KCI registration explained: what the papers prove and what they do not

What a KCI certificate proves, and what it does not

A KCI registration certificate proves that the Kennel Club of India has entered a dog in its register under a declared breed, sex, colour, date of birth, sire and dam, breeder and owner, and issued it a K.C.I. number. It records a declaration, and nothing on the form makes it more.

The KCI states its own scope on its single dog form: it bears no responsibility 'except for certifying the identity, breed, sex, pedigree, origin, and owner of the dog';. Every application rests on the owner's signed declaration that the particulars are 'true to the best of my / our knowledge and belief', checked against the parents' existing entries.

Three things the papers cannot tell you

Health: no KCI form asks for a hip score, eye examination or DNA result, and the tariff prices no health certificate; the duty to test breeding stock for genetic defects sits with the breeder under the 2017 Rules Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Conformation: registration is not a judgement against the standard, which is made in a ring, and the KCI sells the Championship Certificate as a separate Rs 500 document on line 21 of its tariff. The breeder's practices: the KCI records a name and address, nothing else. One exception cuts the other way: where the parents are unknown, a K.C.I. Panel Judge signs a Certificate of Opinion that the dog is 'a typical (breed / variety) and worthy of registration', an opinion of type, still not a health test.

Litter registration versus single dog registration

Litter registration is the breeder's application, on K.C.I. Form C, for every live puppy of one litter at once; single dog registration is one owner's application, on Form C/1, for one dog Kennel Club of India, K.C.I. Form C/1. The form decides who signs, what it costs and whether the certificate shows a pedigree or the word 'unknown'.

Litter registration: the breeder's form

To register a litter, the breeder sends Form C for all live puppies in one application: both sire and dam already KCI registered, the breeder recorded as owner of the dam, the form sent 'after 30 days of birth' so a litter inspection can be held, and registration done 'within 180 days from the date of Birth of the Puppies';. The breeder signs a count of puppies born and alive, gives two name choices per puppy of up to 24 letters, and fills a chip number for each parent. This is the route behind most 'KCI registered' puppies of the Labrador Retriever, the German Shepherd and the Golden Retriever; the certificate comes out in the breeder's name, and the buyer then pays for a transfer of ownership.

Single dog registration: three cases on one form

Form C/1 covers three situations, numbered in its notes. They are set out below.

1. A single dog from a litter (Regulation 12(a)), with sire, dam and grandparents and their K.C.I. numbers.
2. A dog whose breeding is not known (Regulation 11), with a Certificate of Opinion signed by a K.C.I. Panel Judge, three photographs and Rs 1,000; the parents then show as unknown.
3. An imported dog (Regulation 16), with the original export pedigree and proof of landing, at Rs 2,500.

The pedigree is a separately priced paper: a Certified Pedigree costs Rs 1,000 for 4 generations or Rs 1,500 for 5, and a Duplicate Registration Certificate Rs 1,000, on lines 18, 19 and 12 of the tariff.

KCI registration fees: the 1 April 2024 tariff sheet, as printed

KCI registration fees are set by a one-page 'Revised Tariff Sheet' headed 'New Tariff (inclusive of GST) W.E.F 1st April 2024': Rs 750 per puppy for a litter registered within 60 days, Rs 500 or Rs 1,000 to transfer a dog, Rs 1,000 for an unknown-pedigree registration and Rs 2,500 for an imported dog. Every figure below is quoted as the sheet prints it.

The fee climbs with the puppy's age when the form reaches Chennai: a litter filed at day 100 costs Rs 1,200 a puppy, not Rs 750. Indian breeds such as the Rajapalayam and the Mudhol Hound pay half. Postage is extra, Rs 100 on the litter form and Rs 90 on the single dog and transfer forms for registered post, and no form states a processing time Kennel Club of India, KCI/Form F.

The older fees still in circulation

Older figures disagree with the sheet. A guide marked 'updated 2026' gives Rs 337 and Rs 562 per puppy, a 120-day cut-off and a Rs 100 transfer; a legal-services page dated November 2024 gives Rs 562 and Rs 843 in its text and reproduces the 2024 sheet in a table lower down. The KCI's own site still hosts an older transfer form at 'Rs.100/- only' beside the current one at Rs 500 and Rs 1,000, and an older prefix form at 'Rs 2,000/- for life' beside a tariff line at Rs 10,000 Kennel Club of India. The sheet dated 1 April 2024 governs; Rs 337, 562, 843, 100 and 2,000 are superseded, and the cut-off is 180 days Kennel Club of India, K.C.I. Form C.

