- A foreign company or non-resident individual can own 100% of an Indian private limited company in most sectors, under the automatic route, which means you invest first and report afterwards.
- Registration runs through four MCA SPICe+ filings: Digital Signature Certificates, name reservation in Part A, incorporation in Part B, then the Certificate of Incorporation.
- An approved company name holds for only 20 days, extendable to 40 days for 1,000 rupees or to 60 days for 3,000 rupees, so the apostille clock and the name clock have to be planned together.
- Foreign founders also need apostilled English documents, at least one director resident in India, and post-investment reporting to the Reserve Bank through an authorised dealer bank.
- An Employer of Record skips incorporation entirely, so if you only need people rather than a company you can hire in India in days with no entity and no MCA calendar.
Weighing company registration in India against hiring through an EOR? Talk to our India experts today!
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Can a foreign company actually register a company in India? Yes, and it can own 100% of it in most sectors.
The filing itself is online and takes days. What takes weeks is everything around it: apostilled documents, a resident director, and a bank account that will accept the share capital.
So the two questions worth answering are what the process really costs in time and money, and whether you need an entity at this stage at all.
Can a foreign company or foreign national register a company in India?
Yes. A foreign company or a non-resident individual can hold 100% of an Indian private limited company in most sectors, under the automatic route, which means you invest first and report afterwards rather than seeking prior approval.
Sensitive sectors still need government approval, and so does any investor from a country sharing a land border with India, whatever the sector. Check the ownership chain, not just the immediate investor.
Three requirements apply to you that do not apply to a domestic founder:
- Apostilled documents: passports and address proofs need an apostille and an English translation. The United States and the United Kingdom are both Hague Convention members, so this is a courier exercise rather than a legal problem.
- A resident director: at least one director on the board must be resident in India. Founders commonly appoint a nominee director until a local hire is in place.
- Post-investment reporting: the share allotment is reported to the Reserve Bank of India after incorporation, through an authorised dealer bank.
Get the apostille started before anything else. It is the item that sets the real timeline, and it is the one nobody plans for.
That resident director requirement also carries a tax consequence worth understanding, because a board presence in India can affect permanent establishment risk.
What are the four steps to register a company in India?
Four filings through the Ministry of Corporate Affairs SPICe+ form. SPICe+ bundles the name reservation, the incorporation itself, director identification, PAN and TAN into one linked flow.
Here is the sequence:
- Get Digital Signature Certificates: every director and subscriber needs a DSC to sign the forms, usually issued within a day or two.
- Reserve the name with SPICe+ Part A: submit your proposed names for approval by the Central Registration Centre.
- File SPICe+ Part B: lodge the memorandum and articles of association plus registered office proof. This filing also allots the Director Identification Number, PAN and TAN.
- Receive the Certificate of Incorporation: the Registrar issues the certificate with a Corporate Identity Number, and the company legally exists from that date.
One detail that catches people out. An approved name is reserved for 20 days from approval for a new company, and the clock does not pause while your apostilled documents are in transit.
The MCA does let you buy time. A reserved name extends from 20 to 40 days for a fee of 1,000 rupees, from 40 to 60 days for 2,000 rupees, or straight from 20 to 60 days for 3,000 rupees, each paid before the current window expires.
Note also that the older RUN service now applies only to changing the name of an existing company, not to a new incorporation, so guides that send you to RUN first are out of date.
Before you file any of it, pick the structure, because that choice sets your ownership, your tax position and your compliance load.
Which business structure should a foreign company choose?
Most foreign entrants choose a private limited company, held as a wholly-owned subsidiary. It allows 100% foreign ownership, limits liability, and is the structure investors and customers expect to see.
The alternatives are narrower than they look. A branch, liaison or project office is not a separate company, and each carries real activity restrictions.
| Structure | Separate legal entity? | What it can do | Best when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Private limited company (wholly-owned subsidiary) | Yes | Trade, hire, hold assets and IP, raise money locally | You want a real, permanent India operation |
| Limited liability partnership | Yes | Trade and provide services, with partner-level taxation | You are a services business with no equity plans |
| Branch office | No | Trade and provide services, remit profits, but not manufacture directly | You want presence without a subsidiary |
| Liaison office | No | Represent, promote and research only. It may not earn income or invoice | You are testing the market |
| Project office | No | Deliver one specific awarded contract, then close | You have won a single India contract |
| No entity, hire through an EOR | Not yours | Employ people compliantly, with no incorporation | You only need people on the ground |
The activity limits on the non-entity options are the part to read twice. A liaison office cannot invoice anyone, which surprises founders who expected it to be a cheap subsidiary.
