Entering the Indian market.

The four ways to enter

Every India entry starts with the same choice: how much presence do you need, and how much liability are you willing to carry. A Liaison Office can represent the parent and gather market information, but cannot invoice or earn income in India. A Branch Office can trade and invoice, but its liabilities flow straight back to the parent, with no separation. A wholly-owned subsidiary (private limited company) is a distinct legal entity — the parent's liability is capped at its investment, and it's the structure almost every serious, ongoing India operation ends up choosing, including every Global Capability Centre we've built. An LLP sits between a subsidiary and a partnership: limited liability with lighter compliance, but foreign investment into an LLP faces narrower RBI approval routes than a subsidiary does. For most parent companies planning real, ongoing operations, the subsidiary is the default — see our full breakdown on the GCC entity structure page if the operation is a captive centre for your own group.

FEMA and RBI reporting: the compliance spine

Foreign investment into an Indian entity is governed by the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), and the reporting obligations start the moment shares are allotted. The single most commonly missed deadline is the FC-GPR filing — due within 30 days of allotment, with figures that must match the FIRC (Foreign Inward Remittance Certificate) and valuation certificate exactly. Get this wrong and you're not just late; you're exposed to compounding penalties under FEMA. This is the same reporting discipline we run for every entity whose ledger we own — see our FC-GPR filing briefing for the detail.

Tax residency and permanent establishment risk

A foreign parent doing business in India without the right structure risks being treated as having a Permanent Establishment (PE) here — which pulls the parent's own profits into Indian tax jurisdiction, not just the Indian entity's. A properly capitalised, arm's-length subsidiary with its own governance is the cleanest way to avoid that exposure. Once the entity exists, ongoing transfer pricing discipline (for any related-party transactions with the parent) keeps that position defensible on audit.

The first 90 days

Incorporation, PAN and TAN registration, GST registration (if applicable), professional tax and shops & establishment registration, opening a bank account, and the FC-GPR filing all have to happen in roughly the right order, and several run on hard deadlines rather than best-effort timelines. Run them in parallel rather than sequentially, and a full entry — from incorporation through the entity being operational — is realistically a nine-to-twelve-week process, not the six-plus months it becomes when registrations are chased one at a time.

What it costs and how long it takes

Cost and timeline depend heavily on entity type, sector, and headcount — a pure holding entity is materially cheaper and faster to stand up than an operating GCC with its own hiring and real estate. If your entry is specifically a captive technology or shared-services centre, our GCC cost calculator gives a directional range. For every entry, we scope the actual number as a written, fixed-fee proposal within five business days.