India is open for business. We make sure it stays open for yours.

It's our advisory practice for cross-border work in both directions — foreign businesses entering India, and Indian businesses investing abroad.

What makes it a desk rather than a service line is the people: we always attempt to collaborate with professionals based in or from the countries our clients come from. That matters because considerable documentation happens in your jurisdiction, not ours. Getting a board resolution notarised in Moscow, satisfying a Dubai bank's source-of-funds questions, or explaining to a UK accountant why an Indian subsidiary needs a resident director — these are home-country problems. An adviser who has done it in your country, in your language, makes life easier.

It's also why the desk is more than a company-registration service. Entering another country involves considerably more than registering an entity, so you get one Indian advisory point that understands both the regulatory requirements and the practical side of bringing a foreign business into India.

Hence, our international desk becomes a local desk for you.

Yes — at least one director must have stayed in India for the prescribed minimum period in the financial year. This is one of the first practical questions a foreign promoter faces, because it usually means either relocating someone, appointing a trusted local, or finding another arrangement.

For a straightforward private limited subsidiary with documents in order, incorporation typically runs a few weeks. The time depends on how quickly your home-country documents get notarised and apostilled, and how fast your bank moves. In our experience, the name approval process is the hardest. Apart from the FEMA process, the other stages like name approval, digital signatures and incorporation documents etc. can be studied in detail here.

It depends on your country. Rule 13(5) of the Companies (Incorporation) Rules, 2014 sets out three tiers:

• If you're in a Commonwealth country, such as the UK, notarisation by a Notary Public there is enough — no apostille is required.
• If you're outside the Commonwealth but in a Hague Apostille Convention country, such as the USA, Russia and most of Europe, documents must be notarised and apostilled. Apostille is a simplified single-step authentication by the designated authority in your country.
• If your country is neither, notarisation must be followed by authentication by a Diplomatic or Consular Officer — in practice, attestation by the Indian embassy or consulate there.

Getting this wrong means the Registrar rejects the filing.

Yes, in one situation.

Where the foreign subscriber has visited India and holds a valid Business Visa, the incorporation documents can be signed in India without notarisation or apostille. A promoter already planning a trip it can remove the entire authentication chain. We check whether it applies before sending anyone down the notarisation path.

They must be translated and the translation itself authenticated. For a promoter in Moscow, that meant a certified Russian-to-English translation carried through the notarisation and apostille chain alongside the originals — not translated afterwards as a convenience. Sequencing the translation correctly is one of those details which our local contact makes an actual difference.

The inward remittance of share capital is a FEMA matter. The investment is reported to the RBI through your authorised dealer bank, and share allotment is reported on Form FC-GPR within 30 days of allotment. Where shares later move between a resident and a non-resident, Form FC-TRS applies within 60 days of receipt of consideration. These deadlines are short and attract RBI scrutiny like late fees or compounding if not done. Some of the FEMA requirements require documents from abroad and may take time without proper beforehand planning. You can check our FEMA consultancy in detail here.

Under s.67 of the Income-tax Act, 2025 [s.45 of the 1961 Act], with the computation under s.72 [s.48]. For unlisted shares, if the transfer price is below fair market value, s.79 [s.50CA] substitutes FMV as the deemed consideration for the seller, and s.92 [s.56] can tax the shortfall in the buyer's hands. Treaty relief under s.159 [s.90] may apply depending on your jurisdiction — complex agreements will require intense study of sections, precedent cases and circulars. Entrecap’s income tax team has extensive knowledge of expat and foreign taxation – you can check here.

Transfer pricing applies when related enterprises transact across borders — for example, when an Indian subsidiary pays or receives amounts from its overseas parent or sister/group companies. These are very common transactions: goods, services, management fees, technology support, software, royalties, shared services, reimbursements, and capital account transactions like FDI and ECB (loans), interest on loans and dividends.

The pricing must satisfy the arm's length standard under Indian transfer-pricing provisions and, where relevant, the corresponding rules in the foreign jurisdiction, with contemporaneous documentation and the prescribed reporting and certification. This is the single most commonly underestimated compliance item for a foreign-owned Indian subsidiary.

