FEMA / RBI Ongoing Compliance Retainer

Keep your foreign-invested company compliant, year after year

A company with foreign investment carries ongoing obligations to the Reserve Bank of India under FEMA — and unlike a one-off filing, these recur every year and on every relevant transaction. They are easy to overlook, especially for a foreign parent running the Indian entity from abroad, and they are precisely the obligations that surface as problems in an audit or in due diligence for the next funding round. Our FEMA compliance retainer takes the whole calendar off your plate for a flat USD 200 per month, so your India entity simply stays in good standing.

What the retainer covers

The core of FEMA compliance for a foreign-invested company is a set of recurring reports, each with its own deadline:

The annual FLA return

Every company that has received foreign investment must file the Foreign Liabilities and Assets return each year by 15 July, reporting its foreign holdings and investments. It is an annual fixture, and a missed FLA is a common and entirely avoidable breach. We prepare and file it from your audited accounts every year.

FC-GPR and FC-TRS as they arise

Whenever you issue new shares to a non-resident, an FC-GPR is due within 30 days; whenever shares transfer to or from a non-resident, an FC-TRS is due. As your cap table evolves — new investment, a secondary sale, a founder exit — these filings follow, and we handle each within its window.

Other reporting where it applies

Depending on your structure, there may be further reporting — for external commercial borrowings, for overseas investment by the Indian entity, or the annual activity certificate for a branch, liaison or project office. We track whichever of these apply to you.

Why a retainer rather than ad-hoc filing

FEMA compliance fails not because any single filing is hard, but because the deadlines are spread across the year and easy to lose track of — particularly when the people running the company are in another time zone. A retainer solves that structurally: we hold the calendar, we prompt you for the inputs we need, and we file on time, every time. You stop worrying about whether something is due, and your record stays clean for the moments when it matters most — an audit, a loan, or diligence for an acquisition or a funding round.

The cost of getting it wrong

FEMA breaches are regularised through compounding, with penalties that scale with the delay and the sums involved. A single missed FLA or a late FC-GPR can cost far more than a year of compliance support. The retainer is, in effect, inexpensive insurance against a penalty that is both larger and entirely avoidable.

Built for foreign-run Indian entities

This service is designed for exactly the situation a foreign parent finds itself in: an Indian subsidiary or office that must stay FEMA-compliant while being managed from abroad. You deal with a named Indian advocate and her team, who understand both the regulator's requirements and the practical reality of running an entity across borders — at a flat monthly fee, with no upselling.

How the retainer works in practice

There is nothing for you to remember. We hold a compliance calendar for your entity, mapped to your specific structure and the reporting it triggers. Ahead of each deadline, we tell you what we need — usually a short list of figures or documents — collect it, prepare the filing, and submit it on time. You receive confirmation when each filing is done, and a clear view of what is coming next. Across time zones, you deal with the same named advocate and her team, in English, so there is never a question of who is responsible for your compliance.

Compliance that protects your next round

For a foreign-invested company, clean FEMA compliance is not just about avoiding penalties — it is about being ready for the moments that matter. When you raise your next round, take on a new investor, apply for local debt, or are acquired, the first thing diligence looks at is whether your foreign-investment reporting is in order. A gap discovered then is expensive and can hold up a deal. A company that has kept its FLA returns and FC-GPR filings current sails through that scrutiny. The retainer is, in effect, keeping your house in order for the day someone important looks inside it.

The cost of a missed filing

It is worth being concrete about why this matters. FEMA breaches are not waved through — they are regularised through a compounding process, with a penalty that scales with both the delay and the amount involved. A single late FLA return or a missed FC-GPR can cost considerably more than a full year of compliance support, before counting the time and stress of sorting it out retrospectively. Seen that way, the retainer is simply the cheaper and calmer option: a small, predictable monthly cost in place of an unpredictable penalty and a scramble.

What a year on the retainer looks like

In practice, the retainer turns FEMA from a recurring worry into something you barely think about. Across the year, the FLA return is filed by its July deadline; any new share issue or transfer is reported within its window as it happens; and any other reporting your structure triggers is handled on time. You are prompted only for the few inputs we genuinely need, you receive confirmation as each filing goes in, and you always have a clear view of what is coming next. At the end of the year your entity has an unbroken, clean FEMA record — which is exactly the state you want it in when an auditor, a lender, or an acquirer comes to look.

Who it's for

The retainer suits any Indian entity with foreign investment that wants the reporting handled rather than worried about — a foreign subsidiary, an FDI-LLP, or a branch, liaison or project office with its own annual obligations. Whether you are a founder who would rather build than file, or a parent company that wants its Indian entity to simply stay compliant in the background, this is the service that makes that happen, at a flat monthly fee with no upselling.

Starting mid-stream is fine

You do not need to begin the retainer at incorporation. Many entities come to us after a year or two of running their own compliance and finding it stressful, or after a missed deadline made the risk real. When you switch to us, we review where your filings stand, flag and regularise anything outstanding, and then keep every future deadline on track. There is no long onboarding — just a short review to establish your position, and then a clean record from that point forward, managed by a named advocate and her team.