Start with a portfolio of finished spaces, even your own home or a friend's at cost, because clients hire from photographs. No licence is needed to practise interior design in India, but the Architects Act lets only people registered with the Council of Architecture call themselves architects, so call yourself an interior designer and bring in a registered architect or engineer for structural work and approvals. Register as a sole proprietor or LLP, add free Udyam registration, and get GST once fees cross Rs 20 lakh in most states. Charge a design fee plus a fixed share or a margin on execution, put the scope and payment stages in a written contract, and take an advance before ordering any material. Join the Indian Institute of Interior Designers' city chapter to meet builders and suppliers. What kills most studios is unpaid scope creep and late payments: tie every payment to a stage, and remember a buyer must pay an MSME-registered supplier within 45 days.
The statutory body under the Architects Act 1972, which restricts the title 'architect' to people registered with it and acts on complaints about its misuse. An interior designer may practise without registration but must not call themselves an architect.
This is the plain-language answer to "do I have to register yet." It lays out the 40 lakh goods / 20 lakh services limits, the lower special-category-state limits, and a state-by-state table so you can check your own state instead of guessing. It also lists the 11 categories (interstate supply, e-commerce sellers, casual and non-resident taxable persons) where registration is mandatory from rupee one, which is the trap most first-time founders miss.
From
ClearTaxby ClearTax Editorial Team12 min read
Standard limits are 40 lakh turnover for goods and 20 lakh for services, dropping to 20/10 lakh in special category states, computed on aggregate turnover across the same PAN.
Interstate supply and selling on marketplaces like Amazon or Flipkart force registration regardless of turnover, so "I'm still small" does not exempt you.
Aggregate turnover counts taxable, exempt, export and interstate supplies together, so businesses often cross the line sooner than they expect.
The government's only portal for registering a micro, small or medium enterprise. It states registration is free and lists the revised limits: a micro enterprise has investment up to ₹2.5 crore and turnover up to ₹10 crore, a small one up to ₹25 crore and ₹100 crore.
If you are registered as an MSME and a customer sits on your invoice past 45 days, this government portal is the actual legal mechanism for filing a delayed payment complaint and claiming compound interest under the MSMED Act. Most founders never register or never use it, and it is one of the few real levers you have against a buyer who signed a deal and then stopped paying. Worth registering for Udyam before you need it, not after.
