If our India GCC or subsidiary develops IP, who owns it — the India entity or the foreign parent?

The default employer-ownership rule for employee-created IP is a starting point, not the end of the analysis — well-drafted employment contracts in India typically include an explicit IP assignment clause confirming that any IP created within the scope of employment vests in the employer (the India entity), which handles the employee-to-company assignment. The gap that often gets missed is the second step: assigning that IP from the India entity up to the foreign parent or a designated IP-holding entity, which requires its own formal intercompany IP assignment or licensing agreement, not just an assumption that group ownership follows naturally from group structure.

This matters especially for GCCs and captive development centers, where the entire commercial purpose of the India entity is to create IP for use elsewhere in the group — getting the assignment structure right from the start avoids a scenario where, on audit, tax review, or eventual sale of the group, it turns out the India subsidiary technically owns valuable IP that was always intended to sit with the parent. This also has transfer pricing implications, since an intercompany IP assignment or license needs to be priced at arm's length and properly documented, not treated as a formality.