Doing Business in Singapore

Published 25 August 2026

In short

Reserve your company name on ACRA's BizFile portal, appoint at least one Singapore-resident director, set share capital (minimum SGD 1), incorporate through BizFile within one day, appoint a company secretary within six months, open a corporate bank account, register with IRAS for income tax, register for GST if turnover exceeds SGD 1 million, and set up CorpPass for government transactions.

Key facts

Capital: Singapore
Currency: Singapore Dollar (SGD)
Trade with India: US$ 34.3 billion in FY 2024-25 (MEA India-Singapore Bilateral Brief, September 2025). India's imports from Singapore were US$ 21.29 billion and exports to Singapore US$ 12.98 billion, giving India a trade deficit of US$ 8.31 billion. Trade was US$ 6.7 billion in FY 2004-05 before CECA.
Indian community: People of Indian origin form 9 percent of Singapore's 4.04 million resident population per the Singapore Census of Population 2020, as cited in the MEA India-Singapore Bilateral Brief of September 2025. The MEA brief does not give a separate figure including the non-resident Indian workforce.

The market

Singapore is a city state of under six million people, so almost nobody goes there for the domestic market. It is a hub. It is India’s largest trading partner within ASEAN and the leading source of foreign direct investment into India. Bilateral trade was US$ 34.3 billion in FY 2024-25, with India’s imports at US$ 21.29 billion and exports at US$ 12.98 billion, making Singapore India’s sixth largest trading partner with about 2.96 percent of India’s overall trade, per the MEA bilateral brief of September 2025. Cumulative Singaporean FDI into India reached US$ 174.88 billion between April 2000 and March 2025.

Why Indian businesses go there

Four practical reasons. First, it is the cleanest place to hold a regional group. English is the working language, the courts are respected, contracts are enforceable and the Singapore International Arbitration Centre is the default forum in Asian contracts. Second, tax is simple and low at a flat 17 percent with real exemptions for smaller companies and no capital gains tax. Third, CECA has been in force since 1 August 2005 and the DTAA since 1994, so the routing is well settled. Fourth, incorporation with the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority through BizFile can be done in a day, and the banking, logistics and professional services infrastructure is excellent.

The diaspora and business community

Per the Singapore Census of Population 2020, people of Indian origin make up 9 percent of Singapore’s 4.04 million resident population, as cited in the MEA bilateral brief of September 2025. Add the non-resident workforce and the actual Indian presence is larger. This is a long settled community with Tamil as an official language, not a recent expatriate group, which means Indian firms find local partners, bankers, lawyers and staff without much friction. Business groups and the annual India Singapore Ministerial Roundtable give structured access.

Sector strengths

Financial services and treasury, commodity and energy trading, shipping and logistics, technology and fintech, pharmaceuticals and biotech, and regional distribution into Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines. Singapore is also the base from which many Indian technology companies sell into Southeast Asia.

The honest difficulties

Cost is the first. Office rent, salaries and housing are among the highest in Asia, and a founder relocating a family will find schooling and accommodation costs comparable to London or New York. Second, you must appoint at least one director who is ordinarily resident in Singapore. For a foreign founder this usually means paying for a nominee director service until you have your own Employment Pass, which adds cost and some governance risk. Third, employment passes have tightened considerably. The COMPASS points framework judges applications on salary, qualifications, workforce diversity and local employment share, and a small new company with no local hires scores badly. The qualifying salary rises with age and sector. Fourth, substance matters. If your Singapore company is a letterbox with no staff, no office and no decisions taken locally, both the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore and Indian tax authorities can look through it, and India’s place of effective management rules and the 2017 DTAA protocol on capital gains removed the old treaty shopping advantage. Fifth, compliance is strict rather than heavy. Annual returns, XBRL financial statements, a company secretary within six months, GST filing above SGD 1 million turnover and a beneficial owners register all carry penalties if missed.

