How to Open a Nail Salon in India: Costs, Licences and a 90-Day Plan
21 Jul 2026 · VIRAA Professional · 8 min read
Opening a nail salon is mostly a sequencing problem. People sign a lease before they know their numbers, or buy equipment before they know their service menu, and end up paying rent while they figure the rest out. This is the order that avoids that.
If you have not yet decided whether the business is worth entering, start with the state of the nail salon business in India.
1. What it costs
Published ranges for the Indian market cluster into three bands. These are setup costs — the money spent before you take a rupee.
| Format | Setup cost | What that buys |
|---|---|---|
| Home studio | From ₹30,000 | One chair, a lamp, a starter product kit. No rent. |
| Small independent studio | ₹5–10 lakh | 2–3 stations, basic fit-out, 3 months of stock |
| Mid-size studio | ₹12–25 lakh | 4–6 stations, designed interior, trained team |
| Franchise | ₹20–40 lakh | ₹5–10 lakh fee plus ₹10–20 lakh fit-out, brand and system included |
Where the money goes in an independent studio
| Line item | Typical range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Interior fit-out | ₹3–8 lakh | Varies most by city tier — this is the line that shrinks in tier 3 |
| Equipment | ₹5–10 lakh (premium) | Can be far lower to start; see the equipment guide |
| Sterilisation unit | From ₹1.5 lakh | Not the place to economise |
| Opening stock | ₹1–3 lakh | Colour range drives this |
| Team training | ₹2–5 lakh | Certified technicians command around 20% higher wages |
| Salary buffer | ~₹3 lakh | 4 technicians, 2–3 months, before revenue covers payroll |
| Compliance consultant | ₹20,000–30,000 | One-time, optional, usually worth it |
Most owners report breaking even in 6 to 9 months, assuming the location was chosen well and the salary buffer was real. The buffer is what people cut first and regret most.
Setting up? Start from a boxed kit. For gel polish, the Gel Essentials Kit comes with the lamp. For extensions, the Beginner Bundle has the tips, glue and cutter. Everything for a working studio, from consumables to lamps and drills, is on nail products for salons.
2. The licences you actually need
There is no single "nail salon licence" in India. What you need is a stack of ordinary business registrations:
- Shop and Establishment registration — state-level, covers your premises, hours and staff. Apply once you have an address.
- Municipal trade licence — from your local corporation. Requirements and fees vary by city.
- GST registration — see the threshold below.
- Fire safety clearance — depends on the size and floor of your premises.
- Health / sanitation permit — required by some municipalities, not all. Check locally.
- Professional tax registration — applicable in several states once you employ staff.
Get the GST threshold right. A salon supplies services, and the GST registration threshold for services is ₹20 lakh of aggregate annual turnover — ₹10 lakh in special-category states. The widely repeated ₹40 lakh figure applies to suppliers of goods, not services. If you also sell retail product over the counter, take advice on how your turnover is treated. Aggregate turnover is calculated all-India, not per outlet.
3. Choosing the site
Three questions, in this order:
- Can your target client get here easily and park? Nail appointments are 45–90 minutes and often booked around other errands. Convenience beats prestige.
- What is the rent as a share of realistic monthly revenue? Model it before you sign — the earnings breakdown by city tier gives you a starting frame.
- Is there natural footfall from adjacent businesses? Gyms, salons, cafés and clinics all send clients your way. An isolated unit means you pay for every customer through marketing.
4. Set your menu before you buy anything
Your service list determines your equipment list, not the other way round. A studio doing gel polish and basic art needs a fraction of the kit that an extensions studio needs.
Typical Indian pricing to anchor against: basic gel polish and simple nail art run ₹500–800; acrylic or gel extensions generally start around ₹800 and run to ₹1,500. In Mumbai, extensions span roughly ₹1,500–5,000; in Delhi, roughly ₹1,200–4,500, depending on the salon.
Bundling works: a manicure, pedicure and nail art sold together at ₹1,500 beats three ₹600 services sold separately, both for the client and for your chair utilisation.
What each service needs from the shelf
Before you buy anything, write the menu and put next to each service the products it uses. It turns "what should I stock?" into a list with a reason beside every line.
- Gel manicure. Prep, base coat, colour, top coat and a lamp. This is the service every studio sells and every other service builds on.
- Extensions. Tips or forms, glue, a building gel (builder gel or polygel), a brush to shape it, and a file or drill. The full product list for a set shows them in the order they are used.
