India rules · all investors
Timeline: India rules for foreign companies
CA Utsav Dogra, Chartered Accountant, ICAI M. No. 542375
The critical path almost always runs through documents on the home side and the bank account in India. Incorporation itself is quick once the file is complete.
Where time is lost, and how to save it
The critical path almost always runs through documents on the home side and the bank account in India. Incorporation itself is quick once the file is complete.
Three things shorten the timeline: Indian review of drafts before they are legalised, starting bank onboarding while the incorporation is being filed, and confirming the resident director before anything is submitted.
After the account is open, the capital remittance, allotment and FC-GPR follow statutory windows of 60 and 30 days. Building these into the plan avoids a rush that leads to late filings.
Stage by stage
| Stage | Typical duration |
|---|---|
| foreign documents and legalisation | 1–6 weeks depending on the country |
| Name and incorporation | 2–3 weeks |
| Bank account | 1–4 weeks, in parallel |
| Capital remittance | Days after account opening |
| Allotment and FC-GPR | 60 days, then 30 days |
Checklist
- Freeze names and spellings
- Indian review of every draft
- Start bank onboarding early
- Confirm the resident director
- Plan allotment and FC-GPR dates
Common mistakes
- Redoing legalisation after errors
- Starting the bank only after incorporation
- Overlooking holidays in both countries
- Missing the FC-GPR window
How this applies to your country
- USA to India en-US
- UK to India en-GB
- Japan to India en-JP
- Germany to India en-DE
- Singapore to India en-SG
- Australia to India en-AU
- China to India en-CN
- Hong Kong to India en-HK
- Russia to India en-RU
- Spain to India en-ES
- France to India en-FR
- UAE to India en-AE
Our service: Indian subsidiary incorporation
Questions
Can incorporation be done in a week?
Occasionally, when every document is ready and verified; two to three weeks is a realistic plan.
What is usually the slowest step?
Opening the bank account and completing the bank's KYC on the foreign parent and its owners.
What causes most delays?
Name mismatches across documents, legalisation errors, late bank onboarding and no resident director.
Queries
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