Monday, 3 December 2012

Liaison Office in India Can Pursue Four Activities

A Liaison Office (also known as Representative Office) can undertake only four types liaison activities as per Master Circular on Establishment of Liaison / Branch / Project Offices in India by Foreign Entities dt 01 July 2011. Recently, rules were inserted for tax compliance by  non residents having liaison office . It can act as a channel of communication between Head Office abroad and parties in India. It is not allowed to undertake any business activity in India and cannot earn any income in India. Expenses of such offices are to be met entirely through inward remittances of foreign exchange from the Head Office outside India.
The role of such offices is, therefore, limited to collecting information about possible market opportunities and providing information about the company and its products to the prospective Indian customers. Permission to set up such offices is initially granted for a period of 3 years and this may be extended from time to time by an AD Category I bank.

Following four kinds of  Activies allowed for a Liaison Office

  1. Representing in India the parent company / group compa­nies.
  2. Promoting export / import from / to India.
  3. Promoting technical/financial collaborations be­tween parent/group companies and companies in India.
  4. Acting as a communication channel between the parent company and Indian companies

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