From Switzerland
Switzerland is the twelfth-largest source of foreign direct investment into India, USD 11,316 million from April 2000 to March 2026, with banking, insurance, precision engineering and software among the fields the Ministry of External Affairs names. The bilateral investment treaty was terminated on 22 March 2017, and the India-EFTA Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement, in force from 1 October 2025, sets a USD 100 billion investment objective but gives an investor no protection of its own. This page sets out those agreements, the questions a Swiss business or an Indian living in Switzerland asks first, and the practical facts of working across the border.
At a glance
- Investment into India
- USD 11,316 million
- Twelfth-largest source of cumulative foreign direct investment into India, April 2000 to March 2026: USD 11,316 million, 1.44 per cent.
- Source 1
- Indians living there
- 17,411
- 17,411 non-resident Indians live there.
- Overseas Indians in all, non-resident Indians and persons of Indian origin together: 22,094.
- Source 2
- Investment treaty
- Terminated 22 March 2017
- India-Switzerland Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement. Signed 5 April 1997, in force from 16 February 2000; terminated on 22 March 2017.
- Source 3
- Double taxation agreement
- Listed
- India-Switzerland Agreement for the avoidance of double taxation on income, with supplementary protocols of 2000 and 2010. Listed by the Ministry of External Affairs; the brief gives no date of entry into force.
- Source 4
India and Switzerland: the legal framework
The investment treaty was terminated on 22 March 2017; the India-EFTA agreement in force from 1 October 2025 governs trade, and tax and social security each have their own agreement.
| Area | Agreement | Status | What the source records | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Investment protection | India-Switzerland Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement | Terminated 22 March 2017 | Signed 5 April 1997, in force from 16 February 2000; terminated on 22 March 2017. | 3 |
| Double taxation | India-Switzerland Agreement for the avoidance of double taxation on income, with supplementary protocols of 2000 and 2010 | Listed | Listed by the Ministry of External Affairs; the brief gives no date of entry into force. | 4 |
| Trade agreement | India-European Free Trade Association (EFTA) Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement Its page in Law | In force | Signed 10 March 2024; in force from 1 October 2025. | 5 |
| Social security | India-Switzerland Social Security Agreement | In force | In force from 29 January 2011; contributions are paid in the home country for a posting of up to 72 months. | 6 |
| Documents: the Apostille Convention | Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents, 1961 | Applies | The status table lists Switzerland among the contracting States. | 7 |
Where Switzerland invests in India
The Ministry of External Affairs brief on India and Switzerland names these fields of Swiss investment in India, April 2000 to June 2025. 9
- Banking and financial services
- Insurance
- Machine, electrical engineering and metals, and precision engineering
- Construction
- Information and communications technology
- Software and services
- 330 Swiss companies are present in India with a subsidiary, joint venture or liaison or representation office, and Maharashtra, Karnataka, Haryana, Delhi and Tamil Nadu account for about 90 per cent of Swiss investment in India. 9
Sector pages on this site
- Manufacturing
Named in the brief: Machine, electrical engineering and metals, and precision engineering
Legal work for manufacturers and the trade that moves their output: incentive schemes and industrial licensing, technology transfer and IP, supply chain and carrier contracts, export control and customs.
- Technology and services
Named in the brief: Information and communications technology; Software and services
Legal work for technology, platform and service businesses: data protection under the DPDP Act, intermediary liability, content and IP licensing, platform regulation, and the licensing and governance regimes that apply to media, education, hospitality and the creative economy.
- Infrastructure and projects
Named in the brief: Construction
Legal work on capital projects and the resources that feed them: land acquisition and compensation, environmental clearance, statutory licensing, EPC and concession disputes, power sector regulation and mining.
- Financial services
Named in the brief: Banking and financial services; Insurance
Legal work for lenders, listed companies, funds and financial technology businesses: SARFAESI and DRT enforcement, insolvency, SEBI proceedings, AIF and FEMA compliance, and the RBI licensing regimes that govern payments and digital lending.
Where the two countries are working together
The Ministry of External Affairs brief on India and Switzerland, June 2026, names among the fields of cooperation financial technology and sustainable finance, technical cooperation in the rail sector and an investment desk for the European Free Trade Association. 10
Questions from Switzerland
A business from Switzerland
Does a treaty protect a Swiss investment in India?
