Selling in India without setting up a company
Most brands stall on the same assumption: that India starts with incorporation. It doesn't have to. Here is the sequence that gets product on shelves first.
The blocker is the importer, not the entity
Indian customs needs a party with local registrations to import your goods and account for duty and GST. That party is the Importer of Record. If nobody local will take that role, your shipment does not move — and that is what stops most first attempts, not company law.
Appointing an Importer of Record gives you a legal import route without you first incorporating, registering for GST and building a finance function in India.
What still has to be true
- Product approvals. Depending on category: BIS certification, CDSCO registration for cosmetics and medical products, and EPR obligations for packaging and electronics.
- Labelling. Indian labelling and legal metrology rules are specific and strictly enforced. Artwork usually needs changing, not translating.
- Tax handling. GST must be charged, collected and filed correctly by whoever is the seller on the invoice.
- Channel rules. Marketplaces and retailers have their own onboarding requirements for foreign brands, and rules on how foreign-owned businesses may sell require the seller structure to be set up correctly per channel.
A workable sequence
- Classify the range and get a real landed-cost view, duty included.
- Fix labelling and start the approvals that gate your category.
- Appoint an Importer of Record and a warehouse.
- Set up the compliant seller structure for the channels you have chosen.
- Import a first, deliberately modest batch. Sell. Then decide about an entity.
What you give up
Honest trade-off: you are dependent on your operating partner for import, invoicing and channel relationships, and margins are shared rather than fully internalised. In exchange, you learn whether India works for your brand before committing capital to a company, headcount and a lease.
Where BRDG fits
BRDG can act as Importer of Record, hold the approvals, run warehousing and last mile, and operate DTC, marketplaces, wholesale and retail — with compliant local seller structures where the channel requires one. Or you run the channels yourself on our platform.
India market entry → · Importer of Record →
General information, not legal or tax advice. Requirements vary by product category and channel.