A common issue when filing on the MCA portal is that the eForm size increases significantly after attaching a Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) — sometimes exceeding the 6 MB / 10 MB upload limit on the MCA website, causing the upload to fail.

This happens because Adobe Acrobat embeds the DSC’s revocation status information into the PDF when signing, which adds significant size to the file.

The fix is a one-time change in Adobe Acrobat Reader settings.

  1. First open any PDF file in Adobe Reader

  2. Go to Edit in Menu bar, and then click on Preferences in it.

  3. The “Preferences” window will be opened.

  4. In list of Categories (left side of window), select “Signatures”.

  5. Click on More in “Creation and Appearance” sub-category.

  6. A new window named “Creation and Appearance Preferences” will be opened.

  7. Uncheck “Include signature’s revocation status“in that and click on OK

  8. Reopen the MCA eForm, attach your DSC, and check the file size — it should now be within the upload limit.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does this setting affect the validity of the DSC on the eForm? No. Disabling revocation status embedding does not affect the legal validity of the Digital Signature on MCA eForms. MCA accepts signatures without embedded revocation status.

I made the change but the form size is still large — what else can I try? Check if there are any large attachments in the eForm. Each attachment adds to the total file size. MCA’s attachment limits are:

  • AOC-4 and variants — 10 MB per attachment
  • MGT-7 shareholders list — up to 300 MB
  • MGT-7A attachments — up to 2 MB If attachments are within limits and the form is still oversized, try compressing the PDF attachments before uploading.

This setting is not visible in my version of Adobe — why? This option is available in Adobe Acrobat Reader DC and later versions. If you are using a very old version of Adobe Reader, consider updating to the latest version.