opportunity and taking an initiative to form a company so that practical shape can be given to exploiting the available business opportunity. Thus, it begins with somebody having discovered a potential business opportunity. Any person or a group of persons or even a company may have discovered an opportunity. If such a person or a group of persons or a company proceeds to form a company, then, they are said to be the promoters of the company.
There is no statutory definition of a promoter. A promoter is said to be the one who undertakes to form a company with reference to a given project and to set it going and who takes the necessary steps to accomplish that purpose. Thus, apart from conceiving a business opportunity the promoters analyse its prospects and bring together the men, materials, machinery, managerial abilities and financial resources and set the organisation going. After thoroughly examining the feasibility of the idea, the promoters assemble resources, prepare necessary documents, give a name and perform various other activities to get a company registered and obtain the necessary certificate enabling the company to commence business.
Thus, the promoters perform various functions to bring a company into existence. Functions of a Promoter The important functions of promoters may be listed as below: (i) Identification of business opportunity: The first and foremost activity of a promoter is to identify a business opportunity. The opportunity may be in respect of producing a new product or service or making some product available through a different channel or any other opportunity having an investment potential. Such opportunity is then analysed to see its technical and economic feasibility.
(ii) Feasibility studies: It may not be feasible or profitable to convert all identified business opportunities into real projects. The promoters, therefore, undertake detailed feasibility studies to investigate all aspects of the business they intend to start. Depending upon the nature of the project, the following feasibility studies may be undertaken, with the help of the specialists like engineers, chartered accountants etc., to examine whether the perceived business opportunity can be profitably exploited. (a) Technical