Sole Proprietorship Registration Fees in India: Government and Consultant Costs in 2026

Sole proprietorship registration fees are often zero: an instant e-PAN, Udyam registration and GST registration carry no government fee. Most proprietors pay only a small state Shop Act fee, if any, and everything else is an optional consultant charge.

Proprietorship registration fees: key takeaways

• India has no single registration for a sole proprietorship, so the cost is the sum of the separate registrations your business actually needs.
• The government charges nothing for an instant e-PAN, Udyam or GST registration; a physical PAN card costs ₹107.
• Shop Act fees depend on the state and your staff: Tamil Nadu charges ₹100 and only from 10 workers, while Delhi has needed no registration since 1989.
• Consultant packages start at ₹499 for one registration and run to about ₹20,000 a year with GST filing or accounting, none of it a government fee.
• Ongoing costs such as professional tax are capped at ₹2,500 a year, and a trademark costs ₹4,500 per class to file and ₹9,000 to renew every 10 years.

Find your likely government cost:

Sole proprietorship registration in India costs nothing for the core registrations, because you register the business through your own PAN, Udyam and GST rather than through one fee-based filing.

GST limits are lower in some north-eastern states, and selling goods to another state needs GST from the first sale.

Selling through an e-commerce platform has its own GST rules: small sellers within one state may be exempt, so check before you list.

Some websites quote ₹110 for a PAN card. The official fee on the Protean and UTIITSL sites is ₹107 for a physical card sent to an Indian address.

Udyam registration fees

Udyam registration fees are zero. The government notification says there is no fee for filing Udyam, so a sole proprietor never needs to pay for an MSME proprietorship registration or the Udyam Registration Certificate.

Sites that charge are private consultants, and you get the same benefits Udyam gives a proprietor either way.

FSSAI registration fees

FSSAI basic registration costs ₹100 a year under the 2011 licensing regulations, and from 1 April 2026 it covers food businesses with turnover up to ₹1.5 crore.

Registrations no longer need renewal, though the yearly fee still applies, and you can pay several years at once on FoSCoS.

Bigger food businesses need a licence instead, under FSSAI's revised limits from 1 April 2026:

Importers, merchant exporters and e-commerce food businesses need a Central licence whatever their turnover. Street hawkers pay no fee.

Trademark registration fees

A trademark application costs ₹4,500 per class when an individual or small enterprise files online, or ₹9,000 for others. Renewal costs ₹9,000 per class every 10 years, with no discount for individuals.

Which rate applies to you? File in your own name as an individual and you pay ₹4,500 directly.

File in the business name as a small enterprise and you must show your Udyam certificate to get ₹4,500; without it, you pay ₹9,000.

Shop and Establishment registration fees, usually called Shop Act licence fees, range from nothing to a few hundred rupees. Many small proprietors now need only a free intimation, not a registration. Several states raised their thresholds in 2025 and 2026.

For Kerala, the yearly slabs are ₹70 with no staff, ₹135 for up to 5, ₹265 for 6 to 10 and ₹525 for 11 to 20 workers, under a February 2026 order.

Before you rely on a worker threshold, check how your state counts. Acts differ on whether the owner, family members, part-time or contract staff count, so read the definition of worker or employee on your state portal.

When in doubt, count everyone who works at the premises.

Seven other states have changed their rules recently: Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh.

We could not confirm their current fees in an official document, so use the fee your state portal shows when you apply.

Where to apply in your state

The steps are similar on most of these portals:

• Create a login with your mobile and email, or sign in through the state single window.
• Choose new registration, or intimation if your state lets small units file one.
• Enter the shop or office name, its address and the date you started.
• Add the number of workers, your own details and your Aadhaar or PAN.
• Upload a photo, ID and address proof if the form asks for them.
• Check the fee the portal works out, pay online, and download the certificate or acknowledgement once it is issued.

Keep the certificate or acknowledgement with your business papers; a bank may accept it as proof of business.

Gumasta licence fees

Gumasta is the common name for Shop Act registration in Maharashtra and Gujarat.

Gumasta licence fees therefore follow the rows above: no fee in Maharashtra's 2018 Rules and ₹500 in Gujarat, while smaller units in both states file only an intimation.

Trade licence fees are set by your city or town council, not by the state labour department, so they vary from one municipality to the next. A trade licence is a separate permission to run certain trades at a premises.

You apply on the municipal corporation's website or at its ward or licensing office. Most councils charge by trade category and premises size, and some also by road width, power load or investment.