India’s bilateral investment treaty with Switzerland was terminated in 2017, and the India-EFTA agreement gives an investor no protection of its own.
What does the USD 100 billion in the India-EFTA agreement commit to?
Chapter 7 sets an objective that the EFTA States aim to raise foreign direct investment in India by USD 100 billion over fifteen years and to facilitate one million direct jobs, but it binds them only to promote that investment and bars dispute settlement under the agreement.
Can a company incorporated in Switzerland invest in an Indian company without approval?
The Foreign Exchange Management (Non-debt Instruments) Rules, 2019 set the routes and the conditions on which a person resident outside India may acquire equity instruments of an Indian company.
They allow it without prior approval where the sector is on the automatic route and the sectoral cap is not crossed, at a price not below fair value, with Form FC-GPR (Foreign Currency-Gross Provisional Return) filed with the Reserve Bank of India within thirty days of issue, as the note on a United States company sets out.
Can a company from Switzerland have a presence in India without a subsidiary?
A company incorporated outside India can seek a liaison, branch or project office, approved by an Authorised Dealer Category-I bank under the Reserve Bank of India’s Master Direction of 1 January 2016, as the note on a German company sets out.
A branch needs five years of profit and a net worth of USD 100,000, a liaison office three years and USD 50,000.
What do the Labour Codes require of a factory in India?
From 21 November 2025 a factory, mine or plantation that averaged 300 or more workers a day over the preceding twelve months needs the appropriate Government’s prior permission to lay off, retrench or close, and a retrenchment there needs three months’ notice.
Gratuity on fixed-term staff now accrues at one year instead of five.
Indians living in Switzerland
The Ministry of External Affairs brief on India and Switzerland, June 2026, records Indians in Switzerland working mostly in engineering, information technology, pharmaceuticals and paramedical and nursing fields. 10
When is an Indian citizen living in Switzerland resident in India for tax?
Under section 6 of the Income-tax Act, 2025, on 182 days or more in India in a tax year, or on 60 days plus 365 days in the four years before; a citizen visiting from abroad is outside the 60-day test unless income other than from foreign sources exceeds INR 15 lakh, when the test runs at 120 days.
A citizen with such income above INR 15 lakh who is liable to tax in no other country is deemed resident, but only as a person not ordinarily resident.
Selling a flat in India while living in Switzerland: the tax and the money
For a sale in the tax year that began on 1 April 2026, the buyer withholds tax under section 393(2) of the Income-tax Act, 2025, and a non-resident’s long-term gain on a flat is taxed at 12.5 per cent under section 197.
Remitting a Non-Resident (Ordinary) Rupee account balance is limited to USD 1 million a financial year without the Reserve Bank of India’s prior approval.
Can a family member living abroad inherit property in India?
Under section 6(5) of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 and rule 24(c) of the Non-debt Instruments Rules, a non-resident Indian or an overseas citizen of India may inherit any immovable property in India, agricultural land included.
An authorised dealer bank may remit inherited assets and their sale proceeds abroad up to USD 1 million a financial year; whether probate or a succession certificate is also needed turns on the asset.
Signing a power of attorney in Switzerland for property in India
Two routes lead to a document Indian authorities will take: signature before an Indian consular officer, or signature before a foreign notary followed by an apostille under the Hague Convention of 1961.
The status table of the Hague Conference lists Switzerland among the contracting States.
What may an Overseas Citizen of India cardholder do in India?
An OCI cardholder is a foreign national with a lifelong multiple-entry visa and parity with a non-resident Indian on buying and selling immovable property other than agricultural land, a farm house or plantation property.
Four heads of activity need special permission, and the registration can be cancelled under section 7D of the Citizenship Act, 1955.
Practice areas and counsel for this corridor
Practice areas
- Boardroom and corporate
Standing legal advisory to boards and promoters on governance, contract oversight, regulatory compliance and outsourced in-house legal support.
- Transaction advisory
Structuring, documentation and due diligence for acquisitions, joint ventures and restructuring transactions under Indian law.
- Contracts and procurement
Drafting, review and negotiation of commercial contracts and procurement documentation across the supply chain.
