India EOR guide
Bridge91 · India
Shops and Establishments registration
A mandatory state-level registration for commercial establishments. It is the single most commonly overlooked requirement for a foreign company employing its first person in India.
- Level
- State
- Required
- Per state of employment
- Applies to
- Remote workers
- state-dependent
Shops and Establishments is a state registration for commercial establishments. Every state has its own version of the Act, its own definition of what counts as an establishment, and its own process, and that variation is the whole difficulty.
Whether it applies to a remote worker depends on the state
The Act was written for premises — a shop, an office, a warehouse. What is genuinely unsettled is how each state applies that to an employer with no premises at all and one person working from home.
Some states define an establishment broadly enough to capture it. Others read the Act as applying only where there is a commercial place of business. There is no single national answer, and anyone who gives you one without naming your state is guessing.
The prudent position is to assume it applies until the specific state says otherwise, because the cost of registering unnecessarily is small and the cost of not registering where it was required is not.
Why it gets missed
It is missed constantly, because it does not feel like it should apply to a distributed team with no office. Nothing about employing one person who works from their own flat in Pune feels like opening an establishment in Maharashtra.
It also has no natural trigger. Payroll prompts you to register for provident fund; nothing prompts you about this one, so it tends to surface during diligence rather than during onboarding.
Under an Employer of Record it is not your registration
This page describes the position for a company employing in India directly. Where Bridge91 is the employer of record, the employment sits on our Indian entity and the establishment registrations are ours to hold and keep current, not yours.
Common questions
Do I need to register if I have no office in India at all?
It depends on the state. Some states define an establishment broadly enough to include an employer with no premises; others apply the Act only where there is a commercial place of business. There is no single national answer, so the question has to be asked state by state.
If it is unclear for my state, what should I do?
Register unless the specific state makes clear it is not required. Registering where it turns out to be unnecessary costs very little. Failing to register where it was required is the expensive side of the error, and it usually surfaces during diligence.
Does this apply to me if I hire through an employer of record?
No. Where Bridge91 is the employer of record, the employment sits on our Indian entity and the establishment registrations are ours. This obligation applies to companies employing in India directly.
This guide is general information about Indian employment law and practice, not advice on your situation. Rates and thresholds change. Talk to us before acting on any of it.
Talk to us
Tell us who you want to hire.
Thirty minutes, no obligation, no pitch. Bring one role and the salary you have in mind. You will leave the call knowing what it costs, what it obliges you to, and how soon it can happen.
Or email contact@bridge91.com — we reply within four business hours.