You personally, your BV as parent, or the holding above it — we read both sides before money moves.
India entry · Netherlands
Start a Company in India from the Netherlands
Your company, 100% yours — no Indian partner, no trip to India, and no prior approval in most sectors.
We register your Indian company, run the FEMA reporting and stay on for the first year of filings. You stay in the Netherlands.
The short answer: you can own the whole company in most sectors, nobody needs to fly, and the filing itself takes 7–15 working days once your documents are apostilled.
- 100% ownership in most sectors, automatic route — no prior government approval.
- No India trip. Apostilled documents, digital signatures and an electronic MCA filing.
- 3–5 weeks door to door. The apostille and the bank's FEMA desk set the pace, not the filing.
- FC-GPR within 30 days of share allotment — remittance, allotment and report, in that order.
- One resident director is required. Founders, a local hire or a professional arrangement — we sort it with you.
How it starts: tell us your plan a real reply from our team a fixed written quote before you pay we file in India.
What you get
What you get when you register in India
Every package below starts from the same base. This is what lands in your hands when the incorporation completes.
And in the weeks after the certificate
- Bank account opened — we work with the bank's FEMA desk so the first remittance is clean.
- First board meeting held within 30 days, minutes written up.
- Share certificates issued within 60 days of incorporation.
- Auditor appointed and the statutory registers set up.
- FC-GPR filed within 30 days of allotment, on the bank's FIRC.
- A first-year calendar — every due date for year one, in writing.
How it works
Four steps, in the order they actually happen
The apostille sits at step two, before the filing exists. Start it in week one and it never becomes the delay.
Notarised documents are apostilled by the district court (rechtbank) of the district where the document was issued. One court, one certificate — the Netherlands has issued apostilles for decades.
Digital signatures, director numbers, name reservation and the filing. PAN and TAN arrive inside the same process. There is no separate DIN application — it happens inside this form.
Funds arrive with their FIRC trail, shares are allotted, and FC-GPR goes in within 30 days.
Not sure whether you or the BV should own it?That choice changes the document pack and how the participation exemption applies. Put it to us before you apostille anything.
Packages
Pick a package. We price it in writing.
Three scopes — the same ones on our main India page. Pick one and it follows you into the booking and the quote. You approve a fixed written quote before paying anything.
Essential
For founders who already understand the route and have their documents ready.
- Core incorporation scope
- Document checklist
- Filing status updates
Complete
For founders abroad who want the incorporation and the next compliance steps connected.
- Everything in Essential
- FDI/FEMA workstream mapping
- Post-incorporation calendar
- Cross-functional team coordination
Premium
For overseas groups that need broader setup and continuing governance support.
- Everything in Complete
- Priority professional review
- Ongoing compliance scope
- Cross-functional coordination
One coordinated teamYour work stays connectedOur multidisciplinary team supports the documents, filing, FEMA steps and first-year compliance together.
No hidden chargesA fixed written quote before paymentYour scope, assumptions, exclusions and outside costs are documented before you pay.
A real person repliesA real reply from our teamSend your plan and our team will reply to your request.
We stay after registrationFrom incorporation to ongoing complianceWe connect the applicable FEMA and RBI workstreams, so you do not have to chase multiple vendors.
What will it involve?
Shape your Dutch setup before you ask for the price
Four choices drive the work: the entity, the headcount on the board, who holds the shares, and when the money comes in. Set them and see the shape of your case.
See what your setup may involve
Start by choosing an entity
How many directors or partners?
2
Who will be the shareholders?
Will funds come into India as share capital?
Your likely setup profile
Standard cross-border setup
- Likely incorporation window3–5 weeks*
- What happens to foreign documentsApostille / notarisation
- Likely regulatory routeAutomatic route in most sectors
- Capital & FEMA workFC-GPR + FIRC mapping
- What you payFixed written quote first
*This starts once your documents are ready. The apostille stage and sector approvals can add time. Your final quote separates every cost before you decide.
Your documents
The Dutch document pack
Two lists. Your personal pack, and the corporate pack if a Dutch company holds the shares. Every foreign document is notarised, then apostilled at the rechtbank.
Which list is yours?
Switch between the two. We check name spellings across the pack before anything is apostilled — a mismatch means doing it twice.
Passport copy — photo page, clear scan
Dutch address proof — bank statement or utility bill
Passport-size photograph
Digital signature (DSC) application records
Each document notarised, then apostilled at the rechtbank
No BSN is needed at any point — India does not ask for it
Which court? The rechtbank of the district where the document was issued or notarised. KvK extracts and notarial deeds each carry their own issuing district — we map yours before you travel.
KvK (Chamber of Commerce) extract — current, showing the BV and its directors
Board resolution approving the Indian investment
Board resolution approving the Indian investment
Statuten (articles of association) of the BV
ID and address proof for the authorised signatory
The whole corporate set notarised and apostilled
BV parent? The pack is the same. What changes is the analysis around it — the investment is FDI reported through FC-GPR, and the Dutch participation exemption shapes how dividends and exit gains are treated at home.
The corridor, in short
Netherlands–India rules, in pointers
The detail sits in the FAQs and guides below. This is the shape of it.
RouteAutomatic in most sectors — no prior approval, no permission letter to wait for.
OwnershipUp to 100% foreign. A short list of sectors carries caps for every foreign investor.
After allotmentFC-GPR on the RBI's FIRMS portal within 30 days, built on the bank's FIRC and KYC report.
Tax treatyThe India–Netherlands DTAA dates from 1988, with a 2012 protocol on information exchange. Relief is claimed with a Tax Residency Certificate and Form 10F.
DirectorsTwo minimum. One must meet the 182-day resident test under s.149(3) — presence, not citizenship.
