The structure you choose to enter India determines your tax position, your repatriation options and how much regulatory reporting you carry for the life of the business. It is difficult and expensive to change later. The decision should be worked through before anything is incorporated.
A wholly owned subsidiary is the default for most operating businesses. It can contract, hire, invoice and hold assets in its own name. It is taxed as an Indian company, can access tax treaties through the parent, and is the cleanest vehicle if you expect to grow, raise capital locally or exit. The cost is a full Companies Act and FEMA reporting calendar — incorporation, FC-GPR on allotment, annual FLA, transfer pricing if the parent charges the subsidiary, and ongoing ROC filings.
A limited liability partnership can work where the activity is professional services and the group wants a lighter secretarial load. It is not the right answer where investors will later want a company-shaped cap table, or where sectoral FDI conditions assume a company.
A branch office and a project office can contract and invoice in limited circumstances approved by the RBI. They create a permanent establishment risk that needs to be modelled, not assumed away. A liaison office cannot generate revenue. It is a representative presence only — useful for market study, not for trading.
What we put in a structuring note is the comparison that a board or a group tax function can actually use: FDI route and sectoral cap, corporate tax and withholding on each repatriation path, PE risk, capital structure (equity, CCPS, CCDs, ECB), and a dated implementation roadmap. Most sectors still permit 100 percent FDI under the automatic route. Several do not. That check happens first.
Incorporation itself is typically a few weeks once documents are ready. Bank account opening, GST and the first FEMA filings extend the practical timeline. If you are a foreign group setting up from Bengaluru, the work is the same whether the parent sits in Tokyo, Singapore or Frankfurt — the filing calendar does not change with the time zone.