Invest in Greece from India

Most advisors come in after you’ve already decided. We come in one step earlier. Before a file is submitted and before the first euro moves, we run your investment through the 360° Investment Readiness Protocol: ten pillars — from financial capacity and tax structure to AML compliance and exit strategy — scored into an Investment Readiness Index™ (0–100), with a gap analysis and a remediation plan.

Why does this matter in practice? Take the India–Greece bilateral investment treaty. Many investor presentations still cite it as a “guarantee” for capital. But that treaty was terminated in 2017. An audit that misses this hands an investor a sense of security that no longer exists — and they find out at the worst possible moment, when a dispute arises. Our audit catches it in the very first pillar, before anything enters a file.

That is what the 360° Protocol is: not a logo at the end of a sentence, but the reason our work holds up.

India is today the fastest-growing source of foreign direct investment into the EU outside the traditional Western corridors. In 2023 alone, Greek authorities approved over €3.2 billion in FDI, and Indian capital is now one of Enterprise Greece’s priority investor segments.

Behind that number sit three real reasons.

Single-market access. A company incorporated in Greece trades freely across every EU member state — no tariffs, no customs delays, no separate licensing country by country. For an Indian exporter in pharmaceuticals, food, or technology, this brings down the wall that kept them outside the European supply chain.

Labour cost. Skilled staff in Greece costs 35–45% less than equivalent roles in Germany or the Netherlands, with full access to EU workforce mobility. An Indian-owned manufacturing plant or R&D centre can produce at European quality on an emerging-market cost base.

Incentive density. India has nothing equivalent to the Greek Development Law framework. In a qualifying sector, an investor can recover between 45% and 70% of eligible capital expenditure by combining a direct grant, a tax exemption, a leasing subsidy, and an employment-cost subsidy — in parallel, for the same project.

There is no investment without risk. There is, however, investment without knowledge of the risk — and that is the dangerous kind. Weigh the following before committing capital.

• Licensing and timelines. Depending on the sector and the authority, permitting can run 6–18 months. The Development Law review itself runs 3–6 months. Both tie up capital and carry an opportunity cost.
• Changes in the legal framework. Greek tax rules and incentives change. Both the Development Law framework (currently L.5203/2025) and regimes such as Non-Dom can be amended. An approval you obtain today is monitored for years — and a rule change within that window is a live risk.
• The treaty gap. With no active BIT, your protection is the structure you build, not a sovereign “umbrella” you inherit. Under-structure here and you carry more risk than an investor from a country with an in-force treaty.
• Currency exposure. Your costs and grants are euro-denominated; your capital is rupee-denominated. The INR–EUR rate affects real returns and is not hedged on its own.
• Market depth and exit. Outside Athens and Thessaloniki, buyers thin out and an exit can take longer, often at a discount to net asset value. Design the exit before the entry.
• The “100%”, in proper context. We have not had a Development Law application rejected. That does not mean influence over the authority — it means discipline in selecting projects: we decline mandates that do not pass our own readiness threshold. Read it as a filter, not a guarantee.

Development Law 5203/2025 applies to investments of €250,000 and above, across twelve aid schemes. Priority sectors for Indian capital include: pharmaceutical manufacturing and R&D, logistics and supply-chain infrastructure, renewable energy (solar, wind, storage), agri-food processing, digital infrastructure, and tourism and hospitality.

Our approval rate is neither luck nor privilege. It comes from running every project through the 360° Protocol before submission: scored across the ten pillars and structured to meet the criteria before the file reaches the review authority. We do not submit applications that are not ready.

Greece has emerged as a preferred European base for Indian pharmaceutical companies seeking EU GMP certification, European marketing authorisation, and proximity to the Balkan distribution corridor.

The logic is simple. An Indian API or generics producer faces an 18–24 month authorisation process when approaching the EU from outside. A Greek subsidiary with EU GMP-certified facilities compresses that timeline and eliminates the need to re-register in each EU country.

Since 2019, Aggelakakis & Associates has structured transactions for Indian investors in the sector across three sub-segments: API manufacturing plants, sterile injectables facilities, and branded-generics commercialisation vehicles. In every completed project, Development Law grants funded between 45% and 65% of the eligible capital expenditure.