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Set up of branch office of foreign company in India
BRANCH office is set up by a foreign company in India to carry out the Branch activity for its business. The foreign company can have any earnings from the Indian Branch office only from the activity allowed by the Reserve Bank of India; It has to meet all its expenses of the Indian office through remittances from the Head office or through the revenue generated from the Indian operation permitted by the Reserve Bank of India.
Foreign companies are allowed to set up a branch office in India. But unlike the case of setting up a company, a branch office requires approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
Legal forms of foreign companies which can be set up in India are
Branch Office
Liaison Office
Project Office
Corporate Entity
Joint Venture/ Partnerships etc.
Permitted Activities For Branch Office In India:
Companies incorporated outside India and engaged in manufacturing or trading activities are allowed to set up Branch Offices in India and undertake the following activities in India;
- Export/Import of goods
- Rendering professional or consultancy services.
- Carrying out research work, in which the parent company is engaged.
- Promoting technical or financial collaborations between Indian companies and a parent or overseas group companies.
- Representing the parent company in India and acting as buying/selling agent in India.
- Rendering services in Information Technology and development of software in India.
- Rendering technical support to the products supplied by parent/group companies.
- Foreign Airline/Shipping Company.
Features of LLP
Companies incorporated outside India are prohibited from doing the following activities through branch offices in India which are following
- Retail trading activities of any nature is not allowed for a Branch Office in India
- A Branch Office is not allowed to carry out manufacturing or processing activities in India, directly or indirectly.
- Profits earned by the Branch Offices are freely remittable from India, subject to payment of applicable taxes.
- The procedure by which Branch Offices are permitted to remit profit outside India:
- Branch Offices are permitted to remit outside India profit of the branch net of applicable Indian taxes, on the production of the following documents to the satisfaction of the Authorized Dealer through whom the remittance is affected:
- A Certified copy of the audited Balance Sheet and Profit and Loss account for the relevant year;
- A Chartered Accountant’s certificate certifying –
- The manner of arriving at the remittable profit
- That the entire remittable profit has been earned by undertaking the permitted activities
- That the profit does not include any profit on revaluation of the assets of the branch.
Procedures For Setting Up A Branch Office In India By A Foreign Company
Approval from RBI– Permission for setting up branch offices is granted by the Foreign Exchange Department, Reserve Bank of India, Central Office, Mumbai.
Track Record of the company -Reserve Bank of India considers the track record of the applicant company, the activity of the company proposing to set up an office in India as well as the financial position of the company while evaluating the application.
The applications from such entities in Form FNC (Annex-1) will be considered by the Reserve Bank under two routes: The application in the prescribed form (Form FNC)should be submitted to the RBI through the Authorized Dealer bank.
- Reserve Bank Route— where principal business of the foreign entity falls under sectors where 100 per cent Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is permissible under the automatic route.
- Government Route— where principal business of the foreign entity falls under the sectors where 100 per cent FDI is not permissible under the automatic route. Applications from entities falling under this category and those from Non – Government Organizations / Non – Profit Organizations / Government Bodies / Departments are considered by the Reserve Bank in consultation with the Ministry of Finance, Government of India.
Procedure for Approval from RBI:
- Currently, as per the RBI Requirement, the application for the branch office and BRANCH office is submitted through the Authorized dealer. The authorized dealer means the various institutions having banking licenses.
- The application in the prescribed form (Form FNC) should be submitted to the RBI.
Procedure after Getting RBI Approval
Every BRANCH office registered with RBI shall get itself registered with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs; it is a registration by the BRANCH office as an establishment of a foreign company in India. On such registration, a CIN i.e. Corporate Identity Number is allotted by the Registrar of Companies.
The following documents shall be filed with the Registrar of Companies:-
Form FC-1
Charter, statutes or memorandum and articles of association or other Instrument constituting or defining the constitution of the company
If the above documents are not in English then the translated version of the documents.
- Director(s) details – individuals
- Director(s) details – bodies corporate
- Reserve bank of India approval letter
- Secretary(s) details
- Power of attorney or board resolution in favour of the authorized representative(s).
- Companies have to file annually and periodically documents as mentioned above.
Documents Required for Incorporation of Foreign Company
- Form FNC – Three copies
- Letter from the principal officer of the Parent company to RBI.
- Letter of authority from the parent company in favour of a Local Representative.
- Letter of authority/ Resolution from the parent company for setting up a BRANCH office in India.
- Comfort letter from the parent company intending to support the operation in India.
- Two copies of the English version of the Certificate of Incorporation, Memorandum & Articles of association (Charter Document) of the parent company duly attested by the Indian embassy or notary public in the country of registration.
- Certification of Incorporation – Translated & Duly Notarized and Certified by Indian Consulate
- The Latest audited Balance sheet and annual accounts of the parent company duly Translated notarized for the past three years. & Certified by Indian Consulate & Directors
- Name, Address, email ID and telephone number of the authorized person in the Home Country.
- Details of Bankers of the Organization the Country of Origin along with the bank account number.
- Commitment from the Organization to the effect that it will be open to report / opinion sought from its banker by the Government of India / Reserve Bank of India
- The expected funding level for operations in India.
- Details Relating to address of the proposed local office, number of persons likely to be employed, number of Foreigners among such employees and address of the head of the local office, if decided
- Details of Activity carried out in Home Country by the applicant organization in brief about the product and services of the company.
- Bankers Certificate
- Latest Proof of identity of all the Directors – Certified by Consulate and Banker in Home Country
- Latest Proof of address all of the Directors – Certified by Consulate and Banker in Home Country
- Details of the Individuals / Company holding more than 10% of Equity
- Structure of the Organization w.r.t Shareholding pattern
- Complete KYC of Shareholders holding more than 10% Equity in the Applicant Company.
- Resolution for Opening up Bank Account with the Banker
- Duly Signed Bank Account Opening Form for Indian Bank
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