A practical sequence — entity selection, registration, licensing and your first filings.

By Kanoons · 7 min read · Last verified 2025-03-27

Starting a business in India follows a fairly predictable sequence once you strip away the noise: validate the idea and market, choose an entity structure that matches your liability and fundraising needs (sole proprietorship, partnership, LLP, or private limited company), register that entity with the appropriate authority, and obtain whatever sector-specific licences your business triggers — GST registration, FSSAI for food, a trade licence for a physical premises, and so on.

For an LLP or company, registration runs through the MCA's SPICe+ process, which now bundles PAN, TAN and optionally GST/EPFO/ESIC registration into a single filing, cutting down what used to be several separate applications. Getting the paperwork right the first time — accurate KYC documents, a registered office address with proper proof, and board resolutions where required — avoids the rejection-and-resubmission cycle that adds weeks to an otherwise fast process.

Once registered, the first 90 days matter most: opening a bank account, setting up basic bookkeeping, and building a compliance calendar for your entity type (ROC annual filings for companies/LLPs, GST returns if registered, professional tax where applicable) prevents the kind of missed-deadline penalties that are entirely avoidable with a bit of upfront planning.