Register a Company in India from France (2026)

French founders and CFOs looking to register a company in India from France usually arrive with a specific question in mind, not a general one: can this be done without a flight to Delhi, without a stack of unclear paperwork, and without discovering three months in that the bank account is stuck because a document was notarised instead of apostilled. It can be done remotely, but the France to India corridor has its own friction points, and this guide is built around those, not around a generic global explainer.

Before the detail, here is the registration path in outline form.

1. Decide the structure, almost always a wholly owned subsidiary incorporated as a private limited company
2. Reserve the company name with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs
3. Prepare and legalise the French parent's documents through the apostille chain
4. Obtain a Director Identification Number for each French director
5. File the SPICe Plus incorporation form with the registered office and subscriber details
6. Open the Indian bank account and remit share capital, followed by the FC GPR filing

Each of these steps has a France specific wrinkle, covered below.

Why France companies are building in India now

India's consumption base, its engineering talent pool and its position as a manufacturing alternative to China have made it a logical next market for French companies well beyond the traditional aerospace and luxury names. The move is no longer only for groups with an India strategy already in the boardroom deck; mid sized French manufacturers, software vendors and services firms are increasingly setting up an Indian entity as their first real Asian footprint.

The corridor in numbers

France is a long standing source of foreign direct investment into India, with aerospace, defence, energy and luxury goods historically the largest contributors. Under current rules, French investment into most Indian sectors flows through the automatic route, meaning no prior approval from the Reserve Bank of India or a government ministry is generally required before the investment is made. Exact sector level caps and any conditions attached to them should always be verified at the time of investment, since these are revised periodically.

What usually triggers the move

In practice, three triggers show up repeatedly. A French manufacturer wins an Indian customer large enough to need local delivery and after sales support. A software or industrial company needs an India based engineering or support centre to manage cost and time zone coverage. Or a French group already selling into India through distributors decides that margin leakage and lack of control justify setting up their own entity instead.

Choosing the structure from France

The structure decision shapes everything downstream, from liability exposure to how easily profits can later be repatriated to the French parent.

Wholly owned subsidiary as the default

For most French companies, a wholly owned subsidiary structured as an Indian private limited company is the sensible default. It gives the French parent full ownership and control, ring fences liability within the Indian entity, and is the structure Indian customers, banks and tax authorities are most familiar with. It also sits cleanly within the treaty framework between the two countries, which matters when dividends or fees eventually flow back to France.

Branch and liaison office compared

A branch office or liaison office is occasionally considered, usually by French companies testing the market before committing to a full subsidiary. A liaison office cannot generally invoice Indian customers or earn income locally; it exists to represent the parent and gather market information. A branch office can undertake limited commercial activity but is subject to approval requirements and closer scrutiny under current foreign exchange rules, and its tax treatment in India tends to be less favourable than a locally incorporated subsidiary's. For any French company planning to actually sell, manufacture or deliver services in India, the subsidiary route is almost always the better long term choice.

Personal shareholding versus corporate parent

A French founder can choose to hold Indian shares personally or have the French SAS or SARL hold them directly as the corporate parent. Holding through the French corporate entity is the more common and generally cleaner route for tax and treaty purposes, since it keeps the ownership chain aligned with how French tax residency and the India France double taxation treaty are usually applied. Personal shareholding is sometimes used for smaller or founder led setups, but it complicates future fundraising and exit planning.

The registration process from France, step by step

SPICe plus with a foreign parent

Indian company incorporation runs through a single integrated web form called SPICe Plus, filed with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. When the parent is a French SAS or SARL, the form requires the parent's corporate details, its authorised signatories, and evidence of the board resolution approving the Indian investment. The process itself is identical in mechanics to a domestic incorporation; the extra work sits entirely in preparing the French side of the documentation correctly the first time.

Documents and legalisation

The Indian registrar will generally expect the French parent's certificate of incorporation, its Kbis extract, its memorandum or statuts, and a board resolution, all legalised through the apostille process and, where the original is in French, accompanied by a certified English translation. Getting the apostille sequence wrong, for example notarising a document in France without routing it through the correct apostille authority, is one of the most common reasons French incorporations stall for weeks.

DIN for foreign directors

Every director on the Indian company's board, including French nationals resident in France, generally needs a Director Identification Number before the incorporation filing goes through. This requires identity and address proof from France, again legalised or apostilled as required, along with a photograph and a digital signature certificate. None of this requires travel to India; it can be completed entirely from France with the right document preparation.

Resident director and registered office

Under current company law, an Indian company generally needs at least one director who has been resident in India for a specified minimum period in the preceding financial year. Most French subsidiaries satisfy this by appointing a local hire, a trusted India based professional, or using a nominee resident director arrangement while the French leadership retains board control. A registered office address in India is also required from day one, even before any physical premises are needed for operations.

France specifics that change the playbook

SAS or SARL as parent, documentation the MCA accepts

Whether the French parent is structured as an SAS or a SARL rarely changes the Indian filing itself, but it does change which French documents exist to evidence the parent's authority. An SAS typically evidences board approval through a president's decision or a board resolution depending on its statutes, while a SARL usually relies on a gérant's decision or a shareholders' resolution. Whichever applies, the Indian registrar will want the document that under French corporate law actually reflects the authorised decision maker's approval of the Indian investment, translated and apostilled consistently with the other filing documents.

