Form FC is the filing that reports an overseas investment to the RBI through an Authorised Dealer (AD) bank. If you invested in a US company from India and Form FC was filed late, or not at all, there are generally two routes to put it right: the Late Submission Fee, or compounding. Which one applies depends mostly on how long the delay is.
The Late Submission Fee
Under RBI A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No. 16 of 30 September 2022, a reporting delay can generally be regularised by paying a Late Submission Fee through your AD bank.
For Form FC, the fee is ₹7,500 plus 0.025% of the amount invested in rupees, multiplied by the delay in years. The total is capped at 100% of the amount invested.
The delay is counted from the due date to the date of filing. For Form FC, the due date is usually the date your money went out. The number of days is divided by 365, rounded up to the next whole month, and expressed in years to two decimals. A delay of 100 days, for example, rounds up to four months, or 0.33 years.
For the Annual Performance Report (APR), the fee is simpler: a fixed ₹7,500 per APR.
The 3-year line
The Late Submission Fee is generally available only for delays of up to 3 years. Past 3 years, the late fee route is generally not available. This usually needs a compounding application to the RBI through your AD bank.
Compounding is a more involved process than paying a fee. It is a formal application, and since 1 April 2026 overseas investment references such as compounding generally go to the RBI Regional Office that matches the two-letter prefix of your UIN, for example AH for Ahmedabad or BG for Bengaluru.
What a pending delay means in practice
While a reporting delay is pending, you generally cannot make further financial commitments to the foreign company. If you plan to put more money into your US company, the delay generally needs to be dealt with first.
This is one reason not to leave a known delay to grow. A delay that is still within 3 years generally has a defined fee. A delay that passes 3 years generally moves into compounding.
Card payments and formation fees
Paying a formation service fee by card is not itself an overseas investment. Money that buys shares in your company is, and generally needs to go through your AD bank. When working out whether Form FC was due, and from when, the question is when money first bought shares in the company.
Getting an estimate
The late fee calculator on this site applies the formula above to your dates and amount, and shows whether the 3-year line has been passed. It is an estimate only. Your AD bank decides the final fee, and the facts of your case may change which route applies.