If you live in India and own shares in a US company, there is a reference number that generally sits behind every Indian filing about that company. It is called the UIN, the Unique Identification Number. Many founders who formed a US company through an online platform have never heard of it, which is usually the first sign that something was not reported.
How a UIN is allotted
The UIN is allotted after an overseas direct investment is reported in Form FC through an Authorised Dealer bank, often called an AD bank. Form FC is the filing that reports the overseas investment. Once it has been processed, the investment is identified by its UIN.
Every later filing about that investment is generally made against the UIN. That includes the Annual Performance Report (APR), which is due on 31 December each year. Without a UIN there is, in practice, nothing for those later filings to attach to.
What the two-letter prefix means
A UIN starts with a two-letter code linked to an RBI Regional Office. For example, AH is Ahmedabad and BG is Bengaluru.
This matters more than it used to. Since 1 April 2026, overseas investment references such as compounding generally go to the Regional Office matching that prefix. If a past reporting delay needs to be regularised, the prefix on your UIN generally tells you which office will deal with it.
How to check whether your US company has one
Start with a simple question: was Form FC ever filed through your AD bank when money first went into the company? If you paid only a formation service fee on a card and never spoke to your bank about the investment, it is likely that no Form FC was filed and no UIN was allotted.
Paying a formation service fee by card is not itself an overseas investment. Money that buys shares in your company is, and generally needs to go through your AD bank. So the real question is whether any money bought shares, and whether that investment was reported.
If you believe a filing was made, the AD bank that handled it is generally the place to confirm the UIN. If you have ever filed an APR, it would have been filed against the UIN, so your own records of that filing will show it.
If there is no UIN
A missing UIN usually means Form FC was not filed. That is a reporting delay, and a delay generally has a cost. For a delay of up to 3 years, a Late Submission Fee is generally available: ₹7,500 plus 0.025% of the amount invested for each year of delay, capped at the amount invested. Past 3 years, the late fee route is generally not available, and this usually needs a compounding application to the RBI through your AD bank.
While a reporting delay is pending, you generally cannot make further financial commitments to the foreign company. That can matter if you plan to put more money in.
The late fee calculator on this site gives an estimate on your own dates. It is an estimate only; your AD bank decides the final fee.