How to Start a Travel Agency in India: A 2026 Step-by-Step Guide
By Ananya Singh (Ananya Singh writes step-by-step first-international-trip guides for Indians — passport rules, visa cascade timing, immigration walkthroughs, and the unglamorous logistics that separate a smooth trip from a stranded one.) · Published · Last updated · 11 min read
You don't need IATA, a fat bank balance or an office on MG Road to start a travel agency in India in 2026. Here's the honest, step-by-step playbook — niche, registration, inventory and your first ten clients.
Quick answer
You can start a travel agency in India in 2026 without IATA accreditation and without a big office. Pick one niche you actually know, register a business (a sole proprietorship is fine to begin, or a Pvt Ltd/LLP if you want liability protection and credibility), get a GST number and a current account, and source flight and hotel inventory through a B2B portal or consolidator instead of going direct to airlines. Most home-based agents are taking bookings within two to four weeks of deciding to start.
Pick a niche before you pick a name
The biggest mistake new agents make is opening as a "we do everything" agency. You'll compete with EaseMyTrip, MakeMyTrip and every other agent on price, and lose. Pick one thing you can be the obvious choice for, and let the rest follow once you have cash flow.
Good niches for a 2026 start, because they're either repeat-purchase or hard to self-serve online:
- A community or region — your home town, your housing society, a profession (doctors, CA firms), or a language community. Trust travels faster inside a known group.
- Religious and pilgrimage travel — Vaishno Devi, Char Dham, Tirupati, Umrah/Hajj. High repeat, group-heavy, and people genuinely want a human to handle it.
- Corporate and SME travel — local businesses that need someone to book and re-book flights at 11pm, raise a proper GST invoice, and chase a refund. Low glamour, sticky revenue.
- Outbound leisure to one or two destinations — say Thailand, Vietnam, Dubai or Bali — where you learn the visas, the DMCs and the seasons cold.
- Student and visit-family travel — long-haul, date-flexible, and the families want hand-holding.
Write down who your first 50 customers realistically are. If you can't name where they'll come from, the niche is too broad. You can always widen later — see our guide on holiday packages to resell once the core is running.
Write a one-page plan (not a 40-page deck)
You don't need a venture-grade business plan. You need a single page that forces honesty about three things: how you make money, what it costs to run, and how customers find you.
On the money side, be clear that an agent's margin comes from a mix of sources — supplier commission or net-fare markup on flights, markup on hotels and packages, and service or convenience fees you charge openly. Don't model fantasy numbers. Take real indicative margins from one B2B portal, assume a conservative booking count for month one, and see if the maths survives.
Your one-pager should answer:
- Niche and ideal customer — from the section above.
- Revenue lines — flights, hotels, packages, visa assistance, insurance, service fees. Decide your default markup or fee policy now.
- Fixed monthly costs — portal subscriptions, internet, phone, software, any rent. Home-based keeps this low.
- Working capital — most B2B portals run on an advance deposit/wallet, so you need cash sitting there to issue tickets. This is the number new agents underestimate. See how agency deposits and wallets work.
- First-client plan — three concrete channels you'll actually use this month.
If the page shows you breaking even on a believable number of bookings, you have a business. If it only works at hero volumes, fix the niche or the pricing before you spend a rupee.
Register the business: structure, PAN, GST and a current account
Here's the practical order of operations. Talk to a CA for your specific case — rules and thresholds change — but this is the standard path most Indian agents follow.
1. Choose a structure. Your three realistic options:
| Structure | Setup | Liability | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sole proprietorship | Fastest, cheapest; no MCA filing. Gets legal recognition via GST/Udyam/Shops licence. | Unlimited — your personal assets are exposed | Solo agent testing the market, home-based start |
| LLP | Registered with MCA; moderate compliance | Limited | Two-plus partners wanting protection without heavy Pvt Ltd compliance |
| Private Limited | Registered on the MCA portal via the SPICe+ web form; annual filings and audit | Limited | Agents who want credibility with corporates, plan to raise funds or scale |
A sole proprietorship can be operational in days; a Pvt Ltd or LLP takes longer but separates your personal assets from the business. Many agents start as a proprietorship and convert once volume justifies it. For the deeper version of this decision, read this guide alongside our how to become a travel agent walkthrough.
2. PAN. A proprietorship runs on your personal PAN. If you incorporate a company or LLP, PAN and TAN are issued automatically as part of the incorporation form on mca.gov.in (the SPICe+ single-window form bundles incorporation, PAN, TAN, GST, EPFO/ESIC and even a bank-account request).