- Taxation and fiscal
Advisory and litigation on goods and services tax, direct tax and indirect tax disputes before departmental and appellate forums.
Advocates who write the notes on Switzerland
Advocates who write the notes for the region, Europe
Adv. Harsha Swaroop PPartner
- The India and United Kingdom trade agreement took effect on 15 July 2026, and no investment treaty came with it
- An NRI or OCI cardholder selling a flat in India and sending the money abroad: the rules from 1 April 2026
- An heir living abroad can inherit property in India, but money leaves the country only up to USD 1 million a year without Reserve Bank approval
Working across the border
The practice advises on Indian law. Where a matter turns on the law of another country it is referred to counsel qualified there, and the advice states which part rests on that referral.
Time difference
India Standard Time is five hours and thirty minutes ahead of UTC throughout the year.
- Zurich is four hours and thirty minutes behind Bengaluru, and three hours and thirty minutes behind while summer time is in force there.
- India does not observe daylight saving time, so the difference changes on the dates Switzerland changes its clocks.
Instructions are taken between 07:00 and 21:00 India Standard Time (IST), Monday to Friday, as the offices page states. In Zurich that is 02:30 to 16:30 at standard time, and an hour later on the local clock while summer or daylight saving time is in force.
Documents signed there
India is a party to the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents, 1961, so a public document from another contracting State that carries an apostille issued by the competent authority there is accepted in India without further legalisation. The status table of the Hague Conference lists Switzerland among the contracting States.
Offices
- Bengaluru
7th Floor, Raheja Towers, East Wing, 26/27 Mahatma Gandhi Road, Craig Park Layout, Ashok Nagar, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560001
+91 76765 68787
- Mumbai
Unit No. 4, 3rd Floor, Inspire BKC, Village Kolekalyan, Bandra Kurla Complex, Bandra East, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400051
- New Delhi
L29 to L34, First Floor, Connaught Place, New Delhi, Delhi 110001
Notes for readers there
Notes on Switzerland
From the region: Europe
- The India and United Kingdom trade agreement took effect on 15 July 2026, and no investment treaty came with it
- An NRI or OCI cardholder selling a flat in India and sending the money abroad: the rules from 1 April 2026
- An heir living abroad can inherit property in India, but money leaves the country only up to USD 1 million a year without Reserve Bank approval
- Dutch holding companies investing into India: the MFN clause, the Nestle judgment and dividend withholding
- A power of attorney signed abroad to sell a flat in Bengaluru: the route, the stamp clock and the limit
- A German company's presence in India: liaison, branch or project office under the Reserve Bank's Master Direction
- A Put Option Against a Resident: What Makes It Enforceable, and at What Price
Sources
- Official pageDepartment for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade: Quarterly Fact Sheet on Foreign Direct Investment inflow, April 2000 to March 2026dpiit.gov.in
- Official pageMinistry of External Affairs: Population of Overseas Indians, January 2026mea.gov.in
- Official pageDepartment of Economic Affairs, Bilateral Investment Treaties register, row 'Switzerland' (columns Date of Agreement / Enforcement / Termination)dea.gov.in
- Official pageMinistry of External Affairs, India-Switzerland bilateral brief, June 2026, list of agreements and para 8mea.gov.in
- Official pageMinistry of External Affairs, India-Switzerland bilateral brief, June 2026, para 8mea.gov.in
- Official pageEPFO, International Workers - Social Security Agreements, partner country list (page last updated 27 Oct 2026)epfo.gov.in
- ConventionHague Conference on Private International Law: status table of the Apostille Convention, 1961hcch.net
- Official pageMinistry of External Affairs: Attestation and Apostillemea.gov.in
- Official pageMinistry of External Affairs, India-Switzerland bilateral brief, June 2026, para 6mea.gov.in
- Official pageMinistry of External Affairs, India-Switzerland bilateral brief, June 2026mea.gov.in
Limits of this page
Nothing on this page is advice, and nothing on it is a statement that any provision applies to a particular set of facts. It is not an offer of engagement. Reading it creates no advocate-client relationship.
Each agreement is stated as its official source records it: a status only where the source states it, and an agreement no verified source records is left out rather than guessed. Each answer on this page restates a note, a law page or a practice page on this site, which carries the detail and its sources.