How to Get Udyam Certificate: Free Registration Steps for Every Business Type in 2026

To get a Udyam certificate, register free on udyamregistration.gov.in with an Aadhaar OTP and your business PAN, then fill in one online form. Your Udyam number is issued when you submit, and the e-certificate follows online.

Udyam registration process: key takeaways

• Registration is free on udyamregistration.gov.in, and the portal says no private agency is authorised to do it; lookalike sites charge a fee for the same form.
• Since 1 April 2021 every business needs a PAN to register, and a GSTIN only if GST law requires one for that business.
• No documents are uploaded: the form runs on self-declaration, backed by proof if an authority asks.
• The e-certificate generally follows 2 to 3 days after you submit, and it stays valid for life with no renewal.
• Export turnover is left out when your size is worked out, so a business with large overseas sales can still be micro.

Find your business type below:

A proprietor or freelancer has no business PAN, so uses their personal PAN. Udyam registration for a partnership firm, a private limited company or an LLP follows the same steps; only the Type of Organisation and the person giving the OTP differ.

A company that buys from MSMEs also has its own payment and filing duties.

Any business in India that makes goods, provides services or trades can register if it fits the micro, small or medium limits. Udyam registration eligibility depends on investment and turnover, and the business must stay within both.

Registering matters mainly for the benefits MSME status brings, from priority bank lending to protection against late payments.

These limits apply from 1 April 2025; guides showing ₹1 crore and ₹5 crore for micro units are out of date. If you sit close to a limit, work through the category test with examples before you file.

• Traders: retail and wholesale trade can register, but only for priority sector lending, not other MSME benefits.
• Who cannot register: crop and animal farming (NIC 01), forestry (02), fishing (03), households (97, 98) and foreign bodies (99). Listed allied work, such as poultry hatcheries, bee-keeping and cotton ginning, can still register.

You need an Aadhaar number with its linked mobile, your business PAN, and a few figures from your last tax return. Gather these first and the form takes one go.

• Aadhaar: the right person's number (see the table above), with their Aadhaar-linked mobile on hand for the OTP.
• PAN: name and date of birth or incorporation exactly as on the PAN, and whether you filed last year's Income Tax Return (ITR).
• Figures: investment at written down value (WDV) as on 31 March, without land, buildings or furniture, plus total and export sales.
• Business details: official address, each unit, bank account and IFS code, staff numbers by gender and what you invoice for.

You get the Udyam certificate online in three stages on one page: verify Aadhaar, verify PAN, then complete and submit the Udyam registration form.

Stage 1: Aadhaar verification

• Go to udyamregistration.gov.in.
• Under "For New Entrepreneurs who are not Registered yet as Micro, Small & Medium", click New Registration.
• Enter the Aadhaar Number and the Name of Entrepreneur exactly as it appears on Aadhaar.
• Tick the consent box and click Validate & Generate OTP.
• Enter the OTP sent to the Aadhaar-linked mobile and click Validate. The PAN section opens below.

For a firm or company, the managing partner or authorised signatory must be with you, since the OTP goes to their phone. If no OTP arrives, see the error table below.

Stage 2: PAN verification

• Choose the Type of Organisation: Proprietary, Hindu Undivided Family, Partnership, Co-Operative, Private Limited Company, Public Limited Company, Self Help Group, Limited Liability Partnership, Society, Trust or Others.
• Enter the PAN, the name of the PAN holder and the date of birth or incorporation.
• Give consent to use your ITR and GST return data, then click PAN Validate.
• Answer whether you filed the ITR for the previous year, and whether the business has a GSTIN.

A firm or company enters its date of incorporation, not a partner's birth date. Your investment and turnover figures are then fetched from your ITR and GST data.

If they look wrong, the fix is in the return, not the form.

Stage 3: the Udyam registration form

The form opens as a set of tabs, each with a few fields. Work through them in this order:

• Basic Details: enterprise name, mobile, email, social category, gender and whether the owner is specially abled.
• Official Address: the office address and PIN, then your District Industries Centre from the list.
• Plant/Unit Details: name each unit, click Add Unit, enter its address and click Add Plant. A home office counts as one unit.
• Other Details: date of incorporation and start of business (both in the past), bank details, activity, NIC codes and staff numbers.

These five fields cause the most trouble:

To pick NIC codes, click Search NIC Code in Lesser Steps and type what you invoice for, or work through the 2-digit, 4-digit and 5-digit drop-downs. Click Add Activity, then repeat for each other activity you bill for.

A software freelancer, for example, would search "computer programming" and pick a code under 62.

The last questions ask whether you want to join GeM, TReDS and other government platforms. They are optional, and you still sign up on each platform directly.

Read the declaration, click Submit & Get Final OTP and enter the final OTP. Your Udyam Registration Number appears on screen; note it down or take a screenshot. If another field stops you, check each form field, screen by screen.

You can do Udyam registration without GST when GST law does not require it for your business. A new business can also register before it files any ITR.

