Can I form a German GmbH online from India by video call?

In most cases no, and this is worth knowing before you pay for a package sold on that promise. Online notarisation under sections 16a to 16e of the German Notarisation Act has existed since 1 August 2022, but section 16c requires identification by an electronic identity at assurance level high, plus a photograph read directly from the chip of the identity document. What qualifies is a German identity card with the online function, the German eID card, a German electronic residence permit, or an EU-issued electronic identity recognised under eIDAS at level high. An Indian passport is not among them. What remains possible is being represented in the online procedure by someone who can identify electronically, or a hybrid formation where whoever can identify online does so and the others take the classical route.

Do I need an apostille or consular legalisation for Indian documents?

An apostille. India acceded to the Hague Convention of 1961 and it entered into force for India on 14 July 2005, so Indian public documents carry an apostille rather than requiring consular legalisation. The Ministry of External Affairs is the sole authority that issues it. The sequence is notarisation in India, then authentication by the competent state authority, then the MEA apostille, and it takes two to four weeks on a good run.

Can the German embassy in India notarise my company formation?

No. German missions state plainly that they do not perform notarisations in company law. What a consular officer does is certify your signature on a power of attorney that the German notary has drafted, and under section 10(2) of the Consular Act a document taken by a consular officer has the same standing as one taken by a German notary. Arriving at the embassy with articles of association and expecting them to be notarised there is a wasted appointment, and appointments must be booked in advance and attended in person.

Do the documents have to be sent to Germany as originals?

Yes. A German register court and a German notary work from apostilled originals, not from scans. The file has to travel from India by international courier, which is a cost and several days that appear in no standard timetable, and it carries a real risk: if a set is lost in transit the certification and apostille chain has to be repeated from the beginning. Use a tracked service and keep certified copies of everything before it leaves India.

Which German missions in India can certify my signature?

The Embassy in New Delhi and the Consulates General in Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai. Which one is competent depends on where you live. Appointments are booked in advance and must be attended in person, since a power of attorney cannot itself be signed by proxy. In our experience the waiting time for a consular slot is more often the bottleneck than the apostille, so book it before you know the exact date you need it.

Is there one list of documents I can just work through?

No, and expecting one is the usual reason a formation slips. Three institutions want documents for three different purposes at three different moments. The notary wants identity and authority: passports, the agreed name and capital, a power of attorney if you are not appearing, and for a corporate shareholder the register extract, articles and evidence of representation. The bank wants to know who you are and where the money comes from, including documented source of funds. The register court wants the filing, the shareholder list, the confirmation about the capital and, where a foreign company is involved, apostilled originals with a sworn translation. Ask all three on the same day, at the start.

When should the translation be done?

After the apostille, not before, so that the apostille itself is included in the translation, otherwise it gets sent back. Use a translator sworn in Germany where you can, because acceptance of foreign translations varies between register courts and a rejection at that stage costs a fortnight. This is separate from the notary appointment itself: our notary draws the documents in German and English, which in most cases removes the interpreter from the appointment, though that is the notary’s decision; Indian documents still need a sworn translation.

Documents for a German Company from India: Apostille & PoA

Christoph SchulerFounder, Business Center Reutlingen · 15+ years with Mercedes, including two years living in Bangalore · Written 29 August 2026

How we know this

Statutory provisions are cited so you can check them yourself. Figures we describe as verified come from documents in our own files. Anything drawn from our own casework is marked as what we see, not presented as a general rule. Where we cannot support a claim, we leave it out rather than repeat what other guides assert. Rules, fees and bank policies change; verify the current position before you rely on anything here.

