Onesto Legal · New Delhi
India actively wants foreign manufacturing, and it pays for it. The money is real, the process is slow, and almost nobody claims what they are entitled to.
We identify the incentives your project qualifies for, prepare and file the applications, and follow the file through the departments until it produces a sanction rather than a receipt.
This is procedural work, not influence. What makes the difference is knowing which scheme applies, which authority actually decides, what the file must contain before it will move, and when a matter needs escalating rather than waiting.
We do not make payments or offer inducements of any kind, and we decline instructions that expect it.
The problem
Every industrial state in India publishes a policy offering capital subsidy, tax reimbursement and cheap land. Very few foreign investors end up receiving what those documents promise.
Most incentives are conditional and sequential. Eligibility is usually fixed at the point of registration or the date of first investment, which means an application filed after the plant is built can be worth nothing even though the project qualifies on paper.
Many schemes also require milestones to be met and evidenced: employment created, investment deployed within a window, production commenced by a date. A claim without the evidence trail is refused, and rebuilding that trail afterwards is close to impossible.
The second failure is choosing the state late. Incentive packages differ substantially between states and are negotiable at the margin for a project of size, but only before you have publicly committed to a location.
Once land is bought and a press release has gone out, your negotiating position is gone. The time to have this conversation is during feasibility, alongside the site selection, not after it.
What is typically available
Indicative categories rather than entitlements. What is actually offered depends on the state, the sector, the size of the investment, the employment created and, for larger projects, on negotiation.
| Category | Usual form | Typically conditional on | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capital investment subsidyA percentage of eligible fixed capital investment, often capped and paid in instalments. | Investment made within a defined window after registration. | Eligibility usually dates from registration, so filing late can forfeit the whole claim. | |
| State tax reimbursementReimbursement of a share of state goods and services tax on sales, over a defined period. | Production commencing by a date, and continued operation. | Claimed periodically with evidence. Missed claim windows do not reopen. | |
| Stamp duty and registrationFull or partial exemption on land purchase and lease instruments. | Land acquired for the eligible project. | Claimed at the point of registration. Retrospective refunds are rare. | |
| Land at concessional ratesAllotment in an industrial area or park below market rate, on lease or freehold. | Allotment by the state industrial development corporation. | Comes with development and utilisation conditions, and a clawback if you do not build. | |
| Power and infrastructureElectricity duty exemption, tariff subsidy, or support for connectivity to the site. | Category of industry and location. | Frequently the most valuable item over a decade, and the least discussed at signature. | |
| Employment linked supportReimbursement of employer provident fund contributions, or a payment per job created. | Employment created and sustained, often with local hiring conditions. | Requires payroll evidence maintained from day one, not assembled at claim time. | |
| Central production linked schemesIncentive on incremental production or sales in notified sectors. | Selection under the scheme, plus investment and output thresholds. | Application windows open and close. Missing one means waiting for the next. | |
| Export and trade supportDuty remission and export promotion schemes administered centrally. | Export performance and scheme registration. | Scheme design changes frequently, so the position at the time of planning may not hold. |
State industrial policies are revised on a cycle of a few years, and central schemes are notified and amended continuously. Nothing here is an entitlement, and we confirm the live position for your sector, state and project size before you rely on any of it.
What we do
Legitimate representation before public authorities: the correct file, to the correct office, followed until it produces a decision.
A comparison of what your project would receive in each of the states realistically in contention, with the conditions, the claim mechanics and the honest value over the first five to ten years rather than the headline percentage.
Run alongside site selection, so the incentive package forms part of the location decision rather than being discovered after it. This is where the negotiating leverage is.
Preparation and filing of eligibility registrations, incentive applications and periodic claims, with the supporting evidence assembled in the form the department requires.
Applications to state industrial development corporations, review of the allotment terms and the conditions attached, and the transfer and utilisation obligations that come with concessional land.
Single window and departmental approvals, environmental and factory clearances, and the sequencing between them so that nothing waits on something that has not been applied for.
Written representations, replies to queries and show cause notices, hearings before departments and authorities, and escalation through the proper channel when a file stops moving.