For the wider decision about how to enter the market, business setup in India covers the structuring and tax comparison in full.
And doing business in India covers what operating here actually looks like once the certificate is issued.
If the only reason you are incorporating is to put people on payroll, read the last row again. Hiring employees in India without an entity is a genuinely different route.
It is also worth confirming the model is sound before you rely on it, and is an EOR legal in India answers the question most boards ask first.
For the general version of this decision outside India, how to set up a legal entity covers the same fork in any market.
What documents are required to register a company in India?
Identity and address proof for every director and shareholder, proof of the registered office, and the charter documents. Indian nationals provide PAN and Aadhaar. Foreign nationals provide an apostilled passport and address proof in English.
Gather these before you start the filing, not during it:
- For Indian directors and shareholders: PAN, Aadhaar, a recent address proof, and a passport-size photograph.
- For foreign directors and shareholders: an apostilled passport and address proof in English, a photograph, and for a corporate shareholder the parent company's board resolution and incorporation documents, also apostilled.
- For the registered office: a recent utility bill, a no-objection certificate from the owner, and the lease agreement if the premises are rented.
- For the company itself: the memorandum and articles of association, drafted to match the objects you actually intend to pursue.
The registered office proof is the quiet blocker. You need a real address in India before the Registrar will issue the certificate, which is why the office decision usually has to be made earlier than founders expect.
How much does company registration in India cost, and how long does it take?
Treat roughly 60,000 to 1,25,000 rupees as an indicative planning range for a foreign-owned private limited company. That is about $625 to $1,300 at 95.7 rupees to the dollar in August 2026.
Nobody publishes a fixed rate card for this, because government fees scale with authorised capital and professional fees vary by provider.
On timing, the filings themselves are quick. The surrounding work is not.
| Item | Indicative cost | Typical time |
|---|---|---|
| Digital Signature Certificates | Per signatory, small | 1 to 2 days |
| Name reservation (SPICe+ Part A) | Government fee, plus 1,000 to 3,000 rupees only if you extend | 1 to 3 days |
| Incorporation filing (SPICe+ Part B) | Government fee scaling with authorised capital | 3 to 7 days once documents are complete |
| Apostille, translation and courier | Varies by country and volume | 1 to 3 weeks, and this is the long pole |
| Professional and secretarial fees | The largest single line for most founders | Runs alongside the filings |
| Bank account and share capital inflow | Bank charges | 1 to 3 weeks after incorporation |
One reconciliation before you build a plan. The figures above cover incorporating the company and nothing else.
Our global capability centre page publishes 8 to 12 weeks for entity registration and 3 to 6 months for a full wholly-owned subsidiary setup, because that scope adds banking, staffing and an operating footprint.
So read the smaller figure as the cost of existing and the larger one as the cost of operating. Both are true at different scopes.
If you want the cost of the people rather than the company, our employee cost calculator models a single hire end to end.
And if the EOR route is the comparison, what an India EOR costs puts the two cost shapes side by side.
Costs also do not stop at incorporation, which brings us to the recurring half.
Do you need the company, or just the people?
We are the legal employer for your India hires, so contracts, payroll and statutory filings run without an entity of your own.
What compliance starts once the company is registered?
Four heads, and all of them begin immediately rather than at the end of the first year:
- Corporate income tax: an Indian company files as a domestic company, which is taxed differently from a branch of a foreign company. That gap is one of the strongest arguments for incorporating rather than opening a branch, and the current rates sit on the structuring page linked below.
- Goods and Services Tax: registration becomes compulsory once turnover crosses the applicable threshold, and thresholds differ for goods and for services. Current rates and slabs are on GST rates in India.
- Payroll statutory obligations: provident fund, employees' state insurance, tax deducted at source and state professional tax, all under India's four Labour Codes, which are in force as of August 2026.
- Annual MCA filings: the annual financial statements and annual return, alongside a statutory audit and director KYC. Late filing carries a daily penalty, so the calendar matters more than the amounts.
Budget for a company secretary or chartered accountant from month one. The filings are not optional and the penalties accrue per day rather than per notice.
For the payroll half specifically, payroll compliance in India sets out what each contribution is and when it falls due.
Statutory compliance in HR covers the wider obligation set once you have staff on the books.
There is also the labour law layer, and India's four Labour Codes is the current picture of what replaced the older Acts.
Some obligations only switch on at a headcount, which is why the India statutory compliance checklist after 10 employees is worth reading before you cross it.
And on the tax side generally, tax compliance in India is the fuller picture behind these four heads.
Should you register an entity or use an Employer of Record instead?
