Company Name Rules in Indonesia: Choosing and Changing a PT Name
Company name rules in Indonesia: what a PT name must avoid, when it must be in Indonesian, how the notary registers it, and how to change it later.
References (6)
- UU No. 40 Tahun 2007 (the Company Law), as amended by UU No. 6 Tahun 2023, whose Article 109 left the name provisions unchanged. Article 16 sets the prohibited names and the PT prefix. Article 21(2)(a) makes a change of name an amendment that needs the Minister’s approval. Article 23(1) sets when the change takes effect.
- PP No. 43 Tahun 2011 on applying for and using the name of a limited company. Article 2 requires the Minister’s approval and entry of the name in the articles. Article 3(1) applies the rules to a change of name. Article 5 and its elucidation set the name requirements. Article 8 requires the PT prefix. Article 11 sets the Bahasa Indonesia duty.
- Perpres No. 63 Tahun 2019 on the use of Bahasa Indonesia. Article 36(2) confines the language duty for a PT to one whose shares are all held by Indonesian citizens or Indonesian legal entities.
- Permenkum No. 49 Tahun 2025, in force 17 December 2025. Article 3(2) names the applicant for each kind of PT. Article 7(1) has the approval of establishment issued on receipt. Articles 8(3), 9 and 13(3) cover a change of name, its 30-day limits and the examination of up to 14 working days. Articles 21, 23 and 24 cover a PT Perorangan.
- PP No. 8 Tahun 2021. Article 8 covers the statement of change for a PT Perorangan.
- Permenkumham No. 14 Tahun 2020 deleted the separate paid name booking from Permenkumham No. 4 Tahun 2014. The Ministry’s AHU Online user guide records that name booking ended on 17 August 2021.
The company name rules Indonesia sets for a PT (Perseroan Terbatas, a limited company) are short. The name begins with “PT” and is written in Latin script. It must also be a proper name, not a code or a bare description of the business (UU 40/2007, the Company Law, Article 16(2); PP 43/2011, Articles 5(1)(a) and 8). MAM checks a proposed name against these rules before it is submitted. For a PT PMA or a PT PMDN, we then prepare the name with the notary, who registers it with the Ministry of Law. A PT Perorangan is filed by its founder, with no notary.
Company name rules Indonesia applies to every PT
The Company Law, Article 16, and PP 43/2011, Article 5, set them out.
Not already taken
It cannot be the same as, or substantially like, another PT’s name, in spelling or in sound, even where both companies have the same owner. The official examples include SAMPURNA and SAMPOERNA, BHAYANGKARA and BAYANGKARA, and HIGH-DESERT and HIGH DESERT: punctuation does not make a name different (PP 43/2011, Article 5(1)(b) and its elucidation).
Words, not codes
Numbers or letters that do not form a word are refused, such as PT 99, PT 007 or PT ABC. Initials or an acronym are allowed as an abbreviation of a proper name, as with PT KAI or PT TASPEN (Article 5(1)(e), (2) and (3)).
No company-form words
Words that mean a company or a legal entity cannot sit inside the name: Ltd, Pte, Inc, Co., GmbH, BV, SA, AG and similar (Article 5(1)(f) and its elucidation).
Activity words must fit
The business activity alone cannot be the name, so “PT Pemborongan dan Pengangkutan” fails. Where an activity is part of the name, the company must carry it on: PT Pelayaran Andalan must be in shipping (Article 5(1)(g) and (h)).
A name also cannot be contrary to public order or morality, or be the same as or similar to the name of a state, government or international body unless that body gives its permission (Article 5(1)(c) and (d)).
Plan for at least three words
No regulation sets a minimum number of words. In practice, the Ministry’s AHU (Administrasi Hukum Umum, General Legal Administration) system rejects a PT name of fewer than three words. We check the word count with the rest of the rules before the name goes in.
English or Indonesian: it depends who owns the company
The duty to use Bahasa Indonesia follows who holds the shares, not what the business does (PP 43/2011, Article 11; Perpres 63/2019, Article 36(2)).
A PT PMA (Penanaman Modal Asing, a foreign-investment company) may use a name that is not in Indonesian, because the language duty covers only a wholly Indonesian-owned PT (PP 43/2011, Article 11). The name is still written in Latin script, and every other rule above still applies.
A foreign parent’s own legal suffix does not carry across, so “PT Acme Pte Indonesia” fails. The founders authorise a notary to file the establishment for them (Permenkum 49/2025, Article 3(2)(a)).
A PT PMDN (Penanaman Modal Dalam Negeri, a domestic-investment company) whose shares are all held by Indonesian citizens or Indonesian legal entities must use a name in Bahasa Indonesia (PP 43/2011, Article 11).
If a foreign shareholder joins later, the company becomes a PT PMA. Our guide to the company forms open to investors sets out what changes.
The Company Law’s name rules apply to a PT Perorangan (perseroan perorangan, the single-founder company) as they do to any PT. The founder files the statement of establishment in the Ministry’s online register personally, not through a notary (Permenkum 49/2025, Articles 3(2)(b) and 21).
A later change of name is made by a statement of change, which the founder files with the Ministry (PP 8/2021, Article 8; Permenkum 49/2025, Articles 23 and 24).
Is there still a name reservation?
No. Booking a name as a separate step ended on 17 August 2021, according to the Ministry’s own AHU Online user guide, and the ministerial rule behind the booking had already been deleted by Permenkumham 14/2020.
Today the notary runs the name check, which is free, and enters the name at the start of the establishment form in SABH (Sistem Administrasi Badan Hukum, the Ministry of Law’s online legal entity register). The Ministry issues the approval of establishment when the application is received (Permenkum 49/2025, Article 7(1)), and the approved name goes into the articles of association (PP 43/2011, Article 2(3)).
A free check reserves nothing. It shows the position at that moment, and a name that is free today can be taken by another filing tomorrow. That is why our check comes first, so the name the notary enters already meets the rules.
Changing the name later
A new name is an amendment of the articles that needs the Minister’s approval, and it must pass the same rules as the first one (Company Law, Article 21(2)(a); PP 43/2011, Article 3(1)).
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Shareholders decide
At a general meeting, or by a binding written resolution.
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Notarial deed
The notary records the change in Indonesian.
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Notary files in SABH
The application for approval goes in online.
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Ministry examines it
It checks the deed against the decision and the record.
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New name in effect
From the date of the approval decision.
The time limits are in calendar days, and the deed limit applies where the meeting’s minutes were not drawn up by a notary (Permenkum 49/2025, Articles 1 angka 10, 9(1)–(7) and 13(3)). The new name takes effect from the approval decision (Company Law, Article 23(1)), and the company’s other records then need updating. Our note on how the Ministry examines company changes walks through that examination.
What this means for you
Choose a name of three words or more, as the Ministry’s system expects, that no other PT uses or sounds like, that carries no foreign company suffix, and that fits what the business does. Those are the company name rules. Indonesia adds one more for a company whose shares are all held by Indonesian citizens or Indonesian companies: the name must be in Bahasa Indonesia.
We check the name and prepare it with the notary when we set up a PT PMA or a PT PMDN, and prepare the founder’s statement for a PT Perorangan. If you take over a ready-made shelf company, we amend its name where your activity requires it.