Paid-up capital is the total amount shareholders have actually paid a company for the shares issued to them. Under the Companies Act 2016 there is no statutory minimum, so a Sdn Bhd can be incorporated with paid-up capital as low as RM1 — though banks, licences and tenders may expect more in practice.
- Not the same as authorised or nominal capital, concepts abolished under the Companies Act 2016, in force from 31 January 2017
- No statutory minimum under the Companies Act 2016
- Often used as a rough proxy for a company's capitalisation in tenders and bank assessments
- Increases when new shares are issued and paid for
Who this applies to: Company founders, accountants and anyone reading a company's constitution or financial statements.
On this page
Bahasa Malaysia: Modal Berbayar · English: Paid-up Capital · 中文: 实缴资本
Paid-up capital is the portion of a company’s share capital that shareholders have actually paid in, in exchange for the shares issued to them. It reflects real money (or assets) contributed to the company, not a theoretical ceiling.
Since the Companies Act 2016 abolished the concepts of authorised capital and par value, a Malaysian company’s capital position is now expressed purely in terms of the number of shares issued and the amount actually paid for them — its paid-up capital.
In practice
There is no statutory minimum paid-up capital for a Sdn Bhd — incorporation with RM1 or RM2 of paid-up capital is legally valid. In practice, however, paid-up capital is often used informally as a signal of a company’s scale: banks may factor it into loan assessments, some government tenders set a minimum paid-up capital as an eligibility criterion, and certain licensed activities (such as employment agencies or specific finance-related businesses) do set minimum paid-up capital requirements by regulation. Founders sometimes increase paid-up capital after incorporation, by issuing and paying for additional shares, to meet such requirements or to strengthen the balance sheet.
Related terms
Sources
Change history
| Version | Date | Change | By |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01.00 | 10 Jul 2026 | Approved and published. | — |