FEMA & International Trade.

Entry model — liaison / branch / project office, subsidiary, zone unit, direct sale

Liaison, branch, project office, subsidiary, FTWZ stock, GIFT City unit or direct import — each mapped for regulatory cost, tax footprint, permanent-establishment risk and time to first invoice.

FDI structuring and approvals

Sectoral caps and conditions under the Non-debt Instruments Rules, government-route applications where needed, downstream-investment rules and the pricing guidelines that govern the first share issue.

Overseas investment (ODI) by Indian companies

ODI under the 2022 Rules — the financial-commitment ceiling, the UIN, permitted structures and the annual reporting the investment carries for its life.

Non-resident banking (SNRR)

SNRR accounts and other rupee arrangements for non-residents with business in India, and the January 2025 changes that widened them (see our SNRR article in Insights).

FTA strategy at design stage

Which agreement your product qualifies under, the product-specific rule of origin, and how sourcing and processing should be arranged so the preferential rate is actually available — for exports and for imports.

Export realisation and EDPMS hygiene

Realisation within nine months, extensions and self write-off within the limits the Master Direction allows, and clearing EDPMS entries before they trigger caution-listing — which blocks the next shipping bill.

Import remittances and IDPMS

Six-month payment discipline, evidence-of-import submission, advance remittance rules and the closure of IDPMS entries against Bills of Entry.

FDI / ODI / ECB reporting — FC-GPR, FLA, APR

FC-GPR, FC-TRS, FLA, ODI APRs and ECB-2 filed on time — and Late Submission Fees or compounding avoided by calendaring rather than remembering.

FTA origin management — certificates of origin, CAROTAR records

Certificates of origin on DGFT's platform for exports; for imports, CAROTAR Form I knowledge, certificate validity, supplier declarations and the five-year record; handling an origin verification request without losing the preferential rate.

Transfer pricing meets customs value

Related-party pricing that satisfies both the income-tax transfer-pricing rules and Customs valuation and the SVB — because a year-end TP adjustment can become a customs demand.

Compounding with the RBI

Identifying the contravention precisely, regularising the underlying transaction first, and presenting the compounding application so it is compounded at the lower end of the framework rather than referred onward.

ED adjudication and appeals

Show-cause notices under s.16, the adjudication hearing, and appeals under ss.17 and 19 — with the record built to show the transaction's genuineness and the absence of the elements that aggravate penalty.

Late Submission Fee and regularisation

Where a filing was merely late, using the LSF route rather than compounding, and getting FC-GPR, FLA, APR and ECB reporting back on the rails without a proceeding.

Caution-list removal

Clearing or extending the EDPMS bills that caused the listing and taking the exporter off the RBI's caution list so shipping bills stop being refused.

CAROTAR and origin disputes

Where a preferential rate is denied, the Customs demand is defended on the origin evidence and the procedure the officer followed under s.28DA — on the Customs ladder.