Do You Need GST to Sell on Zomato and Swiggy? (2026)

In practice, yes. A restaurant or cloud kitchen generally needs a GST registration to list on Zomato or Swiggy, even if its turnover is well under the ₹20 lakh threshold that would otherwise let a small business skip registration. The short reason: the exemption that normally lets small online sellers avoid registering doesn't cover restaurant food sold through a delivery platform. There's a genuine legal nuance underneath that "yes," which most guides skip and which matters if you're right at the margin, so here's the honest version, not just the sales-desk one.

This is general information, not tax advice. GST registration for aggregator sellers has a real interpretive grey area, covered below. Confirm your own position with a GST practitioner before you decide.

Key takeaways

• In practice you'll need a GSTIN to list on Zomato or Swiggy, even below the ₹20 lakh turnover threshold.
• The reason: the small-seller registration exemption specifically excludes restaurant food sold through a platform (a Section 9(5) supply).
• There is a real legal argument that a below-threshold, aggregator-only restaurant needn't register. It's unsettled, and no CBIC circular resolves it.
• Once registered, you don't charge GST on the food sold through the app. The platform pays that 5% itself.
• Your aggregator sales still count toward your total turnover, and you handle GST normally on your dine-in and direct orders.

Do you need GST to list on Zomato or Swiggy?

For almost every restaurant, the working answer is yes, register first. Here's the chain of logic.

Selling food is treated as supplying a service under GST, so the registration threshold that applies to you is ₹20 lakh of turnover a year (₹10 lakh in some special-category states), not the ₹40 lakh figure that applies to goods. Below that, a normal business can skip registration.

But selling through a delivery platform changes the picture. Restaurant food ordered through Zomato or Swiggy is what the law calls a Section 9(5) supply, which since January 2022 means the platform, not you, pays the 5% GST on it. The exemption that lets small online sellers avoid mandatory registration, Notification 65/2017, specifically excludes these Section 9(5) supplies. So the exemption you'd hope to lean on is exactly the one that doesn't cover you. That's why nearly every advisory, and the platforms themselves in practice, treat a GSTIN as a must before you can list.

The nuance most guides skip

Here's the part almost no "how to list on Zomato" article mentions, and it's worth knowing if you're a genuinely tiny operation.

The rule that forces e-commerce sellers to register regardless of turnover, Section 24(ix), contains its own carve-out: it applies to supplies "other than" Section 9(5) supplies. Read strictly, that means a restaurant selling only through the aggregators, all Section 9(5) supplies, may never have been inside the mandatory-registration rule to begin with, which would drop it back to the ordinary ₹20 lakh threshold. At least one published tax analysis in 2026 argues exactly this.

The catch: no CBIC circular or official FAQ resolves the point, and the overwhelming practitioner consensus, plus how Zomato and Swiggy actually onboard restaurants, still treats registration as required. So this is a real grey area, not a loophole to bank on. If you're below ₹20 lakh and the GST cost genuinely changes whether the delivery channel makes sense for you, this is the exact question to put to a CA in writing, rather than assume either way.

The platform pays the GST, so why register at all?

This trips up a lot of owners, because the two things feel contradictory. They aren't. They're separate questions.

Who pays the tax on an aggregator order is settled: the platform does, at 5%, under Section 9(5). You don't add GST to those orders or remit it. Whether you must be registered is a different question about your status as a business, and registration is what lets you operate compliantly, issue proper invoices on your other sales, and be part of the tax system the platform is reporting into. One is about the tax on a transaction; the other is about you as a taxpayer. Needing a registration doesn't mean you're taxed twice.

What about the 2023 relaxation for small online sellers?

You may have read that small businesses can now sell online without GST registration. That's real, but it doesn't help a restaurant.

The October 2023 relaxation (Notification 34/2023) lets certain unregistered small sellers supply through an e-commerce operator without registering, under conditions. But it applies only to suppliers of goods, sold within one state, below the threshold. Restaurant food through Zomato or Swiggy is a service under Section 9(5), so this relaxation doesn't reach it. If a guide points you at the 2023 change as your way onto the platforms without GST, it's applying a goods rule to a service.

Can a composition-scheme restaurant sell on Zomato or Swiggy?

