Foreign-owned companies in India
For foreign parents and founders — choosing the entry route, incorporating with directors abroad, bringing in the capital, and the year-round compliance an Indian subsidiary carries under the Companies Act, FEMA, income tax and GST.
17 articles · written and reviewed by CA K Sanjay Bhargav, Chartered Accountant
Cornerstone guide
Indian Subsidiary Compliance Calendar, FY 2026-27
A wholly-owned Indian subsidiary answers to four regulators on four different clocks, and this year to two Income-tax Acts at once. Every date from April 2026 to March 2027, month by month, and which ones move.
Cornerstone guide
Setting Up a Company in India as a Non-Resident
Most sectors take 100% foreign ownership with no prior approval; what actually delays an India entry is the resident director and, for some investors, Press Note 3. The order of decisions, the 2026 changes, and where each step is covered in detail.
Cornerstone guide
FC-GPR, FLA and APR: The FEMA Filings Companies Miss
Taking money from a non-resident starts a 30-day clock most founders never hear about. What each filing is, when it falls due, and why the three-year Late Submission Fee window is the line that matters.
Statutory Audit of a Foreign Subsidiary in India: CARO, Ind AS
The parent wants a December reporting pack under IFRS or US GAAP; Indian law wants March statutory accounts, a CARO report and a tax audit. How the two fit together, what applies to a subsidiary of a foreign company, and how to run it on one set of fieldwork.
Closing an Indian Subsidiary: Strike-Off, Liquidation, Capital
Strike-off is cheap and suits a company with nothing left in it. If there is capital to send back to the parent, the answer is usually liquidation, and the order of work matters more than either route.
Dividend to a Foreign Parent: Withholding and Repatriation
There has been no dividend distribution tax since 2020, so the tax now sits with the parent and is collected by the Indian company at source. The rate the parent pays depends on paperwork that has to exist before the dividend is credited, not after.
First 90 Days of a Foreign-Owned Company in India: Checklist
The certificate of incorporation starts a dozen clocks, and they belong to five different regulators. A dated checklist for a new Indian subsidiary, and the few items that cannot be put right later.
Foreign Share Capital Into India: Remittance to FC-GPR, in Order
Four clocks start when a foreign parent sends share capital to India, and they belong to two different regulators. The sequence, the dates, and the subscriber-share problem the rules do not quite resolve.
Incorporating in India With Foreign Directors: The Documents
The forms are the easy part of incorporating an Indian subsidiary. What sets the timetable is the paperwork signed abroad, and the rule that decides whether it needs an apostille turns on where it is signed, not whose passport is on it.
Loans From a Foreign Parent: ECB, CCDs or Equity in 2026
The RBI rewrote the external commercial borrowing rules in February 2026, and a loan from the parent is now simpler to set up than at any time in the last decade. Whether it is cheaper than equity is a tax question, and three provisions answer it.
Management Fees and Royalty Paid to a Foreign Parent in India
The intercompany invoice looks like one payment. India examines it four times, at four different moments, and each examination rests on the same question: can you show what was actually received?
NRI or Foreign Individual Investing in an Indian Company
The decision that shapes everything later is made at the start: whether the investment is repatriable or not. What each route requires, why the June 2026 change for foreign individuals is about listed shares rather than private companies, and how the money eventually leaves India.
Press Note 3 in 2026: Land-Border Investment After the Changes
The 2026 amendment did not create a new approval route; it defined beneficial ownership by reference to the anti-money-laundering rules and added a reporting duty with no floor. What the text says, what it does not, and where the reading is still unsettled.
Resident Director Requirement in India: Section 149(3)
Section 149(3) is the requirement that most often holds up a foreign-owned company's incorporation. What the test is since 2018, the ways groups satisfy it, and what a director who sits on the board to satisfy it is personally exposed to.
SBO for a Foreign Parent: BEN-1, BEN-2 and the 10% Test
The shareholder register shows a company in Delaware or Singapore; Section 90 wants the individuals behind it. How the look-through works, why a listed parent is not an exemption, what each BEN form does, and why the bank asks the same question under a different law.
Share Transfer Between Resident and Non-Resident: Pricing
When a foreign parent buys out an Indian founder, or an Indian buyer takes shares from the parent, three rulebooks set the price at once. FEMA sets one boundary, the Income-tax Act sets another, and in some companies there is no price that satisfies both.
Subsidiary, Branch or Liaison Office: India Entry Compared
Five ways for a foreign company to be present in India, with different approvals, tax rates and exit routes. A side-by-side comparison, and the facts that usually decide between them.
Other topics
- Tax notices and assessments
- Business tax, audit and filing
- GST — registration, returns and credit
- Foreign income, RSUs and ESOPs
- NRI money, property and repatriation
- Bank finance and company compliance
- Internal controls, IT audit and data protection
- Service exports, GCCs and professionals
- Manufacturing and industry
- Real estate, JDAs and development
- The Income-tax Act 2025 transition
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