Body corporate broadly means a corporate entity which has a legal existence.

The term "body corporate" is defined in Section 2(11) of the Companies Act, 2013.This includes a private company, public company, one personal company, small company, Limited Liability Partnerships, foreign company etc.

“body corporate” or “corporation” also includes a company incorporated outside India.

However, body corporate does not include—
(i) a co-operative society registered under any law relating to co-operative societies; and
(ii) any other body corporate (not being a company as defined in the Companies Act 2013), which the Central Government may, by notification, specify in this behalf;

The above definition is different from the provisions existed in the erstwhile companies Act 1956, which had excluded a “corporation sole” also from the definition of body corporate which was, however, not defined in the Act of 1956.