This one is genuinely debated, and a lot of blogs get it wrong in the confident direction.

The common claim is no, because the composition scheme bars a dealer from supplying through an e-commerce operator that collects tax at source. But there's a detail those blogs miss: tax at source (TCS) doesn't apply to restaurant orders through Zomato or Swiggy, because the platform pays the GST directly under Section 9(5). Since the condition that triggers the bar, an operator collecting TCS, never arises for restaurant food, a reasoned reading is that a composition restaurant can supply through the aggregators after all.

It isn't settled, and no CBIC clarification spells it out either way. So if you run on the composition scheme and want to add delivery, treat this as a live question for your CA, not a closed door. We cover the scheme itself in GST on restaurant food, rates explained.

What changes once you're registered

Registration doesn't add a tax bill on your delivery orders, and it's worth being clear on what actually shifts.

On orders through the app, you don't charge or remit output GST on the food, the platform handles that 5%. You keep treating GST normally on your dine-in, takeaway, and direct orders, at your usual rate. One thing to watch: your aggregator sales still count toward your total turnover for GST purposes even though the platform pays the tax, so they matter when you're working out thresholds and filings. We break down the fuller cost of the aggregator channel in what Zomato and Swiggy commission really costs restaurants, and the whole listing process in how to register your restaurant on Zomato and Swiggy.

For owners: the orders you keep are the ones you invoice

Quick word for the owner reading this. The GST on your delivery orders is the platform's job. The GST on everything else, the dine-in table, the takeaway counter, the direct order, is yours, and that's where a clean billing setup earns its keep. The same restaurant now runs three tax situations at once: aggregator orders the platform invoices, dine-in orders you invoice at 5%, and, if you're a composition dealer, sales that carry no GST line at all. Get the split wrong and it surfaces at filing time.

That's a billing-system job. dineomai takes the dine-in order and bills it in one system, the right rate applied, CGST and SGST split cleanly, food GST kept separate from liquor VAT on a bar's ticket. If you're weighing tools, here's our roundup of the best restaurant billing software in India. Keep the aggregators for delivery reach, register so you can operate cleanly, and make sure the orders you take yourself are billed right.

FAQ

Can I sell on Zomato or Swiggy without GST registration?

In practice, no. The exemption that lets small online sellers skip GST registration specifically excludes restaurant food sold through a platform, so the prevailing position, and how the platforms onboard restaurants, is that you need a GSTIN even below the ₹20 lakh threshold. There's a debated legal argument to the contrary, so confirm your own case with a CA.

Do I need GST if my restaurant turnover is under ₹20 lakh?

For a normal dine-in-only restaurant, no, ₹20 lakh is the threshold. But once you sell through Zomato or Swiggy, the small-seller exemption no longer covers you, so in practice you'll need to register regardless of turnover. Whether the law strictly requires it for an aggregator-only seller is unsettled, so check with a GST practitioner.

Does the restaurant pay GST on Zomato and Swiggy orders?

No, the platform does. Since January 2022, under Section 9(5), Zomato and Swiggy pay the 5% GST on the restaurant-service portion of orders placed through them. You record the sale but don't charge or remit output GST on it. You still handle GST normally on your dine-in and direct orders.

Can a cloud kitchen sell on Zomato without GST?

A cloud kitchen sits in the same position as any restaurant here: selling food through the platform is a Section 9(5) supply, so the small-seller registration exemption doesn't cover it, and in practice you'll need a GSTIN to list. Being delivery-only doesn't change that.

Do my aggregator sales count toward my GST turnover?

Yes. Even though the platform pays the GST on those orders, their value still counts toward your aggregate turnover for GST purposes, which matters for thresholds and filings. It's a common point of confusion, so keep aggregator sales in view when you work out where you stand.

What to do next

If you're planning to list on Zomato or Swiggy, treat GST registration as a step to do first, not a formality to sort later, and confirm your exact position with a CA if you're small enough that it genuinely affects the decision. Then keep the platforms for delivery reach and make sure the orders you take yourself are billed cleanly. Read how to register your restaurant on Zomato and Swiggy for the full document and fee checklist, then book a short dineomai demo to see the dine-in side handled in one system.