A Public Company is defined as a company which is not a Private Company. A minimum of seven members are required to form a Public Limited Company. However, there is no restriction on maximum number of members. It must have minimum paid–up capital of Rs. 5 lakhs. The shares allotted to the members are freely transferable. The minimum number of Directors in such Companies is limited to three, however, the maximum can be up to fifteen. A Public Limited Company can raise funds from general public through open invitations by selling its shares or accepting fixed deposits. These Companies are required to write either ‘public limited’ or ‘limited’ after their names. Further by virtue of proviso to Section 2(71) of the Companies Act, 2013 (“2013 Act” for short), a Company which is a subsidiary of a Company, not being a private Company, shall be deemed to be public Company for the purposes of the said Act even where such subsidiary Company continues to be a private Company in its Articles