Your Dutch tax fileDutch groups often hold Indian companies directly because of the participation exemption (deelnemingsvrijstelling): dividends and capital gains from a qualifying participation — generally 5% or more — are exempt in the Netherlands. Your Indian structure should be set up with that exemption in mind from day one.
Three structures cover most Dutch cases.You personally. Your BV as parent. Or the holding above both. Tell us which one you are picturing.
Talk it throughTalk from anywhere
Book a call at a Netherlands-friendly time
Pick an afternoon or evening IST slot and it is the same working day in Amsterdam, Rotterdam or Eindhoven. Choose a day, a time and how we talk — the invite shows your local time.
Bring the ownership question. Leave with the answer.
Founder-owned or parent-owned, the apostille order, the likely timeline — thirty minutes covers the ground that decides your setup.
- Meet by Google Meet, Zoom, phone or WhatsApp
- Choose from the next 14 days, Sundays included
- See times in IST; your invite shows your local time
- No booking account and no obligation
What you will never get from us: no spam, no cold calls chasing you afterwards, no sales pressure on the call. Your details stay private, and the meeting is free either way.
Keep reading
Guides Dutch founders use
The subsidiary mechanics, the FC-GPR filing and the real cost picture — written out in full.
Company registration in India for foreignersThe individual-founder route in full — 100% ownership, no Indian partner, the resident director, and the FEMA calendar.Read →
FC-GPR filing in India: the foreign founder's guideWhat the form needs, what the bank issues first, and the 30-day clock.Read →
What company registration in India costs a foreignerEvery cost head, including the apostille and the first year.Read →
Setting up through a parent company instead?The wholly-owned subsidiary route — the fuller treatment for corporate shareholders.Read →
Other corridors
Entering India from a different country?
The route into India changes with the investor's country — the FDI route, the treaty position and the document chain are all different. Pick the corridor that matches where you are investing from.
United StatesFull ownership in most sectors, the Delaware-parent question, and FC-GPR once shares are allotted.
United KingdomCETA has been in force since July 2026. What it changes for a UK firm setting up — and what it leaves alone.
SingaporeHoldco-over-opco structuring, the ACRA-side paperwork, and the treaty position after 2017.
United Arab EmiratesFree-zone and mainland founders, CEPA, and the MOFA-plus-embassy document chain the UAE requires.
Hong KongDoes Press Note 3 catch a Hong Kong holding company? Yes — here is how the approval route works.
ChinaThe government approval route under Press Note 3: the application, the document pack, the realistic timeline.
AustraliaDFAT apostilles, the 1991 tax treaty, and what the ECTA trade deal does — and does not — change about incorporating.
CanadaCanada joined the apostille system in January 2024. The embassy-legalisation chain your older guides describe is gone.
GermanyHandelsregister extracts, Land-level apostilles, and the GmbH-shareholder document pack, in the right order.
NetherlandsKvK extracts, rechtbank apostilles, and the participation exemption that shapes how Dutch groups hold Indian companies. You are on this page.
All foreign foundersThe main India-entry page: entity choices, costs, the full process and answers for every other country.
Straight answers
FAQs: setting up in India from the Netherlands
Yes, in most sectors. India's FDI policy allows up to 100% foreign ownership under the automatic route — no prior government approval — in sectors like software, services, trading and most manufacturing. A short list of sectors carries caps or approval conditions for all foreign investors. We confirm your sector before you move money.
No. Incorporation runs on apostilled documents, digital signatures and electronic MCA filings, so a Dutch founder can complete the whole setup from home. A bank may ask for extra KYC steps when the account opens, and some founders visit later for operations — but the registration itself never needs a flight.
Section 149(3) of the Companies Act, 2013 requires every Indian company to have at least one director who stayed in India for 182 days or more in the financial year. A private limited company needs two directors minimum. Dutch founders usually pair themselves with an India-based co-director, an employee director, or a professional resident director arrangement.
Your passport and address proof are first notarised, then apostilled by the rechtbank — the district court for the district where the document was issued. The Netherlands is a long-standing Hague member, so this is a routine single step, not a chain. We send you the exact checklist for your documents before you book anything, so nothing is legalised twice.
Because of the participation exemption (deelnemingsvrijstelling). A Dutch parent holding a qualifying participation — generally at least 5% — in an Indian company is generally exempt in the Netherlands on dividends from it and on gains when the stake is sold. That makes the BV a natural direct shareholder. The Indian side is unchanged: the investment is FDI, the shares are allotted by the Indian company, and FC-GPR is filed within 30 days of allotment.
Form FC-GPR is the report an Indian company files on the RBI's FIRMS portal when it allots shares to a foreign investor. It is due within 30 days of the share allotment. The filing rests on the bank's FIRC and KYC report for the inward remittance, so the remittance, the allotment and the report have to be sequenced in that order.
The MCA filing itself usually takes 7 to 15 working days once documents are filing-ready. From the Netherlands, plan on three to five weeks end to end: apostille turnaround and the bank's FEMA desk are the two stages that stretch. Founders who start the apostille in week one rarely wait on it.
Explore ComplyKart
More from the main ComplyKart site
Setting up in India is one step. These are the services and guides founders use next — registration, tax, brand protection and the filings that follow, all handled by the same team.
Ready when you are
Ready to set up in India? Talk to us — it's free.
Share your business activity, who will own the company and where you are based. We will map the entity, the document route from the Netherlands, the filing sequence and the compliance that follows. You receive the scope and costs in writing before you pay.
A real person will reply to your request
Talk to ComplyKart in India
602, 6th Floor, Kirti Shikhar, District Centre, Janakpuri, New Delhi – 110058, India