I've been building ecommerce stores for Indian founders since 2007. Back then, it was Magento + CCAvenue, Delhi to Mumbai shipping took 7 days, and most customers paid Cash on Delivery with a 40% return rate.
In 2026 it's Dukaan + Shopify + WhatsApp + UPI + Shiprocket + next-day delivery. The ceiling has moved, but so has the floor — starting an ecommerce store in India today costs less than a good dinner and more-or-less scales from ₹0 to ₹100 crore on the same infrastructure.
This guide is what I tell every Indian founder who sits down in front of me. No fluff, no Shopify-affiliate-driven takes, and no "dropshipping will make you rich." Just the practical decisions in the order you need to make them.
Step 1: Decide what you're actually selling (and whether you need to)
The biggest mistake I see: founders who build a store before they validate the product. Don't.
Before you spend a rupee on platforms:
- Have you sold at least 5 of these to real strangers? (Friends and family don't count.)
- Do you know your cost price, MRP, and rough margin?
- Can you get inventory within 7 days of an order?
- Can you deliver to a tier-2 city pincode?
If any of those is "no," skip the store. Start on Instagram + WhatsApp. We wrote a full guide on WhatsApp commerce — validate there, graduate to a store when you've crossed 50 orders.
This alone saves 60% of first-time founders from building an empty storefront.
Step 2: Pick your legal structure
You don't need a Private Limited company to start. You need:
Minimum viable legal setup
- Proprietorship — You are the business. Use your PAN. One form at your bank to open a current account.
- GST registration — Required if annual turnover crosses ₹40 lakh (goods) or ₹20 lakh (services). Register voluntarily if you want to sell on Amazon, Flipkart, Meesho, or any marketplace — they require it on day one.
- Current bank account — Needed to receive payments from gateways. HDFC, ICICI, Axis, or IDFC First all work; IDFC First has the cleanest fintech integrations.
When to upgrade to Pvt Ltd
Wait until:
- You're crossing ₹50 lakh/year in revenue
- You're raising outside money
- You're adding a co-founder
- Liability exposure is meaningful (food, beauty, supplements, electronics with safety concerns)
Pvt Ltd incorporation costs ₹8,000-₹15,000 (CA/CS fees + MCA fees). Annual compliance is ₹15,000-₹30,000. Don't pay that in year one unless you have a reason.
Other registrations (only when they apply)
- Trademark: File once you know the name is staying. ₹4,500 for TM-A. 12-18 months to register. Use ™ from day one, ® only after registration.
- FSSAI: Mandatory for food/beverage. Basic registration ₹100/year (under ₹12 lakh turnover), State license ₹2,000-₹5,000/year beyond that.
- Drug License / Cosmetics License: For pharma + cosmetics brands. Expensive, state-specific, plan 3 months lead time.
- Import Export Code (IEC): Free, 10 minutes on DGFT portal. Required if you'll import or export.
- DPIIT Startup Recognition: Optional but useful for tax benefits if you're a registered Pvt Ltd under 10 years old.
Step 3: Register for GST (even if you don't have to)
GST registration is free, takes 7-15 days, and unlocks almost everything in Indian ecommerce.
Why register voluntarily even if you're under the ₹40 lakh threshold:
- Marketplaces require it — Amazon, Flipkart, Meesho, JioMart all demand GSTIN to list
- B2B buyers expect it — without GSTIN, you can't issue a tax invoice, and corporate buyers won't pay you
- Input Tax Credit — you recover 18% GST paid on Shopify, Shiprocket, Razorpay, ads, etc. — saves ₹10,000-₹50,000/year easily
- TCS (Tax Collected at Source) — marketplaces deduct 1% TCS regardless. You need GSTIN to reconcile and claim it back
Registration process:
- Go to gst.gov.in → Register Now → Part A (PAN, email, phone OTP)
- Complete Part B: business details, principal place of business (your address with rent agreement or NOC), additional places, bank account, photo
- Submit via Aadhaar OTP (fastest) or with DSC
- GSTIN arrives in 7-15 days
Pick your GST composition:
- Regular scheme (default): 18% GST on most goods, full ITC available. Use this if you do B2B or cross-state sales.
- Composition scheme: 1-5% flat GST, no ITC, turnover under ₹1.5 crore. Use this only if you're B2C, single-state, and margin is tight. Fewer compliance headaches.
