Your activity against the FDI policy; founder-owned company or UK-parent subsidiary; the resident-director seat filled on paper before filings begin.
India entry · United Kingdom
Set Up a Business in India from the UK
A British citizen or UK company can own 100% of an Indian private limited company in most sectors under India's automatic FDI route — and since the India–UK trade agreement came into force on 15 July 2026, the trading relationship around that company looks different, even though the incorporation law underneath it has not moved. ComplyKart is the Delhi team that handles the Indian side for UK firms: the incorporation, the FCDO-apostilled documents, the resident director and the filings that follow.
The short answer: no Indian partner is required, no flight to India is required, and in most sectors no prior approval is required. What is required: two directors with one meeting India's residency rule, documents legalised through the FCDO, and FEMA reporting once your capital comes in.
Fully remote — London to Delhi without a flight
Fixed written quote before you pay anything
Calls at hours that suit the UK working day
CAs, CSs and advocates on one team
The CETA question
Does the India–UK trade deal change how a UK company sets up in India?
Not the setting up itself. The India–UK Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), in force since 15 July 2026, moves tariffs, services access and staff mobility between the two countries. It does not rewrite India's FDI routes, the Companies Act or FEMA reporting — a UK investor still incorporates, legalises documents and files FC-GPR exactly as before.
Plenty of commentary has blurred this. A UK firm reading the CETA headlines could reasonably assume a new, lighter incorporation route exists. It does not. What CETA genuinely does for a services firm is improve the commercial weather around the Indian company: tariff lines falling on goods, services commitments on both sides, and easier movement for the people you send. The company itself is still born under Indian law, at Indian pace, with Indian filings.
Your FDI route is the automatic one in most sectors, unchanged by the deal: incorporate first, remit capital through banking channels, report the allotment through FC-GPR within 30 days. The capped and approval-route sectors — defence beyond its cap, certain media, brownfield pharma — apply to British investors exactly as they apply to everyone. And the companion Double Contribution Convention, signed alongside CETA in February 2026, is the piece UK employers feel directly: it stops your staff on assignment in India paying social security twice, which we pick up in the tax section below.
Familiar, but not the same
Companies House habits that will mislead you in India
A UK founder's instincts are trained by a registry that incorporates a company in a day for a small fee, asks almost nothing about directors' residency, and confines annual life to a confirmation statement and accounts. India is a different animal. Not harder in every way — but the differences land exactly where a British founder is not expecting them.
| Point | United Kingdom | India |
|---|---|---|
| Directors | No residency requirement for directors | At least one director must have stayed in India 182+ days in the financial year (Companies Act, 2013, s.149(3)) |
| Incorporation | Companies House, often same-day | SPICe+ through the MCA: name approval, then incorporation with e-MoA and e-AoA — typically 7–15 working days once documents are ready |
| Tax identity | UTR issued separately by HMRC | PAN and TAN allotted inside the incorporation filing itself |
| Annual life | Confirmation statement and accounts | Financial statements (AOC-4) and an annual return (MGT-7) filed with the ROC, plus board meetings and statutory registers |
| Foreign capital | No equivalent reporting for a UK company receiving UK capital | Capital in is FDI: bank FIRC, share allotment, FC-GPR within 30 days, and an annual FLA return while foreign investment stays |
None of this should put a UK firm off. It should put it on notice that the Indian company needs a compliance owner from month one — which is precisely the part we run.
How it works
From London to a live Indian company
Four stages, most of the waiting concentrated in one of them. Founders who post documents to the FCDO in week one set the pace for everything after.
Passport, address proof and any parent-company documents are notarised in the UK, then legalised by the FCDO Legalisation Office. We issue the list in the right order.
Digital signatures for the directors, name reservation, then the incorporation filing with e-MoA, e-AoA and AGILE-PRO-S. PAN and TAN arrive with the certificate.
Funds remit to the Indian company's account, shares are allotted, and FC-GPR is filed within 30 days. Your first-year compliance calendar starts the same week.
Your documents
What documents does a British founder need?
The FCDO apostille is the step with a queue attached, so it starts first. Everything else on this list is probably already in a drawer.
Yours, and your UK company's if it is the investor. Personal — passport and a UK address proof, legalised with an FCDO apostille. Corporate — the certificate of incorporation, articles, a certificate of good standing from Companies House, and a board resolution. One warning: the documents Companies House gives you free are not always the documents India accepts.
