Outsourcing web development to India from Ireland

IST is 5h30m ahead of Ireland, or 4h30m during Irish summer time, from the last Sunday in March to the last Sunday in October. Agree call times with your supplier and check availability in both time zones.

India is not on the European Commission’s list of countries recognised under Article 45 of the GDPR as providing an adequate level of data protection. Without an adequacy decision, a transfer can proceed if the controller or processor provides appropriate safeguards; the DPC says standard contractual clauses are the most relevant safeguard for most organisations.

Choose the right module. The standard contractual clauses have four modules for different transfer scenarios, and the parties must select the one that matches their roles as controllers, processors or sub-processors.

India’s Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, 2023 includes an exemption for a person based in India processing personal data of individuals outside India under a contract with a person outside India. Most Data Fiduciary obligations, the data principal rights in Chapter III and the transfer rule in section 16 do not apply in that case, but sections 8(1) and 8(5), covering responsibility for compliance and reasonable security safeguards, still do. These provisions come into force on 13 May 2027.

Under the general rule for business-to-business services, the place of supply is where the business receiving the services is established. An Irish business receiving services from abroad for business purposes accounts for VAT on the invoiced amount at the appropriate Irish rate in its periodic return; it may be entitled to reclaim that VAT in the same return. There is no registration threshold for received services.

In India, exports of services are zero-rated supplies. A service qualifies as an export only when the supplier is in India, the recipient and place of supply are outside India, payment is received in convertible foreign exchange or in Indian rupees wherever permitted by the Reserve Bank of India, and the parties are not merely establishments of a distinct person.

A registered Indian supplier can make zero-rated supplies without paying integrated tax under a bond or Letter of Undertaking and claim a refund of unutilised input tax credit. An export invoice must carry the applicable export endorsement and give the recipient’s name and address, the address of delivery and the country of destination.

Agree a payment schedule with your supplier. Under the Foreign Exchange Management (Export and Import of Goods and Services) Regulations, 2026, an Indian exporter must realise and repatriate the full value of exported services within nine months from the invoice date, or twelve months if the export is invoiced or settled in Indian rupees. Its Authorised Dealer bank may allow more time on request.

Agree how disputes will be handled. India applies the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards only to awards made in another contracting State and to differences considered commercial under its national law.

For personal data transfers, the DPC says to first try to use an appropriate safeguard and use an Article 49 derogation only where none is available.

• Agree call times and check availability in both time zones.
• Identify any personal data the supplier will access.
• Choose the contractual clauses that match each party’s role.
• Check how you will account for VAT on the service.
• Ask the supplier what export endorsement will appear on its invoice.
• Agree a payment schedule with the supplier.
• Set out how disputes will be handled in the contract.