The Annual Performance Report (APR) is an annual filing for Indian residents who hold an overseas direct investment. It is due on 31 December every year. Many founders assume it applies only to companies that are trading. It generally does not work that way.
Who must file
If you are resident in India and hold an overseas direct investment, the APR is generally due each year by 31 December. That includes founders of US companies with no revenue. A company that has not started trading, or that made no sales in the year, is generally still an investment that has to be reported.
The APR is filed against the UIN, the Unique Identification Number allotted after the investment was reported in Form FC through an Authorised Dealer (AD) bank. If no Form FC was ever filed, there is generally no UIN, and the APR position has to be looked at together with the missing Form FC.
Audited or unaudited accounts
Regulation 22(2)(a) of the Overseas Investment Regulations 2022 says the APR is based on audited financial statements.
Unaudited statements certified by a Chartered Accountant are allowed only if two conditions are both met: the resident does not control the entity, and the host country does not require an audit. If either condition fails, audited accounts are generally needed.
For most founders this settles the question. If you control your US company, it generally needs audited accounts for the APR, even though the US may not require an audit. An audit takes time, so it is sensible to start in November rather than in the last week of December.
If an APR was missed
A late APR generally attracts a Late Submission Fee of a fixed ₹7,500 per APR, under RBI A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No. 16 of 30 September 2022. For the APR, the due date for working out the delay is 31 December of the year it was due.
Past 3 years, the late fee route is generally not available. This usually needs a compounding application to the RBI through your AD bank. Since 1 April 2026, references such as compounding generally go to the RBI Regional Office that matches the two-letter prefix of your UIN.
While a reporting delay is pending, you generally cannot make further financial commitments to the foreign company.
A second deadline on the same day in 2026
In 2026, 31 December is also the last day of FAST-DS 2026, the government's window to declare foreign assets missed in past tax returns, with immunity under the Black Money Act. It does not fix anything under FEMA, so it does not replace a missed APR or Form FC.
Next step
If you are not sure whether Form FC was filed, whether you have a UIN, or how many APRs are outstanding, the exposure check on this site asks five questions and sets out what appears to be outstanding. The late fee calculator gives an estimate for a missed APR on your own dates.