GST registration for e-commerce sellers (2026)

Yes. Every e-commerce seller must have a GSTIN from day one to onboard Amazon, Flipkart or Meesho, regardless of turnover, because these marketplaces are e-commerce operators that collect TCS.

No. The ₹40 lakh / ₹20 lakh threshold does not apply to e-commerce sellers — GST registration is compulsory from the first sale on any marketplace.

One GSTIN in your home state, plus one in every other state where you store stock (for example an Amazon FBA or Flipkart FBF centre). A VPOB lets you register in each state without an office.

A VPOB is the virtual office address used to get a GSTIN in a new state; an APOB is the warehouse or marketplace fulfilment centre added to that GSTIN so you can legally store and ship from it.

Professional GST handling starts at ₹1,999 per state. A virtual office address (VPOB) for registering in a new state starts at ₹19,188/yr.

Usually no, but since 1 October 2023 there is a genuine exemption for small sellers — and most people do not know it exists.

The default rule is Section 24(ix) of the CGST Act: anyone supplying goods or services through an e-commerce operator required to collect TCS under Section 52 must register, regardless of turnover. Amazon, Flipkart and Meesho are all such operators. Notification No. 34/2023-Central Tax dated 31 July 2023, effective 1 October 2023, carves out an exemption: you can sell goods through an ECO without a GSTIN if your aggregate turnover is below the registration threshold, you make no inter-state supplies, you supply through ECOs in one State or UT only, you hold a PAN, and you obtain an enrolment number on the GST portal. No supply may be made until that enrolment number is granted.

Two catches matter in Hyderabad. The exemption covers goods only — services supplied through an ECO still fall under Section 24(ix). And the threshold in Telangana is ₹20 lakh, not ₹40 lakh: Notification No. 10/2019-Central Tax raised the goods threshold to ₹40 lakh but expressly excluded intra-state suppliers in Telangana, along with Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Puducherry, Sikkim, Tripura and Uttarakhand. A Hyderabad seller crosses the line at half the turnover a Bengaluru seller does. In practice, the moment you ship outside Telangana or use FBA, the exemption is gone.

“Registration” means two different things here, and they have different answers. You can run an online business without incorporating a company — sole proprietorship is legal and needs no MCA registration. You generally cannot run one without GST registration once you sell through a marketplace, subject to the Notification 34/2023 exemption described above.

A sole proprietor typically needs a current account (banks usually ask for two business-existence proofs, such as a GST certificate, Shops and Establishments registration or Udyam certificate), GST registration where applicable, and any sector licence such as FSSAI for food. Note that a proprietorship’s address is legally yours — if you would rather not publish your home address on invoices and marketplace listings, that alone is a reason to take a commercial one.

Thin margins under marketplace commission and returns, and near-total dependence on platform policy and algorithm changes. Add to that multi-state GST compliance obligations that a purely local shop never faces, working-capital pressure from payment cycles, commoditised price competition, and heavy customer-acquisition costs.

The compliance piece is the one most first-time sellers underestimate. The moment you use FBA, you need a GSTIN in that state plus an APOB for the fulfilment centre, in every state where you store stock.