- Nail art. Effect gels such as cat eye and chrome, and nail art brushes for line work. Art is what raises the ticket on a service, so it earns back quickly.
- Pedicure. A separate set of consumables, and toe tips if you offer extensions on toes.
A first stock order built this way is smaller than one built from a catalogue, and every item in it is something you will use in the first month. Add colours and extras as bookings show you what clients ask for.
5. Buy the kit, in the right order
Once the menu is fixed, the shopping list follows from it. The full checklist, split into day one, month one and later, is in the nail salon equipment and product list. This is the short version, by the size of the studio you are opening, with the products that cover each step.
A home studio or one chair
You need a lamp, a prep system and a small colour range, and nothing else. The Gel Essentials Kit is a boxed version of exactly that: the Legend Plus UV/LED lamp, twelve One Coat gel polishes, a base coat and a top coat, a file, a buffer and wipes. If extensions are on your menu, add the Beginner Bundle, which has 500 clear tips with the glue and cutter to fit them, five gel polishes, a base and top coat, a file and a buffer, or the Polygel Nail Extension Kit. Both extension kits need a lamp. Practise on a practice stand before you work on a client. All the boxed starts are on nail kits.
Two or three stations
Now the question is throughput. Plan on a curing lamp for every station, so no client waits for one: the Legend MAX (150W, 45 LEDs, with a digital display and preset timers) is built for a desk that cures all day, and the SUNX6 MAX (180W, 45 LEDs) for busy salons. See all nail lamps.
Add the prep system, which is PH Bond, the acid-free primer and a base coat, with top coats to finish. For colour, lead with the One Coat range and stock the families clients ask for first: nude, milky white and red. If extensions are on the menu, add tips and polygel, and a drill once a technician has been trained to use one.
Four stations and more
A busy studio needs lamps that keep up, dust control at every station and stock in depth. The SUNX24 MAX (380W, 84 LEDs) is the most powerful lamp in the range, and the 4-in-1 workstation combines a dust collector, drill, lamp and hand rest in one unit. Choosing a nail dust collector explains what to look for, and buying nail equipment online lists what to check before you pay. All of it is in nail equipment.
Where to buy the stock: the site first, a trade account when you reorder
While you are opening, buy what you need on the site, kits included. Once you are ordering the same things every month, a trade account is the better way to buy: the whole range is available at trade, every order carries a GST invoice, and the rate card, the shade card and the minimum order that applies to you are confirmed when you enquire. The wholesale page has the details, and nail products for salons sets out what a studio restocks and when.
A 90-day launch plan
| Days | Focus | Done when |
|---|---|---|
| 1–15 | Model the business. Rent, rates, capacity, break-even. | You can state your monthly break-even revenue as one number. |
| 16–30 | Site search and negotiation. Registrations started. | Lease signed, Shop & Establishment applied for. |
| 31–55 | Fit-out. Equipment ordered. Hiring and training. | Stations installed, team booked into training. |
| 56–75 | Stock in. Menu and price list finalised. Booking system live. | You could serve a client tomorrow. |
| 76–85 | Soft launch. Friends, family, discounted slots. | Every technician has done 10+ real appointments. |
| 86–90 | Public opening. Local Google and Instagram live. | Google Business Profile verified with photos and hours. |
Marketing spend at launch is best weighted heavily towards referrals and local search rather than broad advertising — a common split is roughly 70% referral incentives and word of mouth, 20% local Google and Instagram, 10% experiments.
The mistakes that cost the most
- No salary buffer. Revenue does not arrive on day one, and payroll does.
- Buying colour before deciding the menu. Stock is the easiest money to tie up and the hardest to release.
- Skimping on sterilisation. One infection incident ends a local reputation permanently.
- Assuming the ₹40 lakh GST threshold applies. It does not, for services.
- Underestimating your own chemical exposure. You are in the fumes all day. See the note on TPO and HEMA in the market overview.
Ready to buy? Start with a nail kit, choose lamps and a drill, or ask for trade pricing if you are stocking more than one station.
Sources
- Dingg — How to Open a Nail Salon in India
- ClearTax — GST Registration Threshold Limits
- Minou Nails — Cost of Nail Extensions in India
- IBEF — Styling India's Growth: The Indian Salon Landscape
Figures were current when this article was published on 21 July 2026. Market data and salary bands date quickly — check the linked sources before relying on a number for a business plan.