3. GST registration. Register at gst.gov.in. The plain turnover threshold for services is ₹20 lakh in most states, but the moment you make an inter-state supply — which a travel agent does constantly — registration is effectively required regardless of turnover. In practice, get your GSTIN from day one. You'll need it to raise proper invoices and to register on most B2B portals. As of 2026, an air travel agent charges 18% GST on their own earnings/commission, not on the full ticket fare, and the trade commonly works off a deemed value (often 5% of basic fare for domestic, 10% for international). Confirm the exact treatment for your services with your CA — see our dedicated GST and TCS guide.
4. Udyam/MSME registration. Free, online, and worth doing. Udyam registration gives you an MSME identity that helps with bank loans, priority-sector lending and the odd government scheme. It takes minutes.
5. Shops & Establishment licence. Issued by your local municipal body/labour department. Required in most states even for a home office, and most cities now let you apply online.
6. Current account. Open a business current account in the firm's name. Keep business and personal money separate from rupee one — it makes GST filing, reconciliation and any future audit far less painful.
IATA is optional — here's how you source inventory without it
This is the single most freeing fact for a new agent: you do not need IATA accreditation to sell flights in India. IATA (and its lighter cousin, a TIDS number) only earns its keep at high direct-ticketing volumes or when a corporate specifically demands it. The financial guarantees and conditions don't make sense for a startup. So skip it for now and source through intermediaries.
Your three sourcing routes:
- B2B portals / consolidators — TBO, Riya, EaseMyTrip's agent platform and others give you airline and hotel inventory at agent rates. You register, complete KYC, fund a wallet, and start issuing. No airline contract needed. This is how the vast majority of Indian agents operate. Compare a few in our TBO vs Riya vs EaseMyTrip comparison and our pick of the best B2B flight portal.
- Airline agent logins — IndiGo, Air India, Akasa and SpiceJet all have agent/trade programmes with their own logins, often with deposit terms. Useful once you do real volume on a carrier. Start with our airline portal guides for IndiGo, Air India, SpiceJet and Akasa, and check each airline's fare families on our pages for IndiGo, Air India, Akasa and SpiceJet.
- Specialist fare suppliers — for groups and volume, look at series fares, group fares and fixed departures. These often carry better margins than published fares but come with deposit and name-change rules — understand them before you commit seats.
One headache of going multi-portal is that you end up juggling a separate login, wallet and KYC for every supplier and every airline. That fragmentation is exactly what aggregator portals exist to fix.
The tools you actually need (and the ones you don't yet)
Resist the urge to buy software you don't need. For a 2026 start, this is the lean stack:
- A booking source — at least one B2B portal, set up and funded.
- A phone and a CRM-lite — even a well-organised spreadsheet or a free CRM to track enquiries, follow-ups and trip dates. Most leads are lost to slow follow-up, not bad pricing.
- UPI + a payment link — so clients can pay you cleanly and you have a record.
- Invoicing — GST-compliant invoices from day one. Many B2B portals generate the supplier invoice; you still raise your own to the customer.
- A simple online presence — a Google Business Profile, a one-page site and a WhatsApp Business number. You do not need a fancy booking website to start.
What you can skip early: an expensive standalone GDS subscription, a custom-built booking engine, and a city-centre office. Those come after you have steady volume. When you're ready for your own branded booking site, that's a white-label decision — and many B2B platforms include it, so you don't build from scratch.
What it costs to start (qualitatively)
The honest answer: less than people think, if you start from home. Your costs fall into three buckets, and only one of them is large.
| Bucket | What's in it | Size |
|---|---|---|
| One-time setup | Registration (structure, GST, Udyam, Shops licence), a laptop, basic website/branding | Modest — keep it lean |
| Monthly running | Internet, phone, software/CRM, any portal fees, marketing | Small if home-based |
| Working capital | Cash parked in your B2B wallet to issue tickets before the client pays you | The big one — plan for it |
That third bucket is where new agents get stuck. On most portals you fund a wallet in advance and it's debited the instant you issue. If a corporate pays you in 15 days but you ticket today, you need enough float to cover the gap without freezing your business. Decide your credit terms with clients deliberately, and keep a buffer. Two travel-specific tax points to budget around, as of 2026: GST on your earnings runs at 18% on the commission/deemed value (not the full fare), and TCS on overseas tour packages is a flat 2% from 1 April 2026 (the old slab structure was removed). Both can change — confirm with CBIC or your CA before you price.
How FlightGPT Partner helps
The fragmentation problem — a different login, wallet and KYC for every airline and every consolidator — is real, and it's exactly what slows new agents down. FlightGPT Partner is FlightGPT's B2B portal that gives you one login aggregating series fares, group fares, fixed departures and wholesale/net fares across IndiGo, Air India, Akasa and SpiceJet — so you compare and book from a single screen instead of tab-hopping. It comes with an agency wallet, GST invoicing and white-label options, which covers most of the tool stack a new agency needs out of the box.
