Establishing Business in India – What Foreign Companies Must Know

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

Liaison Offices – A foreign company can open a liaison office in India to handle its Indian operations, to promote its business interests, to spread awareness within the company’s products in addition to explore further chances. Liaison offices are not allowed to carry on any business or earn any income in India and all 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 minimal period of schedule. It is essentially a branch office fitted with the limited purpose for executing a specific projects. 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 a number of matters in India, like acting as buying and selling agents.

oConducting research, wherein the parent company is engaged, provided the outcomes of this research are made to be able to Indian companies

oUndertaking export and import trading ventures.

oPromoting technical and financial collaborations between Indian and foreign companies.

Trading companies – Foreign companies may invest in trading companies engaged primarily in 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 around 51 per cent for setting up trading companies engaged primarily Online LLP Incorporation in India 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 a good Indian Company by independent legal status, distinct from parents foreign company.

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

Joint venture companies – Foreign companies may set up a joint venture company i.e. fiscal collaboration with an Indian business house/company in India, could be 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 conditions specified therein are complied with or obtain an approval from the FIPB.

Foreign companies intending to set up any involving office mentioned above activities component the parent company or foreign trading companies in India for promotion of exports from India for you to obtain an earlier approval for the Reserve Bank by submitting an application in the prescribed form to the Central Office of Reserve Bank. On approval of the cases, permission is granted initially for a period of three years, subject to the condition that expenses of such office is actually met exclusively out of inward remittances; such offices are not permitted to generate any income in United states of america.