Monthly compliance:
- GSTR-1 (outward supplies) — 11th of every month
- GSTR-3B (summary + payment) — 20th of every month
- CMP-08 (composition) — 18th of every quarter
- Hire a CA for ₹1,500-₹5,000/month or use ClearTax/Zoho Books for DIY.
Step 4: Pick your platform
This is where founders spend months in analysis paralysis. Don't. Pick by revenue + complexity:
Under ₹5 lakh/year or just starting
Dukaan — Free to start, ₹1,749/month for Pro. Native UPI + COD + WhatsApp. Regional languages. Mobile-first admin. Feels like it was built in India by Indians (because it was).
Or: Stay on WhatsApp + Instagram (see Step 1). Real website isn't required to do ₹5 lakh/year.
₹5 lakh - ₹1 crore/year
Shopify Basic or standard — ₹2,400-₹6,400/month. Best global infrastructure, most mature app ecosystem, cleanest UX. Razorpay/Cashfree integrate fine. Handles scaling to ₹10+ crore without breaking.
Or: WooCommerce on managed hosting — ₹2,000-₹8,000/month all-in. Cheaper, more flexible, more work. Best if content (blog, SEO) is core to your brand.
Avoid at this tier: Dukaan (ceiling shows), Magento (overkill + expensive), Wix (doesn't scale past 500 SKUs).
₹1 crore - ₹10 crore/year
Shopify or Shopify Plus — Plus kicks in around ₹2 lakh/month platform fee but unlocks Checkout Extensibility, Markets for international expansion, Shop Pay Installments.
Or: Custom WordPress/Woo + managed hosting (Hostinger Business India, Cloudways India) + dev team. More control, more work.
₹10 crore+/year
You're past founder-blog advice. Hire a consultant (like me) who's built stores at this scale. Decisions get platform + infrastructure + team + tax + logistics complex. Budget ₹50,000+ for proper strategy work.
Step 5: Wire up your payment gateway
Ignore what the gateway salespeople tell you. Here's the honest comparison, rate card in hand, based on what my clients actually pay in 2026:
| Gateway | UPI rate | Domestic cards | Intl cards | Settlement | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Razorpay | 0.4% + GST | 2% + GST | 3% + GST | T+2 | Default. Cleanest API + dashboard. |
| Cashfree | 0.4-0.5% + GST | 1.75% + GST | 2.5-3.5% + GST | T+0/T+1 | Faster settlements. Good ops team. |
| PayU | Flat ₹2 + GST per txn | 1.9-2% + GST | 3-3.5% + GST | T+2 | Enterprise. Best for ₹10 crore+. |
| Instamojo | 2% + GST | 2% + GST | 3% + GST | T+3 | Simplicity. Higher UPI rate = avoid at scale. |
| CCAvenue | 0.5% + GST | 1.75% + GST | 2.5% + GST | T+2 | Legacy but solid. Wider bank support. |
My recommendation for most founders: Start with Razorpay. It's the Stripe-of-India in terms of developer experience, has the cleanest dashboard, and every platform (Shopify, Dukaan, WooCommerce) integrates with it natively.
Move to Cashfree if you need T+0 settlements (cashflow matters) or hit Razorpay's occasional support escalation issues at scale.
Use PayU when your volume crosses ₹5 crore/year — their negotiated rates beat Razorpay's list prices by 20-30%.
Enable COD via Shiprocket or Delhivery APIs. Expect 15-25% RTO (return-to-origin) rate. Charge ₹50-₹100 COD fee to filter out low-intent orders.
Step 6: Set up shipping
India has great ecommerce logistics now — this used to be the hardest part. Not anymore.
Default setup:
- Shiprocket — aggregator, gives you Delhivery + DTDC + Xpressbees + Ekart + India Post + ~20 others at a single dashboard.
- Shipping rate: ₹25-80 per shipment for lightweight, ₹80-₹250 for heavier. Cheaper for bulk commits.
- COD: 1.5-2% + ₹25 per order (collected from buyer via courier, paid to you T+2-T+7).
- RTO: Free to get the product back. But you pay forward + backward shipping.
Alternative setups:
- Direct with Delhivery/Xpressbees/DTDC — Better rates if you have volume (2,000+ shipments/month). Worse dashboard than Shiprocket.
- Local hyperlocal (Dunzo, Zypp, Porter) for same-city same-day delivery. Great for premium/fresh goods.
- Express options (Blue Dart, FedEx) for high-value or international. Expensive but reliable.
Pro tip: Print shipping labels in bulk via Shiprocket's auto-assign rule. Saves 15-20 minutes per day once you're doing 20+ orders.
