One Person Company: Concept, Opportunities & Challenges in India

With ever changing scenario of business the new concept of One Person Company has been emerged as per Companies Act 2013. It is a hybrid of sole proprietor business and company form of business. Although this concept of Entrepreneurship is new in India and it will require time to be accepted amongst the people. There is a need to provide one person or young entrepreneurs a full freedom to contribute in the economic activities. Under the Companies Act of 1956 the definition of body corporate excluded from its scope ‘a corporation sole’ but the Act of 2013 has removed this exception and come up with a new revolutionary concept i.e. one person company (OPC). But there is a difference between the two. The concept of OPC allows a single person to run a company limited by shares, and Sole proprietorship means an entity where it is run and owned by one individual and where there is no distinction between the owner and the business, whereas it is not so in case of OPC. In OPC, the company will acquire corporate personality and enjoy all the advantages of a private company viz., limited liability, perpetual succession, separate property, capacity to sue and be sued, contractual rights, etc. This paper is therefore an attempt to understand the concept opportunities and threats related with one Person Company in India.