GST and FSSAI Compliance for Online Sellers in India

GST: what sellers must have

Marketplaces collect tax at source, so a GST registration is effectively mandatory for selling on Amazon, Flipkart and every quick commerce platform, regardless of turnover. The legal name on GST must match the name used for the seller account, the bank account and the invoice.

If you place stock in warehouses in other states, whether through FBA, Flipkart Fulfilment or a quick commerce dark store network, you generally need GST registration in those states too. Plan state registrations before agreeing a multi city rollout.

FSSAI: which licence you need

• Basic registration for very small turnover, rarely sufficient for marketplace selling
• State licence for mid sized manufacturers, packers and traders, the common case for growing brands
• Central licence for larger turnover, importers and multi state operations
• The licence must list every product category you intend to sell, not just your first product
• The FSSAI number must be printed on pack and entered on the listing for every consumable

Legal metrology and packaging rules

Pre packaged goods sold online must declare the name and address of the manufacturer or packer, net quantity, month and year of manufacture, MRP inclusive of all taxes, consumer care details and country of origin. Quick commerce platforms reject pack shots that miss any of these, and the fix means a reprint run.

Get your artwork checked against these rules before printing, not after. A labelling error found during catalogue upload delays launch by as long as your printer takes.

Trademark and brand protection

A trademark application is enough to unlock Amazon Brand Registry through the IP Accelerator route, and quick commerce category managers accept application receipts alongside a brand authorisation letter. Full registration follows later.

Without brand protection you cannot remove hijacked listings, cannot use A+ Content or Sponsored Brands, and have no leverage against counterfeit sellers on your own ASINs.

Category specific approvals

• BIS certification for many electronics, toys and steel products
• Drug licence for ayurvedic, nutraceutical and certain personal care lines
• CDSCO registration for cosmetics that are imported
• Import Export Code for anything brought in from outside India
• Category gating approvals on Amazon for grocery, beauty and health

The pre launch documentation audit

Before a single application is submitted, we check that GST legal name, bank records, FSSAI category coverage, trademark status, EAN barcodes and pack artwork all agree with one another. Nine out of ten delayed launches trace back to a mismatch in that list.

TRIANGAL handles the registrations, the artwork review and the platform submissions as one workstream, so approvals arrive in the order the launch plan needs them.