Consulting Company in Indonesia: IT, Ownership and Licences
A consulting company in Indonesia can be fully foreign-owned. What that means for IT and management consulting, which licence follows, and the few exceptions.
References (8)
- Perpres No. 10 Tahun 2021 on investment business fields, as amended by Perpres No. 49 Tahun 2021. Article 2(1), every business field open to investment unless closed or reserved to the central government. Article 11(2), finance and banking. Article 13, sector law. Lampiran II, entries 49 to 52, fields allocated to co-operatives and micro, small and medium businesses. Lampiran III, fields with foreign-ownership limits.
- Peraturan BPS No. 7 Tahun 2025 (KBLI 2025), in force 18 December 2025, as amended by Peraturan BPS No. 6 Tahun 2026. Lampiran, the computer programming and consulting division and the management consulting division, with their stated exclusions.
- PP No. 28 Tahun 2025 on