# GST registration guide for foreign companies selling into India 2026-11-06T08:09:01+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 1 independent outlet Foreign companies supplying services into India without a local office face different GST registration requirements depending on what they supply and to whom. Non-resident taxable persons supplying goods or services with a fixed presence need a limited-period registration with advance tax deposit. Online information and database access or retrieval services (OIDAR) supplied from outside India to non-taxable consumers require the provider to register under the simplified scheme and pay IGST. The scheme covers B2C supplies such as software subscriptions and digital content, with monthly filings and no input tax credit. Where the Indian recipient is a registered business, most imported services are taxed under reverse charge, so the foreign supplier need not register. Common errors include assuming a foreign supplier never needs to register and misclassifying a B2B supply as B2C because the recipient's GST number was not obtained. The author suggests finance teams review the contract, which may shift liability to the Indian side through an indemnity, and prepare a one-page matrix of offerings, customer type and GST outcome. ## Indian Opinion Analysis The note equips a foreign finance team with the legal triggers that determine whether GST registration is required. The distinction between taxable B2C OIDAR supplies and B2B reverse charge supplies is the core operational choice, yet the author cautions that the contract's indemnity clauses can shift the tax liability back to the Indian side regardless. No pending rule changes or enforcement actions are flagged, leaving the next step as an internal audit: the team must map every service type, customer category and contract clause against the one-page matrix the article recommends to avoid the common errors it names. ## Coverage - caclubindia.com Straight advisory framing, no government stance, no criticism, no urgency This brief was synthesised by AI from the source linked above. Tags: GST, IGST, N. Sudheer, OIDAR, reverse charge Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/gst-registration-guide-for-foreign-companies-selling-into-india/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/gst-registration-guide-for-foreign-companies-selling-into-india/#story-in-brief How this brief was made: an AI model read the report linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/