It's one strong option, not the only one — plenty of agents do well on TBO, Riya or EaseMyTrip's agent platform, and you should compare them on margin, content and service. But if the appeal of starting is moving fast without stitching together five suppliers, a single aggregated wallet-based portal removes a lot of the early friction. Look at it alongside the alternatives in our best-portal guide and judge it on your own numbers.
Finding your first ten clients
Your first ten bookings won't come from Google. They'll come from people who already trust you. Mine that, then build outward.
- Tell your network specifically. Not "I started a travel agency" but "I now book flights and Thailand packages — send me your next trip and I'll handle it end to end." Specific asks get specific referrals.
- Pick one community and own it. Your housing society WhatsApp group, your alumni network, a profession. Be the person who replies in two minutes with three options and a clear price.
- Offer a reason to choose you over an app. Apps don't re-book a missed connection at midnight, sort a visa, or pick up the phone. Sell the service, not a lower fare you can't actually beat.
- Get the Google Business Profile and reviews going early. Five genuine reviews from your first happy clients outrank a lot of ad spend locally.
- Go after one corporate or SME. A single local business booking weekly flights is worth a hundred one-off leisure enquiries. Lead with reliable service and proper GST invoicing.
Deliver flawlessly for the first ten, ask each for one referral, and the next thirty get much easier.
Common mistakes that sink new agencies
Most agencies that fold do so for avoidable reasons. Watch for these:
- Chasing IATA too early. It ties up money you need for working capital and customers. Start with consolidators; revisit IATA only when direct volume justifies it. Read IATA vs TIDS first.
- No working-capital buffer. Running the wallet dry mid-booking, or extending generous credit to clients without the float to absorb it, kills more agencies than bad sales.
- Mixing personal and business money. It wrecks your GST filing and hides whether you're actually profitable. Separate accounts from day one.
- Competing only on price. You can't out-discount an OTA. If price is your only pitch, you've already lost the margin you need to survive.
- Ignoring the fine print on fares. Series, group and net fares have name-change, deadline and cancellation rules. Misread one and your margin vanishes — see net vs published fares.
- Skipping the CA conversation. GST treatment, TCS on tour packages and invoicing aren't optional to understand. Get them right early; fixing them later is expensive.
Get the boring stuff right — registration, working capital, clean books, honest pricing — and the exciting stuff (growth) takes care of itself. Browse more in the FlightGPT blog, or start comparing live fares on our routes and home pages.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need IATA accreditation to start a travel agency in India?
No. You can start and run a profitable agency without IATA by sourcing flights and hotels through B2B portals and consolidators like TBO, Riya or EaseMyTrip's agent platform, or through an aggregator such as FlightGPT Partner. IATA only makes financial sense at high direct-ticketing volumes or when a specific corporate client requires it. Most Indian agents never need it to begin.
Which business structure is best — proprietorship, LLP or private limited?
A sole proprietorship is fastest and cheapest, and fine for a solo agent testing the market, but your personal assets are exposed. An LLP or private limited company (registered on mca.gov.in via SPICe+) gives you limited liability and more credibility with corporates, at the cost of more compliance. Many agents start as a proprietorship and convert once volume justifies it. Ask a CA for your specific case.
Is GST registration mandatory for a new travel agent?
Practically, yes. The plain services threshold is ₹20 lakh turnover in most states, but a travel agent makes inter-state supplies constantly, which triggers mandatory registration regardless of turnover. You'll also need a GSTIN to register on most B2B portals and to raise proper invoices. As of 2026, an air travel agent charges 18% GST on their earnings/commission (commonly on a deemed value), not on the full fare — confirm the treatment for your services with your CA.
How much money do I need to start?
Less than most expect if you start from home. One-time setup (registration, a laptop, basic branding) is modest, and monthly running costs are small without an office. The number people underestimate is working capital — the cash you park in your B2B wallet to issue tickets before clients pay you. We avoid quoting figures because they vary widely; build your own estimate from real portal terms and a conservative booking count.
Where do I get flight and hotel inventory without airline contracts?
Through B2B portals and consolidators. You register, complete KYC, fund a wallet/deposit, and start issuing tickets at agent rates — no direct airline contract needed. For groups and volume, specialist series fares, group fares and fixed departures often carry better margins. Aggregators like FlightGPT Partner combine series, group and net fares across IndiGo, Air India, Akasa and SpiceJet under one login and wallet, which removes the multi-login headache.
What's changed on TCS for overseas tour packages in 2026?
As of Budget 2026, TCS on overseas tour packages is a flat 2% from 1 April 2026 — the earlier threshold slabs (the lower rate on the first slice and the higher rate above it) were removed. As the seller, you typically collect it. Rules change, so verify the current position with CBIC or your CA before you price packages, and check our dedicated GST and TCS guide.