Starting an E-Commerce Business in India
If you want to start an e-commerce business on platforms like Amazon, Flipkart and Meesho, you will be surprised how easy it is to complete the required paperwork and start selling your products online. Let's go through the process.
Business registration
Udyam certificate
The simplest way to start a business is as a sole proprietor. To start a business, you need to register your MSME under Udyam scheme. While filling the form, you will need your Aadhar card, PAN card and a registered mobile number for OTP verification.
Partnership firm
If a group of people are starting a business together, you may want to register as a partnership firm. This comes with additional papework and cost but it facilitates legal registration and trademark protection.
GST registration
If you are doing B2B sales, your client would want a GST bill for input tax credit. Also, as per Indian laws and regulations, GST registration is mandatory for selling products on regulated e-commerce platforms. However, there are some exceptions. For example, if you want to sell GST-exempt products like printed books, you do not require a GST number. For most other products, you will need a GST registration. The good news is that earlier the application used to take few weeks to process. But under rule 14 A of GST, the application is processed within three working days for low-risk suppliers. The limitation for GST registration under rule 14 A is that your B2B tax liability per month should not exceed 2.5 lakhs per month.
For e-commerce, if most of your transactions are expected to be B2C, you should definitely opt for rule 14A to fast track your paperwork.
To complete the application, you will need your Aadhar card, PAN card and a proof of business address. The requirement for proof of business address can be satisfied using a electricity bill, if the property is under your name. Alternatively, you can get a letter of consent from the owner to use their place for business activity. You can use the sample letter of consent provided below.
Date: [DD/MM/YYYY]
To,
The Goods and Services Tax Department
Subject: Consent Letter for Use of Premises for GST Registration
I, [Your Full Name], son/daughter of [Father’s/Mother’s Name], residing at [Full Address], hereby give my consent to [Applicant’s Full Name / Business Name] to use my premises located at [Full Address of Property] for the purpose of obtaining Goods and Services Tax (GST) registration.
I confirm that I am the legal owner / authorized occupant of the above-mentioned property and have no objection to the applicant using this address as their principal place of business for GST registration and related official correspondence.
This consent is given voluntarily and is valid until further notice.
Thanking you.
Yours sincerely,
[Signature]
[Your Full Name]
[Contact Number]
In certain cases, when a GST officer makes a visit for verification, the place of business is required to have a banner. This manual approval process is similar to address verification while applying for a passport. If you know, you know ;)
After GST registration is complete, you are required to file an amendment updating bank details within 30 days.
Filing GST return
NIL return
If you have not made any transactions, you can follow the simple NIL return. It is important to file returns on time to avoid penalty even if there is zero transaction.
General GST return filing: GSTR1 and GSTR3B
In GSTR1, you specify B2C and B2B sales. For B2C sales, you have to specify total amount and range for invoice sequence. You must retain the original receipts for future audits. For B2B sales, you have to specify GSTIN of the business on individual invoices. There are other tables for documenting exports, debits and credits, etc.
Input tax credit (ITC)
To obtain input tax credit, it is important to ask your vendors for a GST invoice and provide them with your GSTIN details. It is also important to verify the authenticity of a GST bill.
Current account
After GSTIN registration, you are required to submit bank account details within 30 days. Even without a GSTIN, you should use a current account for business related transactions otherwise your bank can freeze your account in the event of a high frequency transactions.
To open a current account, some banks may require a banner at the place of business.
Payment gateway
If you plan to sell products online through your own website, you should ask your bank to set up a payment gateway. MDR for payment gateways through banks are generally cheaper compared to third-party payment gateways.
You can only accept payments for a single core category. This could be either a manufacturer, trader, or a service provider. To ensure fast approval of payment gateways, list down products/services on your website with a button to place orders. Also, at the bottom of the page, add "Terms and conditions", "Privacy policy" and "Refund policy" relevant to your business.
E-commerce
Selling products online take a lot of effort to find the correct pricing as different platforms charge different commission for different categories. Moreover, there are shipping charges and return charges borne by the seller. You can get a rough idea of these calculations for Amazon using a seller fee calculator.
Reseller of branded products
If you are selling branded products online, you will be required to obtain a prior approval from the brand owner. This can also be satisfied using a GST bill in the name of your business. There might be additional requirement of how many quantities must be purchased in the bill.
Food products
For selling food products manufactured at your place, you will require a FSSAI license.
Business analysis
If you use are using a personal website to sell your products or services, you can use Matomo, Google search console, Bing Webmaster, Yandex, etc. to monitor traffic on your website.
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) softwares
Managing business and maintaining paperwork can be challenging. You can use opensource ERP softwares like Odoo or ERPNext to reduce burden. They are useful in generating GST compliant invoices. Opensource software solutions can be installed and hosted on-premise and are availabe free of cost. You can also integrate ERP softwares with third party SMTP relay service for e-mail and SMS marketing.
You can simplify GST filing by integrating API feature, available in the GST dashboard, with the ERP softwares.
Author
Anurag Gupta is an M.S. graduate in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Cornell University. He also holds an M.Tech degree in Systems and Control Engineering and a B.Tech degree in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay.
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