Without GST

A GSTIN is needed only where the CGST Act makes GST registration compulsory for you. Use this to answer the GSTIN question on the form:

Udyam registration for new business

If you have not filed an ITR yet, answer "No" to the ITR question and enter figures on a self-declaration basis. A new business values its investment at invoice value, excluding GST.

This relaxation lasts until 31 March of the financial year in which you file your first ITR.

Worked example: an exporter

A partnership firm earns ₹18 crore in a year, of which ₹12 crore comes from exports. Its machinery has a WDV of ₹40 lakh.

Net turnover counted is ₹6 crore, within the ₹10 crore micro limit, and ₹40 lakh is within the ₹2.5 crore investment limit. If exports counted, ₹18 crore would make the firm small, not micro.

Xflow lets partnership firms and other Indian businesses that export goods or services receive international payments, and every international transaction gets an eFIRA within 24 hours.

Getting paid from abroad: keep proof of every foreign payment. With Xflow, you can download an eFIRA (electronic Foreign Inward Remittance Advice) within 24 hours of every withdrawal, at no extra cost.

Udyam registration time is short: your Udyam Registration Number (URN) is assigned when you submit, and the e-certificate is issued online when the registration is complete.

The Ministry's Champions FAQ says this generally takes 2 to 3 days when PAN and GST details are used.

• Your number: permanent, in the form UDYAM-XX-00-0000000.
• Status: there is no application-status tracker. Verify Udyam Registration on the portal confirms the number is live.
• Validity: the certificate is valid for life, with no renewal fee or renewal step.
• Each year: you update your ITR and GST return details for the previous year online, or your status can be suspended.

How to download your Udyam certificate

You download the certificate free from the Print/Verify menu on udyamregistration.gov.in, using your Udyam number and registered mobile.

• Open the portal, go to Print/Verify and click Print Udyam Certificate.
• Enter your Udyam number and the mobile number you gave in the form.
• Choose whether the OTP goes to your mobile or email, type the case-sensitive verification code and click Validate & Generate OTP.
• Enter the OTP and click Validate OTP & Login.
• Click Print or Print with Annexure, then save it as a PDF from the print window.

If the certificate is not there after 3 working days, contact the Champions help desk (details below). Lost your number, or the OTP goes to an old phone? You can still recover the certificate in both cases.

The certificate shows your Udyam number, enterprise name, size by year, activity and NIC codes, address, key dates and a dynamic QR code anyone can scan to check it. "MSME certificate" is simply its common name.

Before you share it with a bank or buyer, check what each field means.

Most errors on the Udyam portal come from an Aadhaar or PAN mismatch, a reused mobile number, a date, or a business that is already registered.

The form walkthrough linked in Stage 3 lists more portal messages and their fixes.

Already registered, or registered twice?

A business may hold only one Udyam registration. If you think you registered before, use Forgot Udyam/UAM Number on the portal to see every number linked to your mobile or email.

To remove a duplicate, log in and use Update/Cancel Udyam Registration. If you cannot, raise it with your District Industries Centre, which passes it to the state for cancellation.

Where to get help

Raise a grievance on the Champions portal, email champions@gov.in, or call or WhatsApp +91 8308809334, Monday to Friday, 10 am to 6 pm. The Champions Control Rooms and District Industries Centres help free of charge.

Udyam registration is not mandatory for most businesses: it is voluntary in law, but you need it in practice to claim MSME benefits.

The MSMED (Amendment) Act, 2026, signed in August 2026 and being brought into force in stages from October 2026, makes it free and voluntary for every MSME.

Where you will be asked for it:

• Bank loans: under RBI rules, banks use the size on your Udyam certificate for priority sector lending.
• Schemes and buyers: government schemes, tenders and large buyers ask for it to confirm your size.
• Current account: RBI's KYC rules accept it as one proof of business for a proprietorship.

Each of these has its own route, on the same portal or through a help desk.

To migrate a UAM:

• On the home page, click UAM Migration to Udyam.
• Enter your UAM number and choose to get the OTP on the mobile or email given in the UAM.
• Enter the OTP, then complete the PAN and form steps above.

You get a new Udyam number; old UAM registrations stopped being valid after 30 June 2022. Without Aadhaar, the help desk accepts an enrolment slip, voter ID, passport, driving licence or bank photo passbook.

On the Udyam Assist Platform, a Designated Agency such as a bank, NBFC or microfinance lender registers you with your consent. Its number starts with UDYAM-I, and it counts for priority sector lending only.

You can download it yourself on udyamassist.gov.in under Print / Verify, with the UDYAM-I number and a mobile OTP.

We checked every rule in this guide on 16 October 2026 against official sources:

• the Udyam Registration Portal, its sample form and the Champions FAQ
• Ministry of MSME notification S.O. 2119(E) of 26 June 2020, as amended
• RBI directions on MSME lending and on Know Your Customer
• the Press Information Bureau factsheet of 11 August 2026 on the MSMED (Amendment) Bill, 2026