Setting up in India as a foreign company: the 6-week path.

Entity choice, FDI/FC-GPR, GST, bank account and transfer pricing — the realistic sequence to an invoicing-ready Indian subsidiary.

For a foreign company, "setting up in India" is less about incorporation and more about sequencing — entity, capital, tax registrations and banking have dependencies that, done in the wrong order, add weeks.

Choosing the vehicle

• Wholly-owned subsidiary (private limited) — the default for operating businesses: limited liability, 100% FDI under the automatic route in most sectors, clean compliance.
• LLP — lighter, but FDI and downstream-investment rules make it less common for funded operations.
• Branch / liaison / project office — RBI-approved, narrow-purpose, rarely right for a revenue-generating operation.

Incorporation and FDI

Incorporation runs through the MCA's integrated SPICe+ form (name, DIN, PAN, TAN together). Once shares are issued to the foreign parent, you file FC-GPR with the RBI through your AD bank within 30 days of allotment — the step most often missed, and the one that holds up later remittances.

Tax and operating registrations

• GST registration, state-wise, based on where you supply
• PAN / TAN, professional tax, Shops & Establishment, and payroll (PF/ESI) as headcount grows
• Transfer pricing from day one if you transact with the parent — Form 3CEB and contemporaneous documentation

A realistic timeline

With documents in order, an invoicing-ready subsidiary — incorporation, FC-GPR, GST and a working bank account — typically takes 4 to 6 weeks. The long pole is usually bank-account opening and apostilled parent documents, not incorporation.

The six weeks, week by week

• Week 1 — digital signatures for the proposed directors, name reservation (SPICe+ Part A), and the document chase: parent-company charter documents and board resolution, apostilled (Hague Convention countries) or consularised, plus KYC for directors. Start the apostille immediately — it is the most common source of slippage.
• Week 2 — SPICe+ Part B with e-MoA/e-AoA and AGILE-PRO: incorporation, PAN and TAN arrive together on the certificate.
• Weeks 3–4 — bank account opening (the real long pole: foreign-shareholder KYC clears at the bank's pace), then the parent remits the subscription money.
• Weeks 4–5 — allot shares, file FC-GPR within 30 days of allotment, obtain GST registration.
• Week 6 — first board meeting (within 30 days of incorporation), auditor appointment (ADT-1), payroll registrations, and INC-20A commencement-of-business filing (within 180 days, but banks and counterparties want it early).

Two constraints that surprise foreign parents

Every Indian company needs at least one director who stays in India 182+ days in the financial year — plan for a local director or a relocating founder before filing, not after. And under Press Note 3, any investment from an entity or beneficial owner in a country sharing a land border with India (notably China and Hong Kong-routed structures) needs prior government approval regardless of sector — a months-long process that changes the whole timeline and applies even to small indirect stakes in the parent's cap table.

What “invoicing-ready” actually requires

Incorporation is not the finish line. To raise a compliant first invoice to the parent you need: the GST registration (and an LUT filed so export-of-services invoices go out without charging GST), the intercompany agreement signed with a transfer-pricing-defensible price, a working bank account for the inward remittance, and the FIRC trail your auditor and the FLA return will want. Skipping the intercompany agreement in week one is the most expensive shortcut — it anchors the TP position for every later year.

The first-year compliance calendar

Budget for it upfront: statutory audit and AGM, income-tax return (31 October with transfer pricing), Form 3CEB, monthly/quarterly GST returns, TDS returns, the RBI's FLA return by 15 July, and MCA annual filings (AOC-4, MGT-7). A two-person subsidiary carries essentially the same calendar as a two-hundred-person one — which is why most foreign parents outsource it entirely.

How Advisory Monks Consulting helps

Our India Entry desk runs the whole sequence end-to-end — entity, FDI/FC-GPR, GST, payroll and the transfer-pricing baseline — and coordinates the bank so the dependencies don't stall you.

General information, not advice.

This note is general guidance, not tax or legal advice. Positions depend on your specific facts — speak with a partner before acting.