For an Indian technology company with a US parent, for example, transfer pricing should ideally be designed when the inter-company arrangements are drafted, rather than after transactions have already accumulated.

Further, since these are related-party transactions, there will be Companies Act compliances like board approvals, secretarial compliances and disclosures in the financials. You can read about them here.

Not automatically.

The existence of an Indian subsidiary and the question of whether the foreign enterprise has a Permanent Establishment (PE), business connection or other taxable presence in India are distinct questions.

The basic rule is that if the parent-Indian company function at arm’s length transaction, then the PE can be avoided.

Several, depending on what you're doing. Units in a Special Economic Zone have a regime under s.144 [s.10AA]; offshore banking units and IFSC units under s.147 [s.80LA]; eligible startups can claim the deduction at s.140 [s.80-IAC]; and there's a deduction for additional employee cost at s.146 [s.80JJAA]. Whether any of these fit is a structuring question best asked before incorporation.

Further there are specific state and federal incentives for manufacturing units.

Potentially, yes.

Payments such as royalty and fees for technical services to a non-resident can have Indian withholding-tax implications where the payment is chargeable to tax in India. The applicable domestic law and relevant DTAA need to be examined.

Under the Income-tax Act, 2025, the withholding framework has been reorganised; Section 393 deals with specified TDS payments, while the special provisions relating to foreign companies also need to be considered.

India has entered into tax treaties with numerous jurisdictions. Entrecap’s tax team considers both Indian domestic tax law and the relevant treaty provisions based on the residence of the taxpayer, nature of income, treaty entitlement and facts of the transaction.

For example, the tax treatment of a payment to a Russian company may differ from the treatment of a payment to a UK company, even if the underlying commercial service is identical.

Practically, three things:

• document authentication through the apostille route,
• certified translation of Russian-language corporate documents, and
• banking — where payment routing and correspondent banking arrangements need planning.
• This is where our India–Russia collaboration with Anton Belyakov earns its place; he has established Russian companies in India and across Asia, so the questions a promoter in St. Petersburg asks are ones he has already answered for others.

Our Indian Director of Banking relationships, CA. Bhavesh Savla has extensive expertise in helping Russian companies and corporates. You can read his virtual CFO services here.

Three things a US Company should note:

• Apostille — straightforward, since the US is a Convention member, but it's state-level and slower and expensive.
• Requirements of 2 shareholders/ directors and ehe resident director requirement, which is stranger to US company rules
• Transfer pricing on the inevitable intercompany services agreement between the US parent and the Indian entity.

Entrecap has served US software and networking Companies from US having service subsidiaries in India.

Reasonably, yes.

• Indian laws are largely based on UK rules.
• For individuals residing in UK, documents go through notarisation and sometimes, without apostille due to the benefits of being part of Commonwealth pact.
• India and UK now have an operational Free Trade Agreement. (particularly helpful for subsidiaries importing goods originated in UK)
• The genuine differences are the resident director requirement, FEMA reporting deadlines that are far shorter than Companies House timelines

One practical issue is the Data Protection Act in UK which hinders UK banks from  sharing KYC details with Indian banks – mainly for FDI reporting purposes. You can read about FDI reporting here.

Our team has extensive experience with UK manufacturing and trading laws.

Yes — Ms. Avani Shah, based in Canada leads our India–Canada collaboration. She is a Chartered and Cost Accountant with an MBA in Finance and Strategy from Ivey Business School at Western University, and fifteen years' experience as a Finance Controller and Finance Strategist.

For a Toronto or Vancouver business, that means structure and reporting discussed by someone fluent in both the Canadian and Indian expectations.

Depends where. Mr. Konrad Fijalkowski covers Poland, Czech Republic and Germany. With sixteen years in accounting and finance management and CFO experience on greenfield factory investments — its directly relevant if you're building capacity rather than just selling.

