Belgium Companies in India: Business Opportunities and Hiring Guide (2026)

Belgium and India do not share a border, a time zone, or a common language. The commercial relationship between them keeps deepening anyway. Trade between the two countries crossed 15 billion US dollars in 2023-24, and Belgian firms have invested close to 4 billion dollars directly into India since 2000.

For Belgium companies in India, 2026 is a genuine turning point. In late January, the European Union and India closed nearly twenty years of negotiation and concluded a Free Trade Agreement that will change how European businesses, Belgian ones very much included, sell into India and build teams there.

This guide covers where the opportunity sits right now, what the latest trade and investment numbers actually say, and how a Belgian company can start operating in India without first building a local entity from scratch.

If you are comparing India with other markets, our guides on doing business in India and business expansion in India are useful companions to this one.

India and Belgium: A Partnership Built on Trade, Not Proximity

Diplomatic relations go back to 1948, the year after India’s independence, and the link has been steady ever since. Belgium is today India’s fifth-largest trading partner within the European Union. Two-way trade reached 15.07 billion dollars in 2023-24, built mainly on diamonds, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, machinery, and foodstuffs. The diamond corridor between Antwerp and India’s cutting and polishing hubs is the single biggest strand, and it runs in both directions.

Political contact has kept pace with the commerce. Prime Minister Modi’s 2016 state visit to Belgium set the tone, and the relationship has only widened since.

In March 2025, a high-level Belgian Economic Mission led by Princess Astrid, along with the deputy prime minister and the defense minister, brought more than 300 business and government delegates to India and ended with 37 agreements signed across clean energy, aerospace, and defense. For Belgian companies, that mission was a signal that India sits near the top of the country’s trade agenda.

The 2026 Game-changer: The EU-India Free Trade Agreement

On 27 January 2026, India and the European Union concluded their Free Trade Agreement, the largest trade deal either side has ever signed. Negotiators had been at it, on and off, for almost two decades. The European Commission president called it the “mother of all deals,” and the scale backs up the label: it covers close to 2 billion people and roughly a quarter of global GDP.

The mechanics matter for any Belgian exporter or investor. The agreement removes or reduces tariffs on the vast majority of trade, with India liberalizing about 96.6 percent of tariff lines and the EU around 99.3 percent. The Commission estimates roughly 4 billion euros a year in duty savings for EU exporters, and India opened commitments across 144 services subsectors, including IT, professional services, and education. One practical caveat: as of mid-2026, the deal is in its pre-implementation phase and still needs formal ratification, so the policy direction is set even though the new tariff lines are not all in force yet. You can track the official text and timeline on the European Commission’s EU-India trade page.

Business opportunities for Belgium companies in India

India’s growth, its size, and now the FTA combine to open real room for Belgian firms. The strongest sectors line up closely with the priorities both governments named during the 2025 and 2026 talks: semiconductors, clean energy, defense production, and pharmaceuticals. Here is where the opportunity is most concrete.

• • Pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. Belgium is one of Europe’s leading biopharma hubs, and India is a global generics powerhouse with a fast-growing biotech base. Clinical trials, contract manufacturing, and joint research are natural fits.
  • Clean energy and sustainability. India’s renewable targets are huge, and Belgian expertise in offshore wind, green hydrogen, solar, and energy-efficient systems maps directly onto that demand.
  • Semiconductors and advanced manufacturing. Both governments flagged semiconductors as a priority. India’s incentive schemes plus Belgian and European process know-how make this a sector to watch closely over the next few years.
  • Information technology and digital. India’s engineering talent is well known. Belgian firms can build cybersecurity, software, and digital-transformation teams here at a fraction of European cost.
  • Infrastructure and engineering. Smart cities, transport networks, and ports give construction and engineering firms a long runway.
  • Agri-food. Belgium’s strengths in food processing and food safety pair well with India’s scale in agriculture and its push to reduce post-harvest losses.

