Establishing Business in India – What Foreign Companies Must Know

Foreign companies may set up business in India any kind of one of pursuing manners while retaining its status as a foreign company:

Liaison Offices – A foreign company can open a liaison office in India to maintain its Indian operations, to promote its business interests, to spread awareness of the company’s products and to explore further avenues. Liaison offices are not allowed to persevere any business or earn any income in India and all sorts of expenses are in order to become borne by remittances from abroad.

Project Offices – The project office is the ideal method for companies to establish a business presence in India, if the object is to possess a presence for constrained period of any time. It is essentially a branch office set up with the limited purpose for executing a specific undertaking. Foreign companies engaged in turnkey construction or installation normally established a project office for their operations in India.

Branch Offices – Foreign companies involved in manufacturing and trading activities outside India may open branch offices for the purpose of:

oRepresenting the parent company or other foreign companies different matters in India, like acting as buying and selling agents.

oConducting research, where the parent company is engaged, provided the final results of this research are made to be able to Indian companies

oUndertaking export and import trading situations.

oPromoting technical and financial collaborations between Indian and foreign companies.

Trading companies – Foreign companies may invest in trading companies engaged primarily Online LLP Registration Process in India exports. Such trading companies are treated at par with domestic trading companies in accordance with the trade policy.

The RBI accords automatic approval for foreign equity up to 51 per cent for setting up trading companies engaged primarily in exports. All other proposals, which do not meet the criteria for automatic approval, can be addressed to the Foreign Investment Promotion Board, i.e. “FIPB”.

Wholly owned subsidiaries – Foreign companies may set up a wholly owned subsidiary, which is an Indian Company a great independent legal status, distinct from parents foreign company.

Under the current foreign investment policy, a wholly owned subsidiary can be established either your automatic route, when the conditions specified therein are complied with (specific high priority industries) or get the approval from the FIPB.

Joint venture companies – Foreign companies may set up a joint venture company i.e. monetary collaboration with an Indian business house/company in India, and an Indian Company with an independent legal status, distinct from the parent foreign company.

Under the current foreign investment policy, a joint venture can be established either under the automatic route, if the circumstances specified therein are complied with or obtain an approval from the FIPB.

Foreign companies intending to construct any form of office mentioned above activities on the part the parent company or foreign trading companies in India for promotion of exports from India in order to be obtain a previous approval of this Reserve Bank by submitting an application in the prescribed form to the Central Office of Reserve Bank. On approval for these cases, permission is granted initially a period of three years, cause to undergo the condition that expenses of such office will be met exclusively out of inward remittances; such offices are not permitted to create any income in In india.