Transfer of ownership: putting a registered dog in your name

To transfer a registered dog into your name, you post KCI/Form F to the Administrative Manager in Chennai with the original registration certificate, Rs 500 if the dog is under 12 months old or Rs 1,000 if older, Rs 90 postage and an Indian Kennel Gazette subscription, signed by the previous owner and by you. Until the KCI records the change, the dog cannot enter a show in your name.

A litter-registered puppy leaves the breeder with a certificate in the breeder's name, so almost every buyer has this step ahead. The form sets it out.

1. Obtain the original registration certificate from the breeder; a copy is not accepted.
2. Subscribe to the Indian Kennel Gazette, Rs 1,200 a year by DD to 'Indian Kennel Gazette'; the form prints 'IKG SUBSCRIPTION IS COMPULSORY'.
3. Fill the form in block capitals with breed, sex, K.C.I. number and registered name, the previous owner under 'From' and yourself under 'To'.
4. Sign as present owner and obtain the previous owner's signature; every owner signs where the dog is jointly owned.
5. Tick the fee line, Rs 500 'within 12 months from the Date of Birth' or Rs 1,000 after, enclose a DD to 'The Kennel Club of India' payable at Chennai plus Rs 90 postage, and post it to (Old No. 89) New No. 28, AA Block, Ist Street, Anna Nagar, Chennai 600 040.

Two transfer forms, one fee that governs

The site hosts two versions of Form F. The current one carries 'Affiliated to the FCI - 1964, ISO 9001 : 2015' and the 2024 lines of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000. The older one is addressed to 'The Chief Executive Officer', points to the retired 'www.thekci.org', asks 'Rs.100/- only' and adds Rs 20 for registered post. The home page's transfer link points to the current form and the 2024 tariff governs, so use Rs 500 or Rs 1,000 Kennel Club of India, Revised Tariff Sheet. A change of name is a separate Form E at Rs 1,000, refused for a Challenge Certificate winner, a dog named with a registered prefix, or an imported dog registered abroad Kennel Club of India, K.C.I. Form C/1.

Microchips, the Indian Kennel Gazette and the other conditions the forms set

The KCI forms carry a microchip number field for the sire, the dam and the dog being registered, make an Indian Kennel Gazette subscription compulsory for litter, single and transfer applications, and take payment by money order or demand draft only Kennel Club of India, KCI/Form F. Tattoos appear on no form and nowhere in the 2017 Rules.

Identification

The litter form asks for 'Chip No' beside each parent's K.C.I. number, the single dog form has a 'Microchip No.' box, and the imported-dog note records that 'the dog's microchip was scanned and verified' by a KCI representative; no form prints the word 'mandatory'; Kennel Club of India, K.C.I. Form C/1. The legal duty to microchip sits in the 2017 Rules: 'each pup sold is micro-chipped', the chip number is kept with the sale receipt, and breeding stock and pups over three months are chipped 'by a veterinary practitioner';. The word 'tattoo' does not appear in the Rules.

The Gazette is a condition, not an option

The litter form states 'IKG SUBSCRIPTION IS COMPULSORY FOR REGISTERING A LITTER', the single dog form says 'one must be a Subscriber of the Indian Kennel Gazette', and the transfer form repeats it Kennel Club of India, K.C.I. Form C/1 Kennel Club of India, KCI/Form F. Form G sets the subscription at Rs 1,200 for 12 issues, plus an optional Rs 600 a year for registered post. A buyer who subscribes to transfer one puppy pays Rs 1,790 in all: Rs 1,200 for the Gazette, Rs 500 transfer, Rs 90 postage. The remaining conditions are short, and an application that misses one is returned Kennel Club of India, K.C.I. Form C/1.

• Payment by MO or DD only, payable at Chennai; the older transfer form says a cheque 'will not be Accepted'.
• Two or three name choices per dog, none over 24 letters excluding a prefix, no notable persons, titles, countries, large towns or numbers.
• 'UNKNOWN' written in every blank on the single dog form that cannot be filled.
• Form A, the breeder's certification of the mating with the stud's K.C.I. number, filed with a litter or single application.

Registering an imported dog: the KCI's own checklist

To register an imported dog, the owner files the single dog form with the original export pedigree from the kennel club of the exporting country, produces the dog before an authorised KCI representative who scans its microchip, swears a notarised affidavit and attaches the documents required by the KCI's import checklist, at Rs 2,500 Kennel Club of India Kennel Club of India, Revised Tariff Sheet. The KCI states that it 'has not invited the concerned dog into India'.