Apostille in France and sworn translations

France is a party to the Hague Apostille Convention, so documents issued in France are apostilled rather than legalised through an embassy, which is faster than the consular legalisation route some other countries still require. The apostille is typically obtained from the relevant French court of appeal or, for certain documents, through a notary. Where the underlying document is in French, Indian authorities will generally expect a certified or sworn English translation alongside the apostilled original, not as a substitute for it.

The India France DTAA essentials

The double taxation avoidance agreement between India and France is the reference point for how dividends, interest, royalties and fees for technical services flow between the Indian subsidiary and its French parent without being taxed twice. Under current treaty provisions, withholding rates on these payment categories are generally lower than the domestic rates that would otherwise apply, though the exact applicable rate depends on the nature of the payment and should be verified at the time of remittance rather than assumed. Any payment from India to the French parent, whether a dividend, a royalty or a management fee, is generally subject to withholding tax obligations under the Income Tax Act 2025 (the provision now sitting where section 195 of the earlier 1961 Act used to), with the remittance itself typically requiring a chartered accountant's certificate, now issued as Form 146, supported by an undertaking in Form 145, before the bank will process the transfer. Where tax is withheld, the Indian subsidiary generally needs to file the relevant quarterly return, now Form 144, and issue the corresponding certificate, now Form 131, to the French recipient. A transfer pricing review is also generally advisable wherever the Indian subsidiary transacts with its French parent on anything other than an arm's length basis, since these related party transactions attract close scrutiny under current rules.

Money in, money out

Capital remittance and FC GPR

Once the Indian company is incorporated, the French parent remits share capital into the Indian entity's bank account, and the Indian company generally needs to report this inbound investment to the Reserve Bank of India within a specified window through a filing called FC GPR. This is a foreign exchange compliance step, separate from the company law incorporation itself, and missing the filing window can attract penalties even though the underlying investment was entirely legitimate. Getting the FEMA compliance sequence right from the first remittance avoids having to regularise a late filing later.

Aerospace, luxury and energy, the French corridors that build in India

The sectors that have historically driven French investment into India, aerospace and defence components, luxury goods and retail, energy and industrial engineering, each carry their own additional layer of sector specific approval or licensing in some cases, on top of the standard company registration process. A French aerospace supplier setting up an Indian manufacturing arm, for instance, may need to factor in defence sector conditions alongside the routine incorporation steps, and this should be checked against current sector policy before the structure is finalised.

The compliance calendar after day one

FC GPR, FLA and the FEMA rhythm

Beyond the initial FC GPR filing, an Indian subsidiary with foreign shareholding generally needs to file an annual return called the FLA, or Foreign Liabilities and Assets return, directly with the Reserve Bank of India, reporting the outstanding foreign investment position each year. This sits alongside, not instead of, the company's other annual filings, and is frequently missed by first time foreign promoters because it is filed separately from the standard company law returns.

ROC, GST and payroll basics

An Indian subsidiary of a French parent carries the same core annual compliance load as any other Indian private limited company: annual filings with the Registrar of Companies, a statutory audit regardless of turnover size, and income tax return filing. If the company sells goods or services above the applicable threshold, or sells across state lines, it will also generally need GST registration and monthly or quarterly GST returns. Once the company hires locally, payroll compliance, including provident fund and employee state insurance where applicable, adds a further recurring layer.

What a monthly retainer should cover

A sensible monthly compliance retainer for a French owned Indian subsidiary should cover bookkeeping, GST filing, payroll processing, TDS deposits and returns, and periodic MIS reporting back to the French finance team, alongside the annual ROC and FEMA filings. A well structured compliance management arrangement is generally cheaper and far less risky over a full year than paying for each filing reactively as deadlines approach.

Costs and timeline from France

A realistic all in budget

Professional fees for incorporating and running an Indian subsidiary vary by advisor and by how much document preparation the French side requires, but the ranges below reflect what a French promoter should generally expect to budget, exclusive of government fees and stamp duty which vary by the state of the registered office.

Exact figures should always be confirmed against current professional fee schedules and government notifications at the time of engagement; see pricing for a current fixed fee structure.

Week by week timeline

A realistic timeline for a French promoter, assuming documents are apostilled promptly, runs roughly as follows. Name reservation and DIN applications typically take the first one to two weeks, running partly in parallel with the apostille and translation process in France, which itself often takes one to two weeks depending on the French court of appeal's turnaround. SPICe Plus filing and incorporation approval generally follow within a further one to two weeks once documents are complete. Bank account opening and the initial capital remittance, followed by the FC GPR filing, typically add another one to two weeks. All in, four to six weeks from a standing start to a functioning, funded Indian subsidiary is a realistic expectation, not the two week figure sometimes advertised, which usually assumes documents are already apostilled and translated before the process begins.

For founders comparing this against other entry routes into India, our broader guide to expanding to India and our overview of setting up a foreign subsidiary cover the non France specific parts of the process in more depth.