What India-Belgium Trade Looks Like in 2026

Numbers make the relationship easier to grasp than adjectives do. In 2024, India exported about 6.57 billion dollars worth of goods to Belgium. Gems and precious stones led by a wide margin, followed by iron and steel, organic chemicals, mineral fuels, machinery, and pharmaceuticals. The chart below breaks down that export basket.

The flow is not one-sided, but it does tilt in India’s favour. Looking at it from Belgium’s side in 2024, Belgium exported roughly 4 billion dollars of goods to India and imported close to 5.9 billion, which leaves India with a trade surplus of about 1.9 billion dollars. Diamonds dominate the traffic in both directions, which is why Antwerp and India’s diamond clusters are so tightly linked.

Why Belgian Companies Hire in India

Trade is only half the story. A growing number of Belgium companies in India are there for the talent. India has a deep pool of skilled professionals across engineering, IT, finance, and healthcare, and many of them speak English fluently alongside other languages.

For a multilingual market like Belgium, that combination is genuinely valuable. Salaries and operating costs also sit well below European levels, so a Belgian firm can build a strong team without the cost base it would carry at home. Our guide on hiring top talent in India goes deeper on how to do this well.

There is a second, quieter benefit. Indian professionals already form the single largest non-European diaspora in Belgium, and they bring fresh perspective and cross-cultural range to the teams they join. If your model involves distributed teams, our piece on bridging the cultural gap in cross-border remote teams is worth a read, and so is our take on why Indian youth are a global asset.

How to Set up and Hire in India

Once a Belgian company decides to commit, the practical question is structure. There are two main routes, and the right one depends on how big and how permanent the India presence will be.

1. 1. Set up an Indian subsidiary. This gives you a wholly owned legal entity and full control. It suits firms planning a large, long-term operation, but it entails registration, compliance, and ongoing costs, and it takes months to stand up. Our guide to setting up an Indian subsidiary walks through the steps.
   2. Use an Employer of Record. An Employer of Record (EOR) lets you hire full-time staff in India in weeks, not months, without forming an entity. The EOR is the legal employer on paper and handles payroll, tax, benefits, and compliance, while you direct the day-to-day work. For most Belgian companies testing the market or hiring a focused team, this is the faster, lower-risk route. See our overview of Employer of Record in India for the full picture.

A third option, international PEO, sits close to the EOR model and works well for co-employment arrangements. If you would rather start without committing to an entity at all, read how to start business operations in India without entity formation. And before you budget, the EOR cost calculator for India gives you a realistic figure for payroll, benefits, taxes, and support.

If you are benchmarking India against other European peers’ experience, our guides on French companies in India and Swedish companies in India show how firms from comparable markets have approached the same decision.

Build Your India Team with Remunance

The Belgium-India relationship is set to widen further as the FTA beds in and as more Belgian firms tap India’s talent and market. The practical barrier has never really been opportunity. It has been the time, cost, and compliance load of getting set up. That is the part Remunance removes.

Remunance is an Employer of Record provider in India that helps global companies hire, manage, and pay full-time employees without forming a local entity. We handle HR, payroll, compliance, and benefits so you can focus on growth. If a Belgian company wants to start hiring in India, the EOR cost calculator is a good first step, and our team can take it from there.

Conclusion

The outlook for Belgian companies in India has never been stronger. With a fast-growing economy, a highly skilled workforce, supportive government initiatives, and the upcoming benefits of the EU-India Free Trade Agreement, India offers an ideal environment for long-term business growth.

Whether your goal is to expand operations, establish a local presence, or build a dedicated team, India provides the scale, talent, and innovation needed to succeed.

The key to a successful market entry lies in choosing the right expansion strategy. While setting up a subsidiary offers complete control, many Belgian businesses prefer to enter the market quickly by partnering with an Employer of Record (EOR). This approach enables companies to hire employees, stay compliant with local regulations, and manage payroll without establishing a legal entity.

At Remunance, we help Belgian companies expand into India with confidence. From hiring top talent and managing payroll to ensuring full compliance with Indian employment laws, our EOR solutions simplify every stage of your expansion journey so you can focus on growing your business.

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