How to apply

Decide the structure. Most Indian groups use a private company limited by shares, either as an operating regional office or as a holding company for ASEAN subsidiaries.
Reserve the company name through the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority on the BizFile portal. Approval is usually immediate unless the name needs referral.
Appoint at least one director who is ordinarily resident in Singapore, meaning a citizen, permanent resident or an Employment Pass or EntrePass holder with a local address. Foreign founders normally use a nominee director service until their own pass is issued.
Fix the share capital, which can be as low as SGD 1, and identify the shareholders. A hundred percent foreign shareholding is permitted.
Provide a registered office address in Singapore that is open to the public for at least three hours on business days.
Incorporate through ACRA's BizFile portal. Registration is normally completed within a day once documents and identity checks are in order.
Appoint a company secretary within six months of incorporation. The secretary must be ordinarily resident in Singapore.
Open a corporate bank account. Singapore banks apply strict anti money laundering checks, so prepare the group structure chart, source of funds evidence and a clear business plan.
Register with the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore for corporate income tax and set up your financial year end.
Register for Goods and Services Tax with IRAS if taxable turnover exceeds or is expected to exceed SGD 1 million in twelve months, and voluntarily below that if you want to reclaim input tax.
Set up CorpPass, the corporate digital identity through which all government transactions are filed.
Register with the Central Provident Fund Board as an employer once you hire citizens or permanent residents, and obtain work passes from the Ministry of Manpower for foreign staff.
File the register of registrable controllers and the register of nominee directors with ACRA, and maintain them.
Obtain any sector licence you need, for example a Monetary Authority of Singapore licence for payments or fund management, or an Enterprise Singapore licence for regulated trading activities.

What the trade actually looks like

→ India sells

Petroleum and refined productsSingapore is a major bunkering and refining hub, so refined product flows are a large part of the two way trade.
IT, software and professional servicesSingapore is the regional base from which Indian technology firms serve Southeast Asian clients, and CECA covers services access.
Gems, jewellery and precious metalsSingapore acts as a trading and re-export point for stones and bullion into the region.
Pharmaceuticals and chemicalsBoth finished formulations and intermediates, with Singapore also serving as a regional regulatory and distribution base.
Machinery, electrical equipment and engineering goodsSold both into Singapore and onward into ASEAN markets under AITIGA preferences.
Agricultural and food productsSingapore imports almost all its food, and Indian rice, spices and processed foods have a settled position.

← India buys

Electronic goods, integrated circuits and componentsSingapore is a major semiconductor and electronics manufacturing and trading location.
Petroleum products and petrochemicalsJurong Island refining output flows back into India as fuels and chemical feedstock.
Machinery and precision instrumentsCapital equipment for Indian manufacturing and laboratories.
Organic chemicals and plasticsFeedstock and intermediates for Indian processing industry.
Financial and business servicesTreasury, trade finance and fund management services supplied to Indian corporates.

Treaties and agreements with India

India Singapore Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) Signed 29 June 2005, operational from 1 August 2005

India's first comprehensive economic agreement. It covers goods, services and investment together, gives tariff concessions on a large share of tariff lines, and includes mutual recognition and professional mobility provisions. Bilateral trade grew from US$ 6.7 billion in FY 2004-05 to US$ 34.3 billion in FY 2024-25 under it. A second review has been under way.

Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement Signed 24 January 1994, in force 27 May 1994, amended by protocols in 2005, 2011 and 2017

Caps withholding tax on royalties and technical service fees at 10 percent and settles residence and permanent establishment questions. The Third Protocol, effective 1 April 2017, removed the old capital gains exemption for shares acquired after that date and added an anti shell company rule, so a Singapore holding company must now have real substance to get treaty benefits.

ASEAN India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA) Signed 2009, tariff liberalisation from 2010, currently under review

Gives preferential duty on a wide range of goods between India and all ten ASEAN members, so a Singapore base can serve Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines on preferential terms. A joint committee review to modernise rules of origin and close leakage has been running through 2024 to 2026.

India Singapore Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Elevated in 2024

Upgraded the political relationship and created ministerial roundtable machinery covering digital, skills, sustainability, healthcare and advanced manufacturing. Practically, it is the channel through which sector specific market access issues, fintech linkages such as UPI and PayNow, and GIFT City cooperation get taken forward.

Which company type to use

Private company limited by shares (Pte Ltd)	The default vehicle. Separate legal personality, up to 50 shareholders, 100 percent foreign ownership allowed, minimum one resident director and one share of SGD 1.
Exempt private company	A Pte Ltd with fewer than 20 individual shareholders and no corporate shareholder. Gets audit exemption if it also meets small company thresholds, which cuts compliance cost significantly.
Branch of a foreign company	Registered with ACRA as a foreign company. Not a separate legal person, so the Indian parent bears liability, and it must file the parent's audited accounts. Treated as non-resident for tax, losing some exemptions.
Representative office	Registered with Enterprise Singapore for up to three years. Market research and liaison only, no revenue generating activity or contract signing, so it is a temporary scouting device.
Limited Liability Partnership (LLP)	Partners are taxed individually and liability is limited to each partner's own acts. Used mainly by professional firms rather than trading businesses.
Variable Capital Company (VCC)	A fund vehicle introduced in 2020, used for collective investment schemes including India focused funds. Not relevant for an ordinary trading business.