Register the entity when you need to hold assets or intellectual property in India, sell to Indian customers, raise money locally, or run a permanent operation of real size.
Use an Employer of Record when what you actually need is people. The EOR becomes the legal employer, so there is no incorporation, no resident director, no MCA calendar and no audit.
| What you are comparing | Your own entity | Employer of Record |
|---|---|---|
| Time to first hire | Weeks to months, after incorporation | Days |
| Who employs the person | Your Indian company | The EOR |
| Compliance ownership | You, through your own officers and auditors | The EOR |
| Resident director needed | Yes | No |
| Can hold IP and assets in India | Yes | No |
| Can invoice Indian customers | Yes | No |
| Cost shape | Setup cost, then fixed running cost | Per employee per month |
| Best when | Permanent operation, local revenue, local funding | Team building, market testing, speed |
The break-even is not really a headcount, it is a purpose. If you need to hold IP, sell locally or raise money in India, incorporate. If you only need people on the ground, an entity is overhead you have not earned yet.
Model the crossover for your own numbers with our EOR versus entity calculator.
Then read EOR versus entity in India for how the two compare on compliance rather than on cost.
There are middle routes too. Build-operate-transfer gets you to an owned entity in stages.
A captive engineering centre is what that same operation looks like at scale.
And if you already hold an Indian entity but do not want to run its HR, hiring through a PEO in India is the third option.
Going the other way is also normal. Moving from an entity to an EOR is what companies do when the India operation turns out smaller than planned.
If you have decided on people rather than a company, the best way to hire employees in India compares every route on one page.
US buyers in particular should read common mistakes US companies make hiring in India before committing to either path.
How can Wisemonk help you enter India?
Wisemonk is an India-native Employer of Record (EOR) that helps global companies hire, pay, and manage talent in India without setting up a local entity.
For a company weighing incorporation, that means you do not have to decide today. You can put people on the ground within weeks on compliant Indian employment contracts, and incorporate later when the operation justifies it rather than because hiring forced your hand.
We support 300+ global clients and more than 2,000 employees across India, process $20M+ in annual payroll, and hold a 4.8/5 rating on G2. Employer of Record starts from $99 per employee per month as of August 2026.
Here is how we help:
- Employer of Record: we become the legal employer, so employment contracts, payroll, statutory filings and benefits sit with us while your managers direct the work.
- Entity setup: when incorporation is the right call, we build and operate the company while you own 100% of it from day one.
- Managed payroll: for a company that already holds an Indian entity, we run the payroll cycle, the statutory filings and the payslips under it.
- Recruitment: we source and screen engineers, analysts and operations staff, then employ them from their first day.
- Contractor management: compliant agreements, tax documentation and payouts at 6% per contractor payment.
- Background checks: identity, education, employment history and criminal record verification before a start date is confirmed.
From our experience running India entry for global companies, the founders who move fastest are the ones who separate the two decisions. Hire first, incorporate when the operation earns it, and the sequence stops being a bottleneck.
Not sure you need an Indian entity yet?
We employ your India team as the legal employer from $99 per employee per month, so hiring does not wait on incorporation.
Frequently asked questions
Can a foreigner register a company in India?
Yes. A foreign company or a non-resident individual can hold 100% of an Indian private limited company in most sectors under the automatic route. Sensitive sectors and investors from land border countries need prior government approval.
How much does it cost to register a company in India from the US?
Plan on roughly 60,000 to 1,25,000 rupees, about $625 to $1,300 in August 2026, as an indicative range. Government fees scale with authorised capital, and apostille, translation and courier costs sit on top of that for a foreign founder.
How long does company registration in India take?
The filings themselves take days once documents are complete. For a foreign founder the apostille, translation and courier cycle usually adds one to three weeks, and the bank account and capital inflow add another one to three.
Does every Indian company need a resident director?
Yes. At least one director must be resident in India. Foreign founders commonly appoint a nominee director until a local hire is in place, and it is worth checking the current residency test with counsel before you appoint.
What is the difference between DIN and DSC?
A Digital Signature Certificate is the electronic signature a person uses to sign MCA forms, and you need it before filing. A Director Identification Number is the permanent identifier allotted to a director, and SPICe+ Part B allots it.
How long is a reserved company name valid in India?
Twenty days from approval for a new company. You can extend it to 40 days for 1,000 rupees, to 60 days for 2,000 rupees from the 40 day point, or straight to 60 days for 3,000 rupees, each paid before the current window expires.
Do you need an entity to hire employees in India?
No. An Employer of Record becomes the legal employer, so you can hire and pay people in India without incorporating. You do need an entity to hold assets or intellectual property locally, invoice Indian customers, or raise money in India.
