Use cases · for analysts and developers
How to decode a CIN number for an Indian company
Last updated 2 November 2026 · by Venu Gopal Reddy Muvva, founder
A Corporate Identification Number (CIN) is 21 characters, for example L85110KA1981PLC013115. The first letter says listed (L) or unlisted (U). The next five digits are the industry code, then two letters for the state, four digits for the year of incorporation, three letters for the company class (such as PLC or PTC) and six digits for its registration number. IndianFirmData decodes every part for free and links to the company when it is in our index.
Steps in IndianFirmData
1. Paste the CIN
Open Dashboard → Verify an ID and paste the CIN, or call GET /api/v1/identifiers/decode?value=<CIN>.
2. Read each part
The result lists listing status, industry (from the NIC code), state, year and class in plain words.
3. Open the company
If the company is in our index, open its profile to see status, address and its LEI and NSE links with sources.
4. Enrich by CIN in code
GET /api/v1/companies/enrich?cin=<CIN> returns the full record. A match costs 1 credit and no match costs nothing.
Why the industry code can differ from the real business
The industry part of a CIN is the activity the company registered when it was formed. Many companies change what they do. For listed companies we show the official NSE industry as the sector when we know it, and keep the CIN's activity as a separate field called registered activity, so you can filter on either.
Searching by CIN parts
You do not need a full CIN to search. Filters include company class, listing status, state, incorporation year and the NIC division, so a request like listed public companies in Karnataka incorporated before 1990 is one search.
When IndianFirmData is not the right tool
If you need a company's director list, charges or annual filings from the MCA, IndianFirmData does not have them yet. It does not hold MCA master data yet; CINs come from GLEIF records.
Questions
What does PTC mean in a CIN?
Private Limited Company. PLC is a public limited company, OPC a one-person company and GOI a company owned by the Government of India.
Is a CIN the same as a GSTIN?
No. The CIN comes from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs; the GSTIN comes from GST registration and contains the PAN, not the CIN.
Does decoding cost credits?
No. Decoding any CIN, GSTIN, PAN, Udyam, LEI or ISIN costs 0 credits.
Try it on a company you know.
Start free — 3 months on usRelated: Verify a GSTIN number · LEI to CIN lookup · IndianFirmData vs Crustdata · Pricing