 Mr. Vladimir Finov covers Montenegro. For other European markets, a business in France or Italy, for example, would work with us on the India side while retaining its own counsel at home, and we'd say so openly rather than overstate our reach.

Entrecap can assist a foreign Company in

• detailed market study
• vetting of distributors or master distributors for setting up networks
• Vetting of locations for setting up a manufacturing unit including state subsidies, real estate locations, ease of doing business comparisons
• Vetting a partner for joint venture  

Frequently, and it's a large part of the work. Unreported FDI, a missing FC-GPR, overdue MCA filings, a dormant bank account, transfer pricing never documented — these are fixable, and FEMA contraventions are generally compoundable through a defined RBI process. tart by finding out exactly where you stand, then tell you honestly what it takes to regularise.

Yes. Entrecap can support the Indian entity with accounting, GST and Tax, GST and tax compliance, statutory reporting, inter-company reconciliations and transfer-pricing documentation and can also coordinate with the foreign parent or its existing overseas advisors.

Our objective is to make the Indian subsidiary's financial and regulatory information easier for the overseas parent to understand and review via monthly dashboards and reporting in country specific software.

Our head office is in Kandivali West, Mumbai, with offices and associates in six states across India. For a foreign client it matters less where we sit than that filings happen on time and someone answers when you write — but Mumbai is India's financial and regulatory centre, which does make banking and RBI-side coordination simpler.

Yes. The International Desk is not limited to inbound investment.

Entrecap also assists Indian entrepreneurs considering overseas subsidiaries, international investments, cross-border transactions and expansion into foreign markets, subject to the applicable laws of India and the destination jurisdiction.

For example, a founder in Mumbai may want to establish a subsidiary in the USA, while a business owner in Pune may be evaluating an investment or operating structure in the UK.

Entrecap can explain consideration of India's Overseas Investment framework, tax implications, funding, reporting and the laws of the destination country.

Yes. Outbound investment is permitted under FEMA's overseas investment framework, through an authorised dealer bank. An Indian company can make overseas direct investment within the prescribed limits linked to its net worth; an Indian resident individual can invest abroad under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme, up to USD 250,000 per financial year for permitted purposes including overseas shares and property.

More than most expect. The investment is reported through your AD bank and a Unique Identification Number is allotted for the overseas entity; thereafter an Annual Performance Report must be filed each year for as long as the investment is held. When a Mumbai business group sets up a trading arm overseas, the annual reporting — not the initial remittance — is the obligation that needs a system around it.

Our Montenegro collaboration exists because a Montenegrin company

• can give Indian businesses a route into European and Balkan markets at a very low corporate tax cost.
• Offer real estate at much lower costs in a country that is on its way to join the EU
• Has Euro aligned trade practices and Euro as official currency
• Offers access to Balkan nations like Serbia for auto manufacturing etc.

An Indian tax resident is taxed on worldwide income, so profits, dividends and gains from the overseas venture are taxable in India — with residence determined under s.6 of the Income-tax Act, 2025 [s.6 of the 1961 Act]. Credit for foreign tax paid is available under the treaty through s.159 [s.90 / 90A], or unilaterally under s.160 [s.91] where no treaty exists. Foreign assets must also be disclosed in the Indian return.

Treating the overseas entity as separate from their Indian obligations. We have been approached by clients who have set up a subsidiary abroad cleanly, then missed both the annual performance reporting under FEMA and the foreign asset disclosure in the Indian return — two filings with nothing to do with the foreign country at all. Going global doesn't reduce your Indian compliance; it adds to it.

Yes.

Much of the India-entry process can be coordinated remotely through secure document exchange, video meetings, electronic communication and coordination with the investor's overseas professionals.

Where original, notarised, apostilled, attested or physically executed documents are required, Entrecap can identify those requirements in advance so that the investor can arrange them locally.

This can be particularly valuable for a foreign promoter who does not want to travel to India simply to complete routine incorporation or compliance documentation.

Fixed-fee for defined setup work; retainer or matter-by-matter thereafter. The engagement proposal sets out specific scope, documentation required, timelines and commercials.