Corporate Regulatory Authority was set-up together with Intellectual property registry services with the legal section under erstwhile Ministry of Trade and Industry, with adoption of Companies Act in 1989. Thereafter, when companies Act, 2000 was adopted to incorporate changes in international corporate standards, the Company Registry office was set-up separately under the then Office of Secretary, Ministry of Trade and Industry with a senior officer as Registrar with 2 supporting Officers. The office was placed under Department of Industry from the 8th Five year Plan (FYP) and then upgraded to a division in the beginning of 9th Five year Plan(2009) whereby Ministry appointed a legal professional as the Registrar of Companies in keeping with major occupational group defined by Royal Civil Service Commission as Legal, Judicial & legislative services, in keeping with international standards of Corporate Registry being designated as quasi-judicial function of certification of corporate entities, attestation of corporate documents, and regulatory functions like enforcement of corporate rights, supervision of corporate actions and primary capital market supervision.

Until recently, the office mandate was predominantly focused on corporate registry services and was not able to dedicate fulltime services for its regulatory mandates under the Companies Act like enforcing Corporate Governance standards, corporate accounting & Auditing standards, primary capital market regulations, minority interest protection, professional oversight of major corporate actions like Merger/acquisitions & Corporate Insolvency. The regulatory functions have now become more pronounced in law due to exponential growth in number of companies from just over 280 companies until 2010 to more than 650 Companies as of 2024.

The erstwhile Company Registry Division was renamed as Office of the Registrar of Companies and placed under the Secretariate of the erstwhile Ministry of Economic Affairs, as an interim office to work on upgradation of the office in keeping with provisions of Companies Act of Bhutan, 2016 and Civil Service reform Act, 2022.

The Office of the Registrar of Companies was upgraded to full-fledged Corporate Regulatory Authority in keeping with the provisions of Chapter 14 of Companies Act of Bhutan, 2016 on April 3,2024 with five-member Governing Board being approved by the Cabinet.

1. To provide incorporation or registration services to create corporate entities -listed/chartered/private/public companies and SoEs.
2. To enforce Corporate Governance, and Corporate Social Responsibility Rules and procedures.
   To issue directives, rules and Regulations on matters-corporate registry, regulatory, and primary capital market.
3. To resolve corporate disputes within or between companies in relation to the matters under the Companies Act or regulations thereunder.
4. To conduct onsite monitoring and regulate matters related to violations of provisions Companies Act and Rules thereunder.
5. Preside over derivatives proceedings against company management by minority shareholders.
6. To approve issue of securities (fundraising instruments) in the primary market of the Capital Market.
7. To issue written advisory to corporate entities, government agencies and regulatory bodies based on request or need on matters related to Corporate Governance.
8. To administer Insolvency Law of Bhutan as Insolvency Registry and Supervisory Body for Insolvency practice