Visas and tax

Getting yourself there

The Employment Pass is the main founder and senior staff route. It requires a qualifying salary that rises with age and sector, plus a pass on the COMPASS points framework which scores salary, qualifications, workforce nationality diversity and local employment share. The EntrePass suits founders of innovative or venture backed companies and carries business spending and hiring milestones. Mid skilled staff use the quota and levy controlled S Pass, and Dependant's Passes cover family.

What you will pay

Corporate income tax is a flat 17 percent. A partial exemption applies to the first SGD 200,000 of chargeable income, and qualifying new start-ups get 75 percent exemption on the first SGD 100,000 and 50 percent on the next SGD 100,000 for their first three years. There is no capital gains tax and no tax on most foreign sourced income received in Singapore if conditions are met. A 15 percent global minimum tax under the Multinational Enterprise (Minimum Tax) Act 2024 applies to in scope large groups for financial years beginning on or after 1 January 2025. GST is 9 percent. A Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement with India exists, signed on 24 January 1994 and in force from 27 May 1994, amended by protocols in 2005, 2011 and 2017.

Indian government support for this market

Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO)

The apex export body under the Department of Commerce. It issues Registration cum Membership Certificates, runs Singapore and wider ASEAN buyer seller meets, and advises members on claiming CECA and AITIGA preferences. Its ASEAN focused delegations are a low cost way to test the regional market before committing to an entity.

Services Export Promotion Council (SEPC)

The Department of Commerce council for services exports, which is where the real India Singapore opportunity sits given CECA's services chapter and the professional mobility provisions. SEPC helps members with market access issues, mutual recognition of qualifications and participation in services trade missions.

Export-Import Bank of India (India Exim Bank)

The government owned development finance institution. It provides overseas investment finance and term loans to Indian companies setting up or acquiring subsidiaries abroad, including regional holding companies in Singapore, plus buyer's credit and lines of credit that let your Singapore entity offer credit terms to ASEAN customers.

Trade Connect ePlatform, Directorate General of Foreign Trade

The Department of Commerce single window launched on 11 September 2024. It links Importer Exporter Code holders to the Indian High Commission in Singapore, export promotion councils and trade experts, and carries FTA benefit lookups covering both CECA and AITIGA so you can check preference eligibility by HS code.

Frequently asked questions

Can an Indian person set up a company in Singapore without being resident there?

Yes. You must appoint at least one director who is ordinarily resident in Singapore (citizen, permanent resident, or Employment Pass holder). Foreign founders typically use a nominee director service until they obtain their own Employment Pass.

What is the minimum share capital required to incorporate a Singapore company?

The minimum share capital is SGD 1. One hundred percent foreign shareholding is permitted, so all shares can be held by Indian entities or individuals.

How long does it take to incorporate a company in Singapore?

Registration through ACRA's BizFile portal is normally completed within one day once documents and identity checks are in order. The company name reservation approval is usually immediate unless referral is needed.

What are the main tax advantages of Singapore for Indian businesses?

Singapore has a flat corporate income tax rate of 17 percent with real exemptions for smaller companies, no capital gains tax, and the CECA trade agreement since 2005 and DTAA since 1994 provide clear routing rules for Indian groups.

What compliance obligations must an Indian company meet after incorporation in Singapore?

File annual returns and XBRL financial statements, maintain a company secretary, register for GST if turnover exceeds SGD 1 million, file registers of registrable controllers and nominee directors, and register with CPF Board once you hire Singapore citizens or permanent residents.

What is CorpPass and when do I need to set it up?

CorpPass is the corporate digital identity through which all government transactions are filed. It must be set up after incorporation to comply with Singapore's regulatory framework for tax, GST and other filings.

Before you apply: confirm every date, fee and eligibility rule on the official website linked on this page. Public and Policy is an independent portal, not a government body, and details change without notice.