India Market Entry by Home Country
Ten guides, one for each home country, covering the treaty, repatriation and structuring points that differ from country to country.
The questions a foreign company asks before entering India depend heavily on where it is headquartered: which tax treaty applies, how profits come home, how its own regulator treats an Indian subsidiary, and which trade agreement helps its products. Each guide below covers one home country from that angle.
Guides by home country
Ten guides cover the main home countries of foreign investors in India: the US, the UK, the European Union, Germany, Japan, Korea, Singapore, the UAE, Australia and Canada. Each explains the treaty, the repatriation route and the structuring points that differ from one country to another.
- India entry for US companies
- India entry for UK companies
- India entry for European companies
- India entry for German companies
- India entry for Japanese companies
- India entry for Korean companies
- India entry for Singapore companies
- India entry for UAE companies
- India entry for Australian companies
- India entry for Canadian companies
What is the same for every country
Indian rules do not change with the investor's nationality. An Indian entity is set up under the Companies Act, 2013, foreign investment follows the FDI policy and the Foreign Exchange Management Act, and each inflow is reported to the Reserve Bank of India through the authorised dealer bank.
Whatever the home country, the Indian rules are the same: an Indian entity is set up under the Companies Act, 2013, foreign investment follows the FDI policy and the Foreign Exchange Management Act, and the investor reports each inflow to the Reserve Bank of India through its authorised dealer bank. Our India entry guide covers that common ground, and the FDI guide and international tax guide go deeper.
What changes by country
Three things change by country: the double taxation treaty, the home-country rules on foreign subsidiaries and dividends, and any trade or investment agreement between the two countries. Treaty benefits are never automatic, so the structure has to be chosen with the treaty in mind from the start.
Three things change: the double taxation treaty (withholding rates, how capital gains are taxed, and how treaty relief is claimed), the home-country rules on foreign subsidiaries and dividends, and any trade or investment agreement between the two countries. Treaty benefits are never automatic. They depend on a Tax Residency Certificate, the Form 10F declaration, and the anti-avoidance rules, so the structure has to be chosen with the treaty in mind, not after the fact.