This is the one route on which the registry checks a dog against a foreign register: the export pedigree is 'ascertained with the concerned foreign club and found to be accurate and authentic', the dog is 'physically produced', its chip 'scanned and verified', and the owner files 'a notarised affidavit with the signature of the authorised KCI representative who verified';. The documents to attach, each with a YES / NO box, are listed below.

• Single Dog Registration form, with the number of dogs and payment details
• Export pedigree in original
• Airway Bill in original, from the country of import to the landing port
• Air ticket in original, and boarding pass with payment
• DGFT licence
• Customs clearance document and quarantine clearance document
• Pet passport
• Affidavit, duly notarised, and details of any other document attached

The DGFT licence and quarantine clearance belong to the import itself, covered in Importing a dog to India. The export pedigree does the work here: it must come from the exporting country's kennel club, in practice an FCI member, because the KCI is India's full FCI member and its papers are the ones FCI members exchange.

Puppies conceived abroad and born in India

The single dog form deems 'pups begotten abroad and born in India or on the voyage out' to be imported, so a litter from a bitch imported in whelp is registered on the 'whelp import' lines at Rs 1,500, 2,000 and 3,000 per puppy, double the domestic rate. An imported dog keeps its original name, and an Export Pedigree for a dog leaving India costs Rs 2,000. For a breed with no Indian population, such as the Chesapeake Bay Retriever, this checklist is the only way a KCI paper can exist.

How to check if a dog is KCI registered: there is no public online lookup

There is no public online lookup for KCI registration: on 18 September 2026 the Kennel Club of India's site was a single page headed 'Temporary Arrangement as the new website is being deployed', fourteen PDF forms, one test post and a login screen, with no search box, no certificate lookup and no pedigree database. The only way to verify a certificate is to write to or call the Chennai office with the K.C.I. number.

What was searched, and what came back

An absence claim needs a control, so the check ran three ways on one day with one instrument. A crawl of kennelclubofindia.org returned ten URLs: the home page, a 'Hello world!' post, category, author and archive pages, four form PDFs, and online.kennelclubofindia.org, a login page for an internal system with no public query. A Google India search for site:kennelclubofindia.org returned ten results of the same kind; limited to verify, verification, search, lookup or pedigree it returned four, all forms. The control passed: the same search of the Royal Kennel Club's site returned at position one a public page to 'look up a dog that is registered with The Royal Kennel Club' by number or name. The instrument finds a lookup where one exists and found none on the KCI's host; the site says a new one is coming, so re-check the date.

What a buyer can do instead

The certificate gives you enough to ask the right question. The steps are listed below.

1. Read the K.C.I. number, registered name and the sire's and dam's numbers off the certificate itself.
2. Write to the KCI office with those numbers: The Administrative Manager, (Old No. 89) New No. 28, AA Block, Ist Street, Anna Nagar, Chennai 600 040; enquiry desk 044-26213661 and 044-26214035; WhatsApp 7200013661; administrator@kennelclubofindia.org.
3. Ask the breeder for Form A, the mating certification filed with the litter, and for the State Animal Welfare Board certificate covered in the next section.
4. Treat a paper you cannot get confirmed as unconfirmed. The office is the only check there is.

Two ranking pages carry a heading on 'breeders and paper frauds', and one explainer says a buyer can confirm a certificate with the KCI's 'Mumbai office'. The KCI has no Mumbai office on any form, on its contact block or in the FCI's directory; its forms print 'Founded 1896' and its one official address is in Chennai. The Mumbai address that comes up belongs to the Indian National Kennel Club, a different body.

Breeder registration under the 2017 Rules is a State Board matter, not a KCI one

Breeder registration under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Dog Breeding and Marketing) Rules, 2017 is granted by the State Animal Welfare Board on Form I with a non-refundable fee of five thousand rupees, is valid for two years, and is required before any breeder 'shall carry on or continue any breeding activity'; the Kennel Club of India is not mentioned in the fourteen pages of the Rules. A KCI certificate for the dog and a State Board certificate for the breeder are two documents from two bodies.

The Rules, G.S.R. 496(E) of 23 May 2017 under section 38 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, define 'State Board' as 'the State Animal Welfare Board constituted, in a State, by the State Government';. Rule 3(1): 'No breeder shall carry on or continue any breeding activity or own or house dogs for breeding and sale of dogs and pups, unless the breeder has obtained a certificate of registration in respect of the establishment ... from the State Board';. Rule 4(4) has the Board inspect the premises through its representative and a veterinary practitioner, Rule 4(9) lets the breeder renew the two-year certificate at another Rs 5,000, and Rule 13 bars a local authority from licensing the establishment without it.