At a glance

There is not one document list. There are three, and they want different things: the notary's, the bank's and the register court's. Preparing for one and being surprised by the next is the usual reason a formation slips.
India has been party to the Hague Apostille Convention since 14 July 2005, and the Ministry of External Affairs is the sole apostille authority. That is good news: apostille, not consular legalisation.
The originals have to travel. A German register court works from apostilled paper, not scans. Courier time, courier cost and courier risk belong in the plan, if a set is lost, the chain restarts.
Online GmbH formation by video exists, and it is usually not open to you. § 16c BeurkG requires an electronic identity at assurance level "high", a German ID card, a German eID card, a German electronic residence permit or an EU eID. An Indian passport is not on that list.
The route that does work is a power of attorney with your signature certified at a German mission in India. Under § 10(2) KonsG a consular officer's certification has the same standing as a German notary's.

On this page The three lists nobody separates The apostille chain in India The originals have to travel Online formation, and why it probably excludes you The power of attorney that does work Where to go in India Translation What to start when Questions

The three lists nobody separates

Founders ask us for "the list of documents". There isn't one. Three institutions want documents for three different purposes, at three different moments, and each will reject what satisfied the previous one.

The notary wants identity and authority

A valid passport for every shareholder and managing director.
The agreed company name, object, capital and share split.
A power of attorney if you are not appearing in person, drafted by the notary, signed by you with the signature certified.
Where a company is the shareholder: register extract, articles, and evidence of who may represent it, certified, apostilled and translated.

The bank wants to know who you are and where the money is from

Passport, and often a proof of address in India that the bank will specify.
The notarial deed once it exists.
Source of funds evidence, where the capital comes from, documented. Salary statements, sale of an asset, a company's accounts.
For a corporate shareholder, the beneficial ownership chain, which is a longer exercise than anybody plans for.

And the third: the register court wants the filing, the shareholder list, the confirmation that the capital is at the managing directors' free disposal, and, where a foreign company is involved, the parent's documents in apostilled original with a sworn translation. It works from paper.

The practical consequence is that you should ask all three what they want on the same day, at the start, rather than discovering the bank's requirements after the notary appointment.

The apostille chain in India

This part is genuinely good news, and it is worth knowing why.

India deposited its accession to the Hague Convention of 5 October 1961 on 26 October 2004, and the Convention entered into force for India on 14 July 2005. Since then Indian public documents carry an apostille rather than requiring consular legalisation, a single certificate, accepted directly in Germany, with no German embassy step for the document itself. In India the Ministry of External Affairs is the sole authority that issues it.

What that means in sequence, for a document such as a company register extract, articles, a board resolution or a power of attorney:

Notarisation in India by a notary public.
Authentication by the competent state authority, in practice the Home Department, General Administration Department or the SDM, depending on the state and the document type.
Apostille by the MEA. This is the step that makes it usable in Germany.

Allow two to four weeks on a good run for the full chain. It runs at its own pace, it does not respond to urgency, and it is the single item most worth starting on day one, before the company name is settled, before the bank is chosen, before anything else.

The originals have to travel

A German register court and a German notary work from apostilled originals. Not scans, not certified copies of scans. The physical file has to go from India to Germany by international courier.

This appears in no timetable we have seen and it is not free. Budget the courier charge, add several days beyond the apostille itself, and use a tracked service. Take certified copies of everything before it leaves India. If a set is lost in transit, and it happens, the certification and apostille chain has to be repeated from the beginning, which is the difference between a two-week delay and a six-week one.

Online formation, and why it probably excludes you

Since 1 August 2022 a GmbH can be formed by notarial online procedure under §§ 16a to 16e BeurkG, using the video system operated by the Federal Chamber of Notaries. A number of providers advertise this to international founders as the answer to not being in Germany.

For most Indian founders it is not, and the reason is in § 16c BeurkG.

What identification the law requires

An electronic identity at assurance level "high", transmitted to the notary.
Plus a photograph read directly from the chip of the identity document, compared against the person on screen.

What actually qualifies

A German identity card with the online function activated.
The German eID card for EU and EEA nationals.
The German electronic residence permit for third-country nationals (§ 78(5) AufenthG).
An EU-issued electronic identity recognised under the eIDAS Regulation at level "high".

