AOA Overview and Format

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Lasya Pamidi

AOA
Articles of Association
Business Formation
Legal
Last updated on April 30th, 2021

What is AOA?

AOA full form is Articles of Association. Articles of Association of the company contain rules, regulation and bye-laws for the general management of the company. It is compulsory to register the articles of associations along with the memorandum of association in case of a private company.

The articles of association constitute a contract between the company and its members and the members inter se. The Articles are subordinate to the Memorandum of Association. Therefore, the Articles should not contain any regulation, which is contrary to provisions of the Memorandum or the Companies Act. The Articles are binding on the members in relation to the company as well as on the company in its relation to members. However, this does not constitute a contract between the company and a third person. Every company formed in India under Companies Act must have articles, without which a company cannot legally be formed. As a result, this requirement applies to all types of Companies.

Features of Articles of Association

The following are some of the features of AOA:

Primary Contents Of An AOA

The Articles of Association document further includes the following details:

Other Clauses for PLCs

Other prominent clauses for private limited companies are as following:

Articles of Association
Download the format of Articles of Association as per Companies Act, 2013 for a Company Limited by shares
Download
Articles of Association
Download the format of Articles of Association as per Companies Act, 2013 for a Company Limited by shares
Download

FAQs

Are articles of association the same as the constitution?

No, the Memorandum of association is the constitution of the company. The articles of association, are subordinate to the memorandum of association of a company, which is the dominant, fundamental constitutional document of the company.

Who can enforce articles of association?

Since the Articles of a company bind the company to its members, and bind the members to the company and further also bind the members to each other, they constitute a contract amongst themselves and therefore, its members with respect to their rights and liabilities as members of the company.

How does one obtain a company’s articles?

One can get access to any company’s memorandum and articles from any of the following:
1. Ministry of Corporate Affairs website (Company public documents section)
2. Company public documents may also be obtained from several from private players

Got Questions? Ask Away!

  1. Hi @Aditya_s,

    Company formation documents are the key pieces of documentation issued after the successful registration of a new limited company. You must retain these important documents, ideally at your registered office address, because you will need to refer to them throughout the lifetime of your company.