Foreign
companies can function through their offices in India for conducting a number of
businesses ranging from importing and exporting goods to performing market
research. Based on the functional requirements, these firms can establish 3
types of offices in India.
If a company aims to carry out import and export of goods, it can open a branch
office or a liason office to conduct research, collect information and conduct
promotional activities. It can set up its project office if the firm has to
undertake a project.
There
are certain guidelines to be followed by the foreign company setting up
business in India.
It can be done in any of the following manners while retaining its status as a
foreign company:
1)
Liason office- A foreign
company can set up a liason office in India to oversee its Indian
operations, to generate awareness about its products, to promote its business
interests and to explore ofurther opportunities. Liason offices cannot carry
out any business or earn any profit in India and all the cost is to be
taken care by payments from abroad.
2) Project office- If the foreign company is
seeking to have presence in India
only for a limited period, then project offices are the best way. It is
typically a branch office established with a limited objective of implementing
a particular project. Foreign companies involved in installation or
construction generally establish a project office for their business functions
in India.
3)
Branch office- Foreign
companies involved in production and trading activities outside India may set
up branch offices in order to:
- Represent the parent company or other foreign companies in different matters in India such as serving as buying and selling agents.
- Conducting research in which the parent company is involved given that the result of this research is made available to Indian organizations
- Undertaking import or export trading activities
- Promote financial and technical collaborations between foreign and Indian companies.
4) Trading companies –
Foreign firms may invest in trading companies basically involved in exports.
Such trading firms are considered at par with local trading companies as per
the trade policy.
5)
Wholly owned subsidiaries
– A wholly owned subsidiary is an Indian Company is an independent legal entity
different from the parent foreign company. As per the current foreign
investment policy, a wholly owned subsidiary can be set up either under the
automatic route or seek an approval from the FIPB.
6)
Joint venture companies –
A joint venture company can be formed in financial association with an Indian
firm.
A foreign
company setting up any type of business in India listed above have to seek a
prior approval from RBI by depositing an application in a given form to the
Central Office of RBI. If the
application is approved then operation can be started initially for a period of
3 years provided that expenses of such offices will be borne only by the inward
remittances.
In
recent times, many companies have started offering assistance to foreign
companies setting up business as well as NRI services Bangalore.
About Balakrishna Consulting
Balakrishna Consulting is a leading corporate law firm of company secretaries, cost accountants, advocates and CA in Bangalore. The company is specialised in providing company incorporation services, company formation, LLP registration, assistance in setting up business in India and NRI services Bangalore. Balakrishna Consulting has been delivering services to around 50 foreign clients from 23 different nations such as France, UK, USA, Spain, Holland, Hungary, Taiwan, China, Singapore, Japan, South Africa and South America. BCL is associated with MSI Global Alliance (MSI), a top ranked global association of independent accountancy and law firms.