For each UK director and shareholder
The UK is a Hague Convention country, so the chain is short: notarise, then one apostille from the FCDO Legalisation Office. No embassy visit, no consular queue.
✓Passport copy — notarised and apostilled
✓UK address proof — a recent bank statement, utility bill or council tax bill, notarised and apostilled
✓Passport-size photograph
✓Digital signature application records
✓If a UK company is the shareholder: Companies House incorporation certificate, articles, board resolution and director ID, apostilled
✓Details for the Indian side: proposed names, business objects, shareholding split
Timing note: the FCDO's standard service takes days; its premium service is faster but costs more. Either way, this is the stage that sets your overall timeline — start it before anything else.
Treaty, tax and people
What do the UK treaties do for a British firm in India?
Two instruments matter. The India–UK double taxation treaty allocates taxing rights over dividends, royalties, technical-service fees and business profits, with credit for tax paid in the other country. The Double Contribution Convention, signed in February 2026 alongside CETA, stops employees on assignment between the UK and India paying social security in both countries at once.
The tax treaty is claimed, not automatic: relief at source in India generally runs on a UK tax residency certificate and Form 10F, and the withholding position differs by payment type — dividends behave differently from royalties, which behave differently from fees for technical services. Map your flows before the first payment crosses and the treaty works quietly in your favour. Map them after, and you are reclaiming instead.
The social-security piece is newer and, for firms sending people, worth more in practice. A UK employee seconded to your Indian company used to face Indian PF questions on one side and UK National Insurance on the other. The Double Contribution Convention is designed to end that double payment for detached workers. If your India plan involves staff moving in either direction, tell us early — the certificates that prove detached-worker status are far easier to arrange before the assignment starts than after.
Keep reading
Guides UK founders use
From the same team that will handle your filing.
FDI routes in India: automatic vs approval, explainedWhich sectors take which route, and how to check yours before committing capital.Read →
Apostille for company registration documents in IndiaHow the apostille chain works, country by country, and where founders lose time on it.Read →
Compliance after incorporation for a foreign-owned companyThe first twelve months of an Indian company's life, filing by filing.Read →
Going the other way? UK company formation for IndiansOur outbound page for Indian founders forming a company in the UK.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. You are on this page.
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.
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 UK
Yes, in most sectors. India's FDI policy allows up to 100% foreign ownership under the automatic route, with no prior approval, across software, services, trading and most manufacturing. A short list of sectors is capped or approval-based for every foreign investor. The position is the same after CETA — the trade deal did not change FDI law.
No. CETA, in force since 15 July 2026, improves tariffs, services access and staff mobility between the UK and India. Incorporation still runs through the MCA's SPICe+ process, documents still need an FCDO apostille, and FDI is still reported through FC-GPR. Expect the same 7 to 15 working days for the filing once documents are ready.
Have the document notarised by a UK notary public, then send it to the FCDO Legalisation Office for the apostille. The UK is a Hague Convention country, so that single apostille is the whole chain — no Indian embassy legalisation on top. Parent-company documents follow the same route. We give you the document-by-document list first.
You need a resident director, which is not quite the same thing. Section 149(3) of the Companies Act, 2013 requires one director who stayed in India for at least 182 days in the financial year; nationality is not the test, presence is. UK founders usually appoint an India-based co-director, a senior employee, or take a professional resident-director arrangement.
Three differences bite first. India checks and reserves the name before incorporation rather than largely after. Directors must obtain digital signatures and DINs before filing, which has no UK equivalent. And the annual load is heavier: financial statements and an annual return filed with the ROC every year, where a UK company files a confirmation statement and accounts. Plan for a compliance owner from month one.
It is the social-security agreement signed with CETA in February 2026. Its job is to stop an employee on assignment between the UK and India paying into both countries' social-security systems at once, by keeping the worker in their home system for a defined assignment period. Certificates are arranged per employee, ideally before the assignment begins.
Three to five weeks is a fair planning figure. The FCDO apostille takes the first slice of that; the MCA filing then runs 7 to 15 working days once the pack is complete. UK cases rarely stall on the Indian side — they stall when the apostille starts late, which is why we send the document list on day one.
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 United Kingdom, the filing sequence and the compliance that follows. You receive the scope and costs in writing before you pay.
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Talk to ComplyKart in India
602, 6th Floor, Kirti Shikhar, District Centre, Janakpuri, New Delhi – 110058, India