What the Rules require that the KCI does not

Three duties fall on the breeder and appear on no KCI form. Rule 8(1)(a): 'pups less than eight weeks in age are not sold'. Rule 8(1)(e) and 8(2): each pup sold is micro-chipped, and the purchaser receives in writing 'details of feeding, dates of inoculations and de-worming of the pup and the name and address of the veterinary practitioner'. Second Schedule Part III paragraph 8(10): breeding dogs 'shall have been tested for genetic defects, including hip dysplasia, progressive retinal atrophy, night blindness, hypothyroidism, entropion, ectropion, overshot, undershot jaw (when incisors do not touch or mesh), wry mouth, two or more missing teeth, unilateral cryptorchid or full cryptorchid males';. A KCI certificate is silent on all of it, so a buyer of a Rottweiler or a Golden Retriever should ask for the State Board certificate and the test results, not a second look at the pedigree.

A shop needs its own paper: the Pet Shop Rules, 2018, G.S.R. 844(E) of 6 September 2018, bar 'the business of sale or trade in pet animals, whether retail or wholesale' without a certificate from the State Board, on Form I at Rs 5,000. Neither instrument mentions a kennel club. The paper that regulates who may breed and sell a puppy is issued by the State; the paper that records its pedigree is issued by a private society. Ask for both.

INKC and other registries: what can be verified about them

The Indian National Kennel Club, INKC, is a separate registry at Churchgate, Mumbai, Maharashtra, which says on its own site that it 'was established in 1957' and is 'a registry of purebred dogs'; it is not the Kennel Club of India, and the FCI's member directory lists one body for India, the Kennel Club of India in Chennai, as full member Federation Cynologique Internationale. Wikipedia's KCI entry opens 'Not to be confused with Indian National Kennel Club';.

Three facts about INKC can be read from its own pages and from the FCI Indian National Kennel Club Federation Cynologique Internationale.

• A distinct organisation, at 2nd Floor, Belvedere Court, 148, Maharshi Karve Road, Churchgate, Mumbai 400020, office@inkc.in; the KCI's office is in Anna Nagar, Chennai.
• Its own online register: single dog registration at Rs 500 for non-members or Rs 400 for members where both parents hold INKC registration, Rs 1,000 or Rs 800 where a parent is unknown, the same Rs 500 or Rs 400 'with one or both parents KCI or Imported dogs from other Club', and Rs 400 for a microchip.
• Not the FCI member for India. The FCI directory carries a single Indian entry, the Kennel Club of India; INKC's site does not claim FCI membership.

INKC's own notes say what its paper proves. A dog with an unregistered parent 'IS NOT NORMALLY REGISTRABLE'; one registered on inspection or photographs 'will not have a pedigree and cannot be referred to as a pedigree dog'; and 'the INKC does not accept responsibility for the accuracy or authenticity of the particulars' given in an application. That is the same shape as the KCI's position, a register of declarations, stated more bluntly. The two certificates are not interchangeable: the KCI single dog form binds the applicant not to register the dog 'with any other Kennel Club' on pain of cancellation, while INKC's fee table accepts a KCI-registered parent for an INKC entry Indian National Kennel Club. A seller who says 'kennel club registered' without naming the club has not yet said which paper exists. This page does not rank the two; it records what each says on its own site and what the FCI lists, on 18 September 2026.

Municipal registration is not KCI registration: the Jaipur question

Municipal registration and KCI registration are different things: a municipal dog licence is issued by the city's corporation to the owner of any dog, pedigree or not, while KCI registration is a pedigree entry made by a private society in Chennai on a posted paper form, and 'Can I register my dog online in Jaipur?' mixes the two up. The KCI has no public online form; whether Jaipur's corporation licenses dogs online is a question for the corporation.

Only the licence is a legal duty on an ordinary owner; the pedigree entry is optional. The city-by-city licence fees are in Registering a dog in India: municipal fees city by city and Chennai's scheme in Pet licence in Chennai: the GCC rules. For the KCI, the forms are PDFs filled by hand, signed and posted with a money order or demand draft to Anna Nagar, Chennai, from Jaipur, Delhi, Pune or Kolkata alike Kennel Club of India, K.C.I. Form C/1.

The abbreviation adds confusion. In the United Kingdom 'KC' is the Royal Kennel Club, whose register is searchable online; in India the club people mean is the KCI, whose register is not Kennel Club of India, official site. The answer to 'How do I get my dog KC registered?' and to the Jaipur question is the same: for the pedigree register, on paper through Chennai; for the licence, through your own corporation, whose online form has nothing to do with the KCI.