There are three types of companies based on the no of members
- One Person Company (OPC)
- Private Company
- Public Company
One Person Company
This type of company has only one member which is a natural person. This type of company has the following characteristics
Private Company
The key characteristic of this type of company is non transferability of shares i.e its shares cannot be freely transferred. Secondly there is prohibition on issuing shares to the public for such type of companies
For calculating the no of members as per above , 1) employees and former employees who were members during employment with the company will be excluded 2) Joint holders are considered as one member
Public Company
The key characteristic of this type of company is that the shares are freely transferable. Secondly such a company can issue shares to the public
It is to be noted that the subsidiary of a public company is deemed to be a public company even though the subsidiary is actually a private company