What	IndianFirmData	Probe42	Perfios Karza	Signzy	Gridlines	Surepass
What it is	Indian company data API, MCP server and dashboard	Company and LLP data intelligence; Business, Banking and API products	KYC and KYB verification suite	Global identity verification and compliance platform	Digital onboarding platform with verification APIs	Digital identity verification platform for India
Public price	Yes: free for 3 months, then pay per use at cost	Not listed publicly	Not listed publicly	Not listed publicly	Not listed publicly	Not listed publicly
Start	Self-serve sign-up, no card	Contact us; developer portal login	Book a demo; sandbox via Perfios Hub	Book a demo	Book a demo; sandbox	Free account form; the team contacts you
Company record by CIN	Yes, when the company is in our index (CINs from GLEIF today; no MCA master yet)	Yes (MCA-based company data)	MCA documents and signatories listed	Not named on the pages we checked	"Fetch Company Details" API	Yes (MCA data APIs)
Director (DIN) data	No	Not stated	MCA signatories	Not stated	"Director & DIN Verification"	Yes (DIN API)
Live GST status	Not yet (needs a licensed GSP)	Not stated	GST verification listed	"Aadhar & GST Checks" listed	"GST & Udyam Authentication"	Yes
Financials and charges	No	Mentioned on its site	Not stated	Not stated	Not stated	Not stated
Source, licence and freshness per field	Yes, every field	Not stated	Not stated	Not stated	Not stated	Not stated
MCP server for AI agents	Yes, 16 tools	Not mentioned	Not mentioned	Not mentioned	Not mentioned	Not mentioned
Open-source SDKs	Python and JavaScript (MIT)	Not stated	Not stated	Not stated	SDKs for onboarding journeys	Not stated

Competitor facts are from their own public websites. Probe42: probe42.in (home and API pages), checked 11 Nov 2026. Perfios Karza: perfios.ai/in/products/kyc-kyb, checked 11 Nov 2026 (karza.in did not load). Gridlines: gridlines.io (home) and its blog post "A smarter approach to business verification with Gridlines APIs", checked 11 Nov 2026. Signzy and Surepass: signzy.com and surepass.io, checked 2 Nov 2026. "Not stated" means we did not find it on those pages, not that the product cannot do it. Probe42, Perfios, Karza, Signzy, Gridlines and Surepass are trademarks of their owners. IndianFirmData is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by any of them. Tell us if anything is out of date: [email protected].

When IndianFirmData is not the right tool

If you need financial statements, charges, director (DIN) lookups, live GST status or person KYC today, IndianFirmData is not the right tool: none of these is available yet, and most unlisted private companies are not in the index. Use a licensed KYC/KYB vendor for those steps; you can still use IndianFirmData for search, enrichment and the free ID checks around them.

Questions

Which Indian company data API can I try without talking to sales?

IndianFirmData: sign up with name, email and a password, create a key in the dashboard and call the API the same day, free for 3 months with no card. Of the others in this table, the pages we checked lead with a demo, a contact form or a developer-portal login.

Which Indian company data API works with Claude or ChatGPT?

IndianFirmData has an MCP server with 16 tools, over remote HTTP at /api/mcp or as a stdio server via npx, so any MCP client can call it. We did not find an MCP server mentioned on the public sites of the other vendors in this table.

Which one has director (DIN) data?

Surepass lists a DIN API, Gridlines names director and DIN verification, and Perfios Karza lists MCA signatory checks. IndianFirmData does not offer DIN lookups; it returns only public business roles, mostly from Wikidata.

Can I just scrape the MCA portal instead?

It is fragile and can break the portal's terms. See our guide on MCA data: an API vs scraping the MCA portal for the cleaner options, including the open MCA master on data.gov.in.

Try it on a company you know.

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