An Indian passport is not among them. If you live in India and hold no German residence permit, you cannot identify yourself in the online procedure, and no provider can change that.

Two things remain possible. The procedure allows a founder to be represented, with the power of attorney attached in electronically certified form and, depending on the case, produced in apostilled paper form. And formation can be hybrid: whoever can identify electronically does so, and anyone who cannot takes the classical route. Neither of those is "you form your company online from Bengaluru", and it is worth being clear about that before paying for a package sold on that promise.

The power of attorney that does work

This is the route we use, and it is worth understanding exactly what each party does, because the most common misunderstanding is about the embassy.

The German notary drafts the power of attorney. Not you, not a lawyer in India, not the embassy. It has to fit the deed it belongs to.

You sign it at a German mission in India and a consular officer certifies your signature. The legal weight of that is set out in § 10 of the Consular Act: a consular officer may certify signatures, and under § 10(2) documents taken by a consular officer have the same standing as those taken by a German notary.

What the embassy does not do. German missions state plainly that they do not perform notarisations in company law. They certify your signature on a document the German notary prepared. Arriving with the articles of association and expecting them to be notarised there is a wasted appointment, and appointments have to be booked in advance and attended in person.

Whether the certified power of attorney additionally needs an apostille depends on the document and on what the register court requires. Ask the notary that question when he drafts it, in writing, rather than finding out at the filing.

Where to go in India

Germany maintains the Embassy in New Delhi and Consulates General in Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai. Which one is competent depends on where you live, appointments are booked in advance, and attendance is in person, a power of attorney cannot itself be signed by proxy.

Plan the appointment early. In our experience the waiting time for a consular slot is more often the bottleneck than the apostille, and it is the part of the timetable nobody asks about until it is too late.

Translation

Documents going to a German register court are needed in German, by a sworn translator. Two practical notes. Have the translation done after the apostille, so the apostille itself is included, otherwise it gets sent back. And use a translator sworn in Germany where you can; acceptance of foreign translations varies between courts, and a rejection at that stage costs a fortnight.

Our notary draws the documents in German and English, which in most cases removes the interpreter from the appointment itself, though whether an interpreter is needed is the notary’s decision. That is a different thing from the sworn translation of Indian documents, which is still required.

What to start when

Week one: the document chain. Notarisation, state authentication, MEA apostille. Two to four weeks, and it will not go faster because you need it to.
Week one: the consular appointment. Book it before you know the exact date you need it. Slots are the hidden constraint.
Week one: ask all three institutions for their lists. Notary, bank, and, if a company is the shareholder, what the register court will want from the parent.
Week two: the banking route. Settled before the notary appointment, never after.
When the apostilles exist: the courier. Tracked, with certified copies retained in India.
Then the notary appointment, which triggers the account, the capital, the filing and the registration in that order.

Everything on that list except the last item can be done in parallel, and almost every delay we see comes from doing them in series.

Questions

Sources

India's accession to the Hague Apostille Convention, in force 14 July 2005: HCCH
Apostille and attestation, the Ministry of External Affairs as sole authority: mea.gov.in
§ 16c BeurkG, identification of participants in an online notarisation: gesetze-im-internet.de
§ 16a BeurkG, notarisation by video communication: gesetze-im-internet.de
§ 10 KonsG, certification by consular officers and its standing: gesetze-im-internet.de
§ 78 AufenthG, the electronic residence permit: gesetze-im-internet.de
Certifications and notarisations by German missions abroad: Auswärtiges Amt

Written by Christoph Schuler
Founder, Business Center Reutlingen. Fifteen years in international automotive at Daimler, two of them living in Bengaluru.

Published 29 August 2026

Business Center Reutlingen provides administrative and organisational support and introduces you to licensed professionals. We do not give legal or tax advice, in Germany only admitted lawyers (Rechtsanwälte) and tax advisors (Steuerberater) may do so.

Tell us your situation, we'll say which route fits

The documents:three lists, not one.