FEMA Valuation Requirements for Foreign Investment in India
Every rupee of foreign capital that enters or exits an Indian company through equity has to clear one gate first: a FEMA-compliant valuation. Get the pricing wrong — even by a few percentage points — and the RBI can treat the entire transaction as a contravention, triggering compounding penalties years after the money has already […]
Gulf & Saudi Companies: Using India Finance GCCs to Build a World-Class Finance Function
Key Takeaways Gulf and Saudi companies have historically approached India as a market for trade, real estate and infrastructure investment. That is changing. A growing number of CFOs and Group Finance Directors across Riyadh, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha are now looking at India as the location for something closer to home: their own finance […]
Brand Valuation: Methods, Triggers and What Drives the Number
Under Ind AS 103, an Indian company that acquires a business must recognise the acquired brand as an identifiable intangible asset, separately from goodwill, at fair value on the acquisition date. Yet most founders have never had their own brand formally valued and cannot say what it is worth beyond a gut feeling, which becomes […]
Startup Due Diligence Checklist: What Investors Look For
Nearly every term sheet in India carries an invisible clause: the deal isn’t real until due diligence says so. Founders who treat this stage as a formality routinely watch valuations get renegotiated — or offers withdrawn entirely — once an investor’s diligence team starts asking for documents that don’t exist. A startup due diligence checklist […]
How to Design an ESOP Scheme for Your Startup in India
Most Indian startups carve out 10–15% of their cap table for an Employee Stock Ownership Plan, yet a large share of founders still copy a template scheme from a friend’s startup and hope it holds up at due diligence. A poorly designed ESOP scheme doesn’t just create legal exposure under the Companies Act — it […]
Finance GCC Transformation: Signs Your Existing Finance Centre Needs a Strategic Reset
Key Takeaways A large number of Finance GCCs operating in India today were set up between 2019 and 2023, during the period when captive finance centres moved from a niche idea to a mainstream CFO strategy. Many of those centres are now three to five years old, past their initial setup phase and into steady-state […]
UK CFOs: Setting Up a Finance GCC in India — Key Considerations for 2026
Key Takeaways UK companies have been building offshore and captive finance capability in India for more than two decades, but the model has changed. What used to be a transactional finance outsourcing decision is now a genuine capability strategy. CFOs and Group Finance Directors at UK-headquartered companies are setting up Finance Global Capability Centres, or […]
Valuation Under Companies Act 2013 India
Business Valuation Under Companies Act 2013: A Founder’s Guide Section 247 of the Companies Act 2013 made a sweeping change that most founders discover too late: independent valuation by a Registered Valuer is now mandatory for dozens of corporate transactions — and non-compliance can invalidate the transaction itself. If you are a founder or CFO […]
Series A Valuation in India: 10 Things Founders Must Know
Series A is the first institutional round where your valuation is examined line by line, and founders who walk in without a defensible, professionally prepared number often leave money on the table or lose the deal entirely. If you’re approaching investors for your first institutional round, understanding how Series A valuation in India actually works […]
Virtual CFO vs In-house CFO: Which is Right for Your Startup?
Financial mismanagement is one of the most common reasons startups stall, yet many early-stage founders delay hiring senior finance leadership because of cost. The real question isn’t whether you need a CFO; it’s whether you need one full-time. If you’re a founder, co-founder, or promoter of an Indian startup or mid-size company, the decision between […]