Indian Desk in Belgium

PwC Belgium has a dedicated Indian Desk to assist Indian companies investing in Belgium and work with them through the entire process, helping them to take advantage of every opportunity.

Start doing business in Europe

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The integrated Indian Desk can make the difference

PwC has both the local experience and the global network to help companies maximise opportunities and build success. We work closely together and share professional and cultural information. Clients continually tell us that our knowledge of their business and their sector is what sets us apart from the rest.
The Belgian PwC firm consists of 1200 professionals in 4 offices. In Belgium, we have over 10 years’ experience in working with India. We have a track record of experience with Indian clients, which include a.o., Jet Airways, Crompton Greaves and a number of big softwarecompanies.

Belgium: the ideal gateway to Europe for Indian companies

Facts and figures about Belgium

  • Belgium is at the heart of the wealthiest and most-populated area of Europe. Its neighbours are France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and, across the Channel, the UK.
  • Brussels, the capital of Belgium and administrative centre of the European Union, is one of the most cost-efficient cities in northern Europe.
  • Belgium has a positive track record as an investment country.
  • Belgium has very interesting tax investment regulations.
  • Belgium has an excellent infrastructure, including Antwerp, the world’s fifth-largest port, Europe’s 5th-ranked freight airport, inland waterways and one of the world’s highestdensity road and rail networks.
  • Belgium is especially successful in logistics and engineering.
  • Exports from Belgium to India: EUR 4.6 billion (85% diamonds) (2006).
  • Exports from India to Belgium: EUR 3 billion (45% diamonds) (2006).

5 challenges that need tackling in order to succeed in Belgium and Europe

1. Taking the right strategic investment decisions

When you are contemplating expansion to a foreign country, making the right strategic investment decisions is even harder than at home. Besides the technical issues, there is uncertainty in terms of the business environment, and there are often cultural barriers to be tackled. Moreover, decision makers are faced with a wide variety of location options to select from. PwC experts can help you with:

  • formulating a global investment strategy;
  • evaluating the location options for your mobile investment projects;
  • familiarity with critical success factors of strategic investment decisions;
  • efficient and consistent execution in assessing locations so as to optimise your benchmarking abilities;
  • objective, fact-based analysis;
  • access to local or regional presence offering the required local know-how and contacts.

PwC evaluates the attractiveness of each location and maps out the portfolio of the relative quality and cost of each operating environment. Based on your company’s strategy and future growth plans, our experts develop all the possible coverage scenarios and provide you with the required insight to allow you to make successful strategic investment decisions.

2. Mastering your corporate tax challenges

PwC tax experts can provide advice to companies operating cross-border on all the tax aspects of the legal, financial and operational structuring of their business and the underlying transactions.

  • Choosing the correct tax structure to operate in Belgium and Europe, e.g.:
    • holding and finance structures;
    • treasury centre;
    • distribution centre.
  • Available tax opportunities in Belgium:
    • notional interest deduction and patent-income deduction;
    • binding agreements on profit levels with the Belgian tax authorities;
    • no double taxation thanks to an extensive tax treaty network.

3. Managing all aspects of immigration, social security, tax and employment law

Compliance with immigration, social security, employment law and tax rules is a very important element when dealing with international mobility. The PwC immigration team has experience to help you with all aspects relating to immigration and broader HR services.
Some of the services we offer include:

  • advice on immigration law;
  • assistance with work and residence permit applications (including tracking and monitoring);
  • strategic planning for start-ups;
  • employment law support: drafting employment contracts or assignment letters, working hour
    arrangements, etc.;
  • payroll coordination;
  • personal tax assistance including applying for the special expatriate tax regime;
  • drawing up employment documents.

4. Ensuring quality in assurance

The PwC assurance group can help your organisation report externally on nonfinancial information, strengthen its corporate governance procedures and achieve social and economic goals in terms of corporate sustainability, by offering you:

  • Audit Services;
  • Business Reporting Services;
  • Dispute Analysis and Investigation Services;
  • FS Regulatory & Compliance Services;
  • Global Capital Market Services;
  • Insurance and Benefits Actuarial Services;
  • Systems Process Assurance;
  • Transaction and Valuation Services.

5. Guaranteeing managed, controlled growth

PwC has a dedicated line of services helping you with all your Belgian-Indian transactions: strategic alliances, restructuring measures, valuations and competition, the sale of businesses or state aid issues are just some of the critical processes. We provide services aimed at:

  • identifying the right targets;
  • executing transactions;
  • post-deal integration.