Eligibility review, tender documentation, local content and make in India conditions, bid support, and challenges to a process where there are proper grounds.
Notification of changes to the schemes you rely on, and to the sector policy that affects your project, before they become a problem at claim time.
How it runs
The work is front loaded. Almost everything that decides whether a claim succeeds happens before the first brick is laid.
Your project measured against the live central and state schemes: sector, investment size, employment, location and timing. An honest number, including where the answer is that little is available.
Two or three states compared on the full package rather than the headline, delivered while the location decision is still genuinely open.
Eligibility registration filed before investment begins, because for most schemes the clock and the entitlement start there.
The record keeping the claims will require set up at the start: investment documentation, employment records, production data and the formats each department expects.
Periodic claims filed on time, queries answered, and the file pursued through the department until sanction and disbursement.
Common questions
General guidance rather than advice on a particular matter. Requirements and timelines change, and sector rules vary.
In most cases yes. State industrial incentives are generally available to a company incorporated in India and making an eligible investment there, and the shareholding being foreign does not by itself exclude you.
Some central schemes carry additional eligibility conditions, and a small number of sectors carry restrictions tied to the source of investment, which we check at the outset.
A central scheme under which selected companies in notified sectors receive an incentive calculated on incremental production or sales in India, subject to meeting investment and output thresholds.
They operate through application windows and a selection process rather than being available on demand, so the practical question is usually whether a window is open for your sector and whether you can meet the thresholds.
On the operating fundamentals first: power reliability, labour availability and skills, logistics, proximity to your supply base and customers, and the practical competence of the local administration.
The incentive package is a genuine factor but rarely the deciding one, because a subsidy does not compensate for a site that costs you production. We put both sets of factors in the same comparison.
It varies widely by state and by whether the parcel is in a developed industrial area or has to be assembled. In a developed park, months. Where land has to be converted or aggregated, considerably longer.
Allotment also carries conditions, typically requiring construction to begin and production to commence within defined periods, with a clawback if they are not met.
No, and anyone who does should be treated with suspicion. What we can do is ensure the application is complete and correctly grounded, filed with the right authority at the right time, and properly pursued.
We will also tell you before you spend money when we think the prospects are poor, which is more useful than an optimistic view.
Preparing and filing applications, making written and oral representations, attending hearings, responding to notices, and escalating through the proper channel when a matter is stalled without reason.
It does not mean payments, inducements or informal arrangements of any kind. We do not do that work and we decline instructions that expect it.
Usually. The first step is finding out where the file actually is and what it is waiting for, which is frequently a deficiency nobody has communicated. Beyond that there are representations, escalation to a higher authority, and in appropriate cases a writ petition to the High Court where a decision is being withheld without lawful basis.
That last route is a real remedy in India and is used more often than European clients expect.
Onesto Legal
Onesto Legal is the in-house legal practice of Onesto Management Consultancy, operating from our New Delhi office. The people who advise are the people who act.
Legal Head
Heads the practice from New Delhi, with day to day conduct of corporate, regulatory and contentious matters.
Advocate
Advocate and founder of Onesto Management Consultancy. Doctoral candidate in International Law at the University of Deusto, Bilbao.
Advocate
Advocate, co-founder and director. Doctoral candidate in International Law at the University of Deusto, Bilbao.
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Write to us
Sector, approximate investment, expected employment and the states you are considering. That is enough for a first view on what is available and, importantly, on what you need to do before you commit to anything.
We answer from New Delhi and from Bilbao, so European clients are not waiting a day for a reply.
Onesto Legal, Onesto Management Consultancy
New Delhi, India and Bilbao, Spain
The Bar Council of India does not permit advertisement or solicitation by advocates. This page is published for general information about the areas in which Onesto Legal practises and is made available on the basis that the reader has sought it out of their own accord. Nothing here is legal advice, and reading it does not create a lawyer and client relationship. Statutory requirements, thresholds and timelines change, and any reference to a rule, a form or a period is a general description rather than advice on a particular matter.