Setting up a Singapore company from India: a step-by-step guide for Indian founders

Singapore is a natural base for Indian founders selling into Asia-Pacific or raising money from regional investors. Incorporation itself is quick, but founders who live in India have to solve two things first: who will be the locally resident director, and how the Indian ODI rules apply to their investment.

Step 1: solve the resident director question

A Singapore company must have at least one director who is ordinarily resident in Singapore — a citizen, a permanent resident or someone who meets ACRA's local residency rules (Employment Pass, Personalised Employment Pass and ONE Pass holders qualify, subject to MOM's conditions). Founders who are not relocating commonly appoint a resident director through a corporate service provider. ACRA's guidance is that there is no such thing as an 'inactive' or 'sleeping' director: every director, including a nominee resident director, carries the full duties under the Companies Act. A company secretary must also be appointed within six months of incorporation; the secretary must be locally resident and cannot be the sole director.

Step 2: register with ACRA

• Foreigners register through a Singapore corporate service provider using ACRA's Bizfile system.
• A reserved company name is held for 120 days; ACRA's fees are S$15 for the name application and S$300 for registration (as at October 2026).
• Many registrations are approved soon after payment; cases referred to another authority can take from 14 days to two months.
• The registered office must be a Singapore address open to the public for at least three hours each business day. The minimum share capital is S$1.
• The register of registrable controllers must be kept from incorporation, and nominee directors and shareholders must be disclosed to ACRA.

Step 3: understand the tax position

Singapore's corporate tax rate is 17%. A qualifying new company can claim the start-up tax exemption for its first three years of assessment — 75% of the first S$100,000 and 50% of the next S$100,000 of chargeable income — provided it is tax resident in Singapore and meets the shareholding conditions (no more than 20 shareholders, all individuals or at least one individual holding 10% or more); investment-holding companies and property developers do not qualify. Other companies get the partial exemption: 75% of the first S$10,000 and 50% of the next S$190,000 of chargeable income. For YA 2026 there is also an enhanced corporate income tax rebate of 50% of tax payable (with a combined cap of S$40,000 including any cash grant).

Tax residence depends on where the company is controlled and managed — usually where the board meets. A Singapore company whose decisions are taken in India can lose the start-up exemption in Singapore and be treated as resident in India under the place of effective management test, so board practice matters from day one. GST registration is compulsory if taxable turnover exceeded S$1 million in a calendar year or is expected to exceed S$1 million in the next 12 months; the rate is 9%.

Step 4: plan the annual compliance

• File Estimated Chargeable Income within three months of the year-end, unless revenue is S$5 million or less and the ECI is nil.
• File the corporate tax return (Form C-S, C-S (Lite) or C) by 30 November.
• File the annual return with ACRA within seven months of the financial year-end, and an AGM within six months unless the company is exempt or dispenses with it.
• Have the accounts audited unless it is a private company meeting two of: revenue up to S$10 million, assets up to S$10 million, 50 or fewer employees, for the two immediately preceding financial years (if it is part of a group, the group must also qualify). ACRA announced a review of the audit-exemption framework on 26 February 2026, including consultation on raising the revenue and asset thresholds; we had not seen a change announced as at 17 October 2026.

Step 5: if you plan to relocate

Founders moving to Singapore typically use an Employment Pass. The minimum qualifying salary is currently S$5,600 a month (higher with age, and S$6,200 in financial services), rising to S$6,000 for new applications from 1 January 2027 (S$6,600 in financial services; renewals of passes expiring from 1 January 2028); applicants are also assessed under the COMPASS points framework. The EntrePass is for entrepreneurs, innovators and experienced investors who hold at least 30% of a Singapore private limited company that is venture-backed or owns innovative technologies, and who meet one of MOM's qualifying criteria.

Step 6: the Indian side — before any money leaves India

• A resident individual can invest only within the Liberalised Remittance Scheme limit of USD 250,000 per financial year, and only in an operating company that is not engaged in financial services and, if you have control of it, does not itself have a subsidiary or step-down subsidiary.
• Form FC is filed through your authorised dealer bank to obtain a Unique Identification Number before the first remittance.
• LRS remittances for investment attract TCS of 20% on the amount by which your total LRS remittances in a financial year exceed ₹10 lakh, which can be credited against your income tax.
• An Annual Performance Report is due by 31 December each year (if the Singapore company's year ends on 31 December, by 31 December of the following year). Where you control the Singapore company, the APR must be based on its audited financial statements — so plan for an audit even if the company is audit-exempt in Singapore.

See our Singapore page and our ODI & FEMA compliance page, or talk to our team.

Frequently asked questions

Sources: ACRA guidance on registering a local company via Bizfile, name reservation, officers and local residency, registered office, share capital, registers of registrable controllers, AGMs, annual returns, financial statements and audit exemption, and the 26 February 2026 announcement of the review of the audit-exemption framework; IRAS guidance on corporate income tax rates, rebates and exemption schemes, tax residency, ECI, Form C-S and GST registration; MOM — Employment Pass and EntrePass eligibility; Foreign Exchange Management (Overseas Investment) Rules, 2022, Foreign Exchange Management (Overseas Investment) Regulations, 2022 (FEMA 400/2022-RB), regulation 10(4); RBI Master Direction – Foreign Exchange Management (Overseas Investment) Directions, 2022; Income-tax Act, 2025 (section 394), as amended by the Finance Act, 2026; India–Singapore DTAA (1994) and protocols.