Step 7: The real ₹50,000 launch budget
Here's where I spend a typical ₹50,000 launching an Indian D2C brand's first 90 days:
| Line item | Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Domain + SSL | ₹1,000 | GoDaddy India or Cloudflare Registrar for .in / .com |
| Platform (3 months of Dukaan Pro or Shopify Basic) | ₹5,000 - ₹7,500 | ₹1,749/mo for Dukaan, ₹2,400/mo for Shopify |
| Product photography | ₹3,000 - ₹8,000 | Freelancer + basic setup, or phone + natural light if DIY |
| Logo + basic brand identity | ₹2,000 - ₹8,000 | Fiverr/99designs freelancer, or Canva DIY |
| GST registration | ₹0 - ₹2,500 | Free on your own; CA assistance ₹1,500-₹2,500 |
| Razorpay onboarding | ₹0 | Free, 2-3 days |
| Shiprocket onboarding | ₹0 | Free, 1 day |
| Email (Google Workspace) | ₹1,020 | ₹340/month × 3 months |
| Instagram/Meta ads spend | ₹15,000 - ₹25,000 | Start with ₹500/day, scale with what works |
| First inventory run | ₹5,000 - ₹10,000 | Just enough to validate; avoid ordering 6 months of stock |
| WhatsApp Business API (if needed) | ₹1,000 - ₹2,000/month | Via Interakt or AiSensy; only if volume demands |
Total: ₹35,000 - ₹70,000 for a well-prepared 90-day launch.
Step 8: What I wish every Indian founder knew before starting
Five hard truths I see founders learn the expensive way:
1. RTO will eat 15-25% of your GMV if you don't manage it
Cash on Delivery sounds like "more customers can buy." It is. But 15-25% of COD orders bounce back — courier can't find buyer, buyer refuses at door, wrong address. You paid forward shipping (₹60), courier charges reverse shipping (₹60), and you still have the product. ₹120 per RTO, on an order that was maybe ₹300 AOV, is a 40% margin hit.
Fix: Add a ₹50-₹100 COD fee. Offer 5-10% discount for UPI/prepaid. Call-verify COD orders above ₹1,500. Use Shiprocket's NDR (Non-Delivery Report) workflow to re-attempt before RTO auto-triggers.
2. GST on marketplaces is a different beast
When you sell on Amazon/Flipkart/Meesho, they collect 1% TCS from buyer, you need to file GSTR-8 monthly (if you're a platform) or reconcile via GSTR-2A (if you're a seller). Hire a CA who knows Indian ecommerce — not a generic one. ₹3,000-₹5,000/month, worth every rupee.
3. Your first 100 customers come from Instagram, not Google
Indian D2C discovery in 2026 is overwhelmingly Instagram (organic posts + reels + DMs), second place WhatsApp sharing, third place paid ads (Meta > Google for most product categories), fourth place organic search. Don't spend your first ₹10,000 on Google Ads — put it on Meta/Instagram.
4. Language matters more than you think
If your target buyer is in tier-2 / tier-3 cities, Hindi + regional language storefronts (Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati) lift conversion 20-40%. Dukaan handles this natively. Shopify needs Weglot or Longo ($20-$60/month).
5. Don't skip a returns policy
Indian buyers expect 7-day returns, no-questions. Even if your margin doesn't support it, the conversion lift from a clear returns policy more than pays for the 8-12% return rate. Write it plainly. Make the return process one WhatsApp message. Your repeat purchase rate will be 20%+ instead of 8%.
Where to go next
If you've read this far, you're probably ready to start. Here's your next step based on where you are:
Just starting, no product yet: Read WhatsApp Commerce Guide and validate on chat first.
Have a product, need a platform: Read the Dukaan review if under ₹1 crore/year, or the Shopify review if crossing that.
Confused about budget: See the Under ₹50,000 budget guide or ₹50,000-₹5 lakh growth guide.
Want human help: Book a 30-minute call. ₹2,400 for a direct conversation about your specific situation — usually pays for itself in hours saved.
I've been doing this for 19 years. The biggest single thing I've learned? Start before you're ready. You'll figure out GST when you have revenue that needs GSTing. You'll figure out logistics when you have orders that need shipping. What you won't figure out without starting is whether anyone wants what you're selling.
Dharmendra Asimi is the founder of Aapta Solutions, a 19-year-old ecommerce agency based in Bangalore + Hyderabad. We've built 500+ stores across India, US, UK, UAE, and more.