The Hyderabad schedule is current. The Chennai, Bengaluru and Mumbai figures come from older official lists, the newest from 2016, and may have changed, so treat them as a guide and confirm the current fee with your municipal corporation.

You register a sole proprietorship for free by filing each registration yourself on its government site; there is no single government site for the whole job. Here is each one, in order.

1. PAN (skip if you already have one)

On incometax.gov.in, choose Instant e-PAN, then Get New e-PAN. Enter your Aadhaar number and the OTP sent to your Aadhaar-linked mobile. The e-PAN PDF arrives in minutes, free. Your personal PAN is also your business PAN.

2. Udyam

On udyamregistration.gov.in, click New Registration, verify Aadhaar with an OTP, then click PAN Validate. Fill in the business, address, bank and NIC activity details; a trader picks Services and a trading NIC code. Then click Submit & Get Final OTP.

Your Udyam number shows on screen; the e-certificate generally follows in 2 to 3 days.

If a field stops you, follow each Udyam screen step by step.

3. GST, if you need it

• On gst.gov.in, go to Services, Registration, New Registration.
• In Part A, enter your PAN, mobile and email and verify both OTPs. You get a Temporary Reference Number (TRN).
• Log in with the TRN and fill Part B: business details, address proof, bank account and your photo.
• Opt for Aadhaar authentication and submit with EVC. You get an Application Reference Number (ARN).

The officer has 7 working days to decide (3 for low-risk applicants), or up to 30 if physical verification is needed. Having the right documents for Part B ready avoids a query that delays approval.

4. Shop Act, where your state requires it

Use your state's portal from the table above and follow the six steps listed there. In Delhi you skip this step.

5. Current account

Open a current account in the business name. Banks ask for two proofs of business from RBI's list, such as your Udyam and GST certificates; a utility bill or full ITR also counts.

Bring them when you visit the branch to open the account.

Add an IEC, FSSAI registration or a trade licence only if your trade needs one.

Consultant packages charge for filing help and ongoing compliance, not for government fees, and most of the registrations they file are free if you do them yourself. So most proprietorship firm registration fees you see quoted online are consultant charges.

Prices are as shown on leading providers' pages in October 2026. Consultant fees attract 18% GST.

With self-filing, each form takes under an hour, but GST approval can take up to 30 days. A proprietor does not need a DSC for GST, because it accepts Aadhaar e-sign or EVC.

A sole proprietorship's yearly running costs are mostly compliance fees, and only a few are government charges.

Professional tax is the main government charge. It is capped at ₹2,500 a year by the Constitution, and only some states levy it.

For professional tax registration fees, the cost that matters is this yearly tax; check your state's portal for any enrolment charge.

• Shop Act renewal: yearly in Kerala, every 3 years in West Bengal, none in Tamil Nadu or Gujarat.
• FSSAI: the yearly fee continues, though renewal is no longer needed.
• Trademark: ₹9,000 per class every 10 years.
• Late GST returns: for GSTR-3B, the total late fee is capped at ₹500 for a nil return and ₹2,000 for turnover up to ₹1.5 crore, per return.

A rough yearly budget for two typical proprietors looks like this. CA fees are market rates quoted on ranking sites, not official figures.

A current account adds its own cost through minimum balance rules, which vary by bank, so compare business account options before you pick one.

Here is what two different proprietors would pay in government fees in their first year, using the official rates above.

Both would add market-rate CA fees if they hire help with returns. The designer, if paid by overseas clients, can register for GST voluntarily to file a LUT and export services without paying IGST.

Xflow lets sole proprietors who export services get paid from abroad as inward remittances. Every international transaction gets an eFIRA, an electronic FIRA, within 24 hours.

We checked every government fee in this guide on 16 October 2026 against official sources:

• the Income Tax Department, Protean and UTIITSL pages on PAN fees
• the Udyam portal and notification S.O. 2119(E), and CBIC notifications and rules on GST limits, approval times and late fees
• DGFT for the IEC fee, the Trade Marks Rules fee schedule, and FSSAI's orders of 13 and 27 March 2026
• state Shop Act rules and portals, city trade licence fee lists, and the Maharashtra and Karnataka tax schedules
• the RBI KYC Directions for the proof of business a bank accepts, and the Startup India guide on proprietorships

Consultant prices are as shown on leading providers' pages in October 2026, and CA fees are market rates, not official figures.