# What Are OIDAR Services and Why Is GST Registration Mandatory? **Category:** GST | **Published:** 2026-06-26 | **Last reviewed:** 2026-06-26 | **Author:** Mrs. Swapna Patel OIDAR (Online Information Database Access or Retrieval) services are digital services delivered over the internet whose supply is essentially impossible without information technology, such as cloud storage, online advertising, streaming, and e-books. Section 2(17) of the IGST Act defines them. When the supplier sits outside India and the customer is an Indian consumer, Section 14 of the IGST Act and Section 24 of the CGST Act make GST registration compulsory regardless of turnover, so the usual ₹20 lakh exemption does not apply. > **Myth:** If your turnover is below ₹20 lakh, you never need GST registration. > > **Fact:** An overseas supplier of OIDAR services to Indian consumers must register under [Section 24 of the CGST Act](https://www.cbic.gov.in/htdocs-cbec/gst/cgst-act) read with [Section 14 of the IGST Act](https://www.cbic.gov.in/htdocs-cbec/gst/igst-act), so the ₹20 lakh threshold does not protect them. ## What are OIDAR services? > **Short answer:** OIDAR services are digital services delivered over the internet whose supply is essentially impossible without information technology, as defined in [Section 2(17) of the IGST Act](https://www.cbic.gov.in/htdocs-cbec/gst/igst-act). The category covers cloud storage, online advertising, software and apps supplied as downloads or subscriptions, streaming of music and video, e-books, and online data or gaming. The common thread is that the service could not exist without information technology and is delivered to the customer over an electronic network. The definition was widened from 1 October 2023, so a service that fell outside it earlier may sit inside it now; confirm the current scope before deciding. ## Why is GST registration mandatory below ₹20 lakh? > **Short answer:** Because [Section 24 of the CGST Act](https://www.cbic.gov.in/htdocs-cbec/gst/cgst-act) lists compulsory-registration cases that override the ₹20 lakh threshold, and an overseas OIDAR supplier to Indian consumers is one of them. - The ₹20 lakh aggregate-turnover exemption sits in Section 22 of the CGST Act and applies to ordinary suppliers, not to the Section 24 compulsory categories. - An OIDAR supplier located outside India must take a simplified registration under [Section 14 of the IGST Act](https://www.cbic.gov.in/htdocs-cbec/gst/igst-act) and pay the tax itself. - There is no minimum turnover for this. A single sale to an Indian consumer can trigger the obligation. **[See the GST registration thresholds at a glance](https://hrareceipt.in/atlas/gst-registration-thresholds-2026)** ## Who pays the GST, the supplier or the Indian customer? > **Short answer:** The customer decides it: an overseas supplier pays the GST on sales to Indian consumers, while a GST-registered Indian business pays it under reverse charge. - Sale to a non-taxable online recipient (an individual consumer or an unregistered buyer): the overseas supplier registers under Section 14 and pays the GST. - Sale to a GST-registered Indian business: the business accounts for the tax itself under reverse charge, so the overseas supplier need not register for that supply. - This split is why your business GST number matters when you buy foreign software: it moves the liability to you. ## Which digital services count as OIDAR in practice? > **Short answer:** Any automated online service, from a Figma subscription to a streaming plan, can be OIDAR if it meets the [Section 2(17)](https://www.cbic.gov.in/htdocs-cbec/gst/igst-act) test. - Cloud and hosting, online advertising, and SaaS subscriptions are the most common business examples. - Streaming, e-books, online courses with no live teaching, and in-app purchases are common consumer examples. - A service genuinely delivered in person, or where information technology is only the communication medium, can fall outside OIDAR and follow the normal import-of-service rules. **[Issue a clean GST tax invoice in 60 seconds](https://hrareceipt.in/pakka-bill)** ## Primary sources - [Section 2(17), Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act 2017 — CBIC](https://www.cbic.gov.in/htdocs-cbec/gst/igst-act) — Definition of Online Information Database Access or Retrieval (OIDAR) services. - [Section 14, Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act 2017 — CBIC](https://www.cbic.gov.in/htdocs-cbec/gst/igst-act) — Special provision for payment of tax by a supplier of OIDAR services located outside India. - [Section 24, Central Goods and Services Tax Act 2017 — CBIC](https://www.cbic.gov.in/htdocs-cbec/gst/cgst-act) — Categories of persons liable to register compulsorily, irrespective of the threshold. ## Related - [Reverse charge mechanism — when you pay GST on services you bought](https://hrareceipt.in/answers/reverse-charge-mechanism-rcm-gst) - [GST reverse charge for small businesses and freelancers](https://hrareceipt.in/answers/gst-reverse-charge-rcm-small-business) - [What is a pakka bill — the GST invoice that counts as valid](https://hrareceipt.in/answers/what-is-a-pakka-bill) - [GST tax invoice fields under Section 31 and Rule 46](https://hrareceipt.in/answers/gst-tax-invoice-fields-section-31-rule-46) --- *Source: [What Are OIDAR Services and Why Is GST Registration Mandatory?](https://hrareceipt.in/answers/what-is-oidar-services-gst-registration) — HRAReceipt.in* *This Markdown mirror is published for AI-crawler ingestion. 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