How to Start an Interior Design Business in India: A Practical First-Year Plan

To start an interior design business in India you need no licence: choose a structure (a proprietorship or an LLP), get a PAN and a business bank account, register for GST once your turnover nears ₹20 lakh, and add a free Udyam registration. The harder work is the vendor network, pricing, contracts and a portfolio that wins clients.

For what homeowners expect to pay, read our guide to architect and interior designer fees and our room-by-room interior cost guide.

Do you need a licence to practise interior design in India?

No. We found no central law that licenses interior designers or reserves the title "interior designer". The nearest law, the Architects Act, 1972, protects a title, not an activity: Section 37 says no person other than a registered architect, or a firm of architects, shall use the "title and style of architect".

In Council of Architecture v. Mukesh Goyal (2020), the Supreme Court held that Section 37 does not stop people who are not registered from practising architecture and its cognate activities, but that a post using the term or style of "architect" cannot be held by someone unregistered. So you can design interiors and run a studio, but do not call yourself an architect or an "interior architect" unless you are registered with the Council of Architecture. More in our post on the Architects Act, 1972.

Professional bodies are voluntary. The Indian Institute of Interior Designers (IIID), founded in 1972, is a membership association with chapters across India; joining is not a permission to practise, though its code of conduct is worth reading.

Step 1: Choose a business structure

Under the Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008, as summarised in the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India's study notes, an LLP needs at least two partners and at least two designated partners who are individuals, one of them resident in India. Starting alone, a proprietorship is simpler; move to an LLP when a partner joins.

Step 2: PAN, bank account, GST and Udyam

PAN and a bank account

A proprietorship runs on your personal PAN. If you have none, the Income Tax Department's instant e-PAN is free for individuals whose Aadhaar is linked to an active mobile number. An LLP needs a PAN in its own name: section 25(6) of the CGST Act requires one for GST registration. Open a separate current account for the studio from day one.

When GST registration becomes compulsory

Under section 22 of the CGST Act, you must register once aggregate turnover in a financial year exceeds ₹20 lakh, or ₹10 lakh in the few special category states the section covers. The ₹40 lakh limit some states allow is only for goods-only suppliers, not designers charging fees. Also:

• Section 24 requires registration whatever your turnover in some cases. The one most likely to catch a designer is selling goods, such as furniture, to a client in another state: an inter-State taxable supply.
• Section 25(3) allows voluntary registration, after which all the Act's provisions apply to you, including charging GST to clients and claiming input tax credit.
• Section 32 bars an unregistered person from collecting any amount as tax.

The GST rate on your design fee

The scheme of classification of services places "specialty design services including interior design" at service code 998391, under heading 9983. Notification 11/2017-Central Tax (Rate) taxes that heading at 9% central tax, which with the matching state tax makes 18% within your state. The September 2025 reforms set up a two-rate structure of 5% and 18%, with 40% for a few de-merit items; the only heading 9983 entries they changed relate to petroleum and gas exploration, so design fees stay at 18%.

When you also supply material

If you also supply material and labour, GST depends on what you are actually supplying.

• Fit-out work on the property. The CGST Act defines a works contract (section 2(119)) to include fitting out, improvement, renovation or alteration of immovable property where property in goods is transferred. The GST Council's note on works contract services confirms these are treated as a supply of services, and the rate notification's residual construction entry is 9% central tax, so 18% in all.
• Loose goods sold separately. A sofa, rug or lamp sold on its own is a supply of goods at the rate for its HSN code. From 22 September 2025 the Council cut cement and air-conditioners from 28% to 18%, and furniture wholly of bamboo, cane or rattan from 12% to 5%.
• Everything for one price. Section 8 taxes a composite supply as its principal supply, and a mixed supply at the highest rate among its parts.

Which applies depends on the facts, so agree your invoicing with a CA first.

Udyam registration

The Udyam Registration portal records your business as an MSME. It is free, paperless and based on self-declaration with your Aadhaar, with PAN and GST details drawn from government records. From 1 April 2025, a micro enterprise has investment up to ₹2.5 crore and turnover up to ₹10 crore, which covers almost every new studio. Do it in your first month.

Step 3: Build a vendor and contractor network

Before your first execution project, find two names in each trade (carpentry or a modular factory, electrical, plumbing, false ceilings, painting, tiling and stone, fabrication and glass) and suppliers for laminates, hardware, lighting, sanitaryware and fabrics. Then:

• Give each new contractor a small job before a large one.
• Keep a rate sheet per trade, updated after every project.
• Agree in writing who warranties what.
• Decide whether materials are bought in the client's name or yours. If you buy and resell, you are supplying goods.
• If a vendor pays you a referral fee, tell the client.

If you take on execution, read our guide to turnkey, item-rate and labour-rate contracts for the trade-offs.

Step 4: Pick a pricing model

Whichever you choose, start from your hours: estimate the hours a project takes, multiply by your hourly cost (monthly studio cost divided by the hours you actually bill), then add a margin.

Tie payments to stages, not dates. One public example is the Bureau of Indian Standards' 2014 call to empanel architectural firms for interior works: 30% of the fee on final design, 50% in total on appointing the contractor and issuing working drawings, 60% at 40% of work done, 75% at 70%, and the balance on completion and as-built drawings.

Step 5: A simple client contract checklist

Even a two-page letter of appointment should cover:

1. Scope: rooms, drawings and 3D views, revision rounds, site visits, and exclusions (civil work, society permissions, appliances).
2. Fee: the amount, the model, and GST shown separately.
3. Payment stages: linked to milestones, with work pausing if a stage is unpaid.
4. Changes: requested in writing and priced before they are done.
5. Timeline: your dates, and the client decisions they depend on.
6. Materials: who buys them, in whose name, and who carries the risk until handover.
7. Warranty: manufacturers' warranties passed on, your workmanship period, and a snag list at handover.
8. Photographs: consent to photograph and publish the finished work.
9. Termination: notice, and payment for work done.

Our post on ten contract clauses to read carefully shows the client's side.

Step 6: Portfolio and first clients

Your first clients cannot visit finished projects, so the portfolio does the work. Three to five strong pieces are enough, each with the plan, palette and finished view, and your role stated honestly on work from a previous job. Our post on what strong Indian portfolios have in common applies to interiors too, and a mood board clients approve often wins the meeting.

Interior designer Aarthi Roy's Springfeild 54 page gives each room its own view and a short note on palette and details.

Small, specific jobs are easier to win than whole flats: one room, a kitchen, a small office or clinic. Tell everyone what you now do, ask architects whether they need interior support, and see how other studios present themselves in MOA's interior designers directory. For more channels, see our ten strategies for landing your first client.

Your first year, quarter by quarter

In the fourth quarter, compare each fee with the hours the job really took, and set next year's rates from that.

FAQ

Do I need a licence to start an interior design business in India?

No law we found requires one. The Architects Act protects only the title "architect", and the Supreme Court has held it does not bar unregistered people from practice. IIID membership is voluntary.

Is GST registration compulsory for interior designers?

Once aggregate turnover in a financial year exceeds ₹20 lakh (₹10 lakh in a few special category states), or in the cases section 24 lists, such as selling goods to a client in another state. You can register earlier by choice.

What is the GST rate on interior design services?

18%: service code 998391 in heading 9983, at 9% central plus 9% state tax. Fit-out work under a works contract is also taxed as a service at 18%; loose goods sold separately carry their own rate.

Can I call myself an interior architect?

Not unless you are registered with the Council of Architecture. Section 37 of the Architects Act bars anyone else from using the title and style of architect. Use "interior designer".

Starting your studio? Put your interior design portfolio on MOA, free.

Sources

• Supreme Court of India: Council of Architecture v. Mukesh Goyal, judgment of 17 Mar 2020 (accessed 16 Oct 2026)
• Indian Institute of Interior Designers: home page and Code of Conduct (accessed 16 Oct 2026)
• Institute of Chartered Accountants of India: Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008, study notes (accessed 16 Oct 2026)
• Income Tax Department: Instant e-PAN (accessed 16 Oct 2026)
• CBIC: CGST Act 2017, sections 2, 8, 22, 24, 25 and 32 (accessed 16 Oct 2026)
• GST Council: Scheme of classification of services (accessed 16 Oct 2026)
• GST Council: Notification 11/2017-Central Tax (Rate), as amended up to 1 Apr 2019 (accessed 16 Oct 2026)
• PIB, via GST Council: Recommendations of the 56th meeting of the GST Council, 3 Sep 2025 (accessed 16 Oct 2026)
• GST Council: Works contract services (accessed 16 Oct 2026)
• Ministry of MSME: Udyam Registration portal (accessed 16 Oct 2026)
• Bureau of Indian Standards: Expression of interest for empanelment of architectural firms for interior works (2014), schedule of payment (accessed 16 Oct 2026)
• Member of Architecture: Springfeild 54 project page by Aarthi Roy (accessed 16 Oct 2026)