GST Registration in India for a Foreign-Owned Company

GST registration India is not a form you fill out on its own. It is a consequence of the entity structure you already chose. A wholly owned subsidiary or a branch office must register for GST like any Indian company, generally within 30 days of crossing the turnover threshold or before the first taxable supply, using Form GST REG-01 (CompaniesNext). A liaison office almost never registers, because RBI approval for that structure prohibits it from generating revenue in India in the first place, and GST only applies to taxable supply (Corporate Legit, CompaniesNext). Standard registration approval runs 3-7 working days once the application is complete (Taxguru), but a foreign parent needs notarized incorporation documents, a board resolution naming the signatory, and proof of its Indian place of business before that clock even starts. Decide the entity type first, and the GST question answers itself.

Most GST registration guides for India assume you already have an Indian company with an Indian director holding an Aadhaar number. None of the top results for this search address the actual first question a foreign parent has: which entity structure am I even allowed to register for GST under.

What is GST registration in India, and who is eligible?

GST (Goods and Services Tax) registration gives a business a GSTIN, the identifier it uses to charge, collect, and remit tax on taxable supplies. Any entity making taxable supplies of goods or services in India is required to register once its aggregate turnover crosses the threshold, or immediately if it falls into a category with no threshold, such as a non-resident taxable person (CompaniesNext).

For companies with an Indian presence, the standard thresholds are:

Category	Threshold
Goods (most states)	₹40 lakh aggregate turnover
Services (most states)	₹20 lakh aggregate turnover
Special category states	Lower thresholds apply
Non-Resident Taxable Person (NRTP)	No threshold, registration required regardless of turnover

A foreign company without a fixed place of business in India, making occasional taxable supplies (for example at a trade exhibition), registers under the NRTP category instead. That registration is temporary, valid for 90 days and extendable for another 90 (CompaniesNext). A foreign company that has incorporated a subsidiary or opened a branch office does not use the NRTP route: it registers as a regular taxpayer, the same as any Indian company, once it crosses the standard threshold or before its first taxable sale.

Which entity type (subsidiary, branch office, or liaison office) determines your GST obligation?

This is the question the generic guides skip, and it is the one that actually matters before you file anything.

• Wholly owned subsidiary (WOS). A separate Indian legal entity. It registers for GST exactly like any Indian private limited company: at or before the turnover threshold, under its own PAN. Most manufacturers and companies planning ongoing sales in India end up here.
• Branch office (BO). Not a separate legal entity: it is an extension of the foreign parent, but RBI approval permits it to invoice and generate revenue from specific permitted activities (export/import of goods, consultancy, research, and a few others). Because it can generate taxable revenue, it must register for GST in each state where it maintains a place of business (CompaniesNext).
• Liaison office (LO). Also an extension of the parent, but RBI approval for a liaison office explicitly prohibits any commercial or revenue-generating activity: it exists only to communicate between the parent and Indian counterparts (Corporate Legit). Because it cannot make a taxable supply, it typically does not need its own GST registration. If circumstances change and the office starts invoicing or performing taxable activity (which would itself violate its RBI approval), GST registration becomes mandatory at that point, and in practice this is usually handled by adding the office as an "Additional Place of Business" under GST REG-14 rather than a fresh, separate registration (Taxguru).

The practical takeaway: don't ask "how do I register for GST" until you know which of these three structures RBI has approved for you. The entity choice happens first, through FEMA/RBI approval for a BO or LO, or through standard company incorporation for a WOS, and it is a separate process from GST entirely. We cover how to make that entity choice in our India market entry playbook.

Not sure which entity fits your plan? Talk to an India market specialist before you file for RBI approval or incorporation. The GST outcome follows from that decision, not the other way around.

How does a foreign parent company register for GST in India?

Once the entity is incorporated (WOS) or RBI-approved (BO), the registration sequence is:

1. Obtain the entity's PAN, issued at incorporation for a WOS, or as part of the RBI-approval paperwork for a branch office.
2. File Form GST REG-01 on the GST portal with the entity's PAN, proof of the principal place of business in India, and bank account details.
3. Attach the foreign parent's supporting documents: a notarized or apostilled certificate of incorporation, a board resolution authorizing the Indian signatory, and (for a BO) the RBI approval letter itself (CompaniesNext).
4. The application is reviewed and, if the officer raises no query, auto-approved. Standard processing runs 3-7 working days for authenticated applications; cases requiring physical verification of the premises can run up to 30 working days (Taxguru).
5. Once granted, the GSTIN goes live and monthly return filing (GSTR-1, GSTR-3B) starts on the standard cycle.

The step foreign applicants most often underestimate is document authentication. A certificate of incorporation or board resolution executed outside India typically needs notarization and apostille (or consular legalization, depending on the parent's home country) before an Indian officer will accept it. Build that lead time in before you count on the 3-7 day window.

Can an NRI or foreign director register for GST in India?

Yes, but not as an individual acting alone in most cases. The registration attaches to the entity (WOS or BO), and the foreign director is named as an authorized signatory on that entity's application. The complication is Aadhaar-based e-KYC: India's fastest GST approval track relies on Aadhaar authentication, which a non-resident director without an Indian Aadhaar number cannot complete. Applications from entities with only foreign directors more commonly route through manual, document-based verification rather than the fast-track auto-approval, which is one reason foreign-director applications tend to land closer to the 7-day standard track than the fastest published timelines (Taxguru).

A separate NRTP (Non-Resident Taxable Person) registration exists for a foreign individual or company making occasional taxable supplies in India without a fixed establishment, for example a one-off exhibition sale. It is not the route a subsidiary or branch office uses for ongoing operations, and it carries no turnover threshold: registration is required regardless of amount (CompaniesNext).

What documents does a foreign-owned entity need beyond the standard GST checklist?

A domestic Indian company applying for GST needs PAN, proof of business address, and bank details. A foreign-owned entity needs those plus:

• Notarized and apostilled (or consular-legalized) certificate of incorporation of the foreign parent.
• Board resolution from the parent authorizing the India-based signatory to act on the entity's behalf.
• For a branch or liaison office: the RBI approval letter, since GST registration for these structures cannot proceed without it.
• Audited financial statements of the parent, typically the last three years, which RBI also requires as part of the branch/liaison office approval itself, so this document usually already exists by the time GST registration is filed.
• Proof of the Indian place of business (lease deed or ownership document, plus a no-objection certificate if the premises are shared or rented from a third party).

Missing apostille or notarization on the parent's documents is the single most common cause of delay past the standard 3-7 day window, more often than any issue with the GST application itself.

Want the document checklist mapped to your specific entity type? Talk to an India market specialist before you submit. Fixing a rejected application costs more time than getting the paperwork right once.

What does GST registration cost and how long does it take?

The GST registration filing itself has no government fee. The cost that matters is the professional and document-authentication cost around it:

Cost driver	What it covers
Apostille/notarization of parent documents	Certificate of incorporation, board resolution
Filing assistance (CA/company secretary)	Form preparation, portal submission, query handling
Address proof documentation	Lease deed, NOC if applicable

Timeline: 3-7 working days for standard processing once the application is complete and error-free, extending to 30 working days if the officer requires physical verification of the premises (Taxguru). For a foreign-owned entity, the real bottleneck almost never sits inside that window. It sits in how long apostille and document authentication take in the parent's home country, which can run one to several weeks depending on jurisdiction. Our India market entry cost breakdown prices out this and the other pre-revenue compliance steps foreign companies underbudget.

If you have already gone through EOR-based hiring before committing to an entity, note that an EOR does not solve the GST question at all. It employs people; it does not hold a GST registration on your behalf. Our Employer of Record India guide covers where that structure stops being useful, which is usually the same point you need to think about GST.

FAQ

Is GST registration free in India? The government filing itself carries no fee. For a foreign-owned entity, the real cost is document authentication (notarization, apostille) and professional filing assistance, not the GST application.

How long does GST registration take for a foreign-owned company? Standard processing is 3-7 working days once the application is complete, but foreign-director applications more often require manual verification rather than Aadhaar-based fast-track approval, and document apostille/notarization typically adds more time than the registration step itself.

Does a liaison office need GST registration? Generally no. RBI approval for a liaison office prohibits revenue-generating activity, and GST applies to taxable supply. If an LO's activity changes and becomes taxable, it would violate its RBI terms, and at that point registration (often via Additional Place of Business under GST REG-14) becomes necessary.

What GST registration documents does a foreign director need to provide? A notarized or apostilled certificate of incorporation of the parent company, a board resolution authorizing the India-based signatory, and, for a branch office, the RBI approval letter itself, since GST registration for a BO cannot be completed without it.

Want the entity-and-GST sequence mapped for your specific case? Talk to an India market specialist and we will tell you which structure to pursue first and what the GST outcome will be.

Written by Tileo, an operator with a decade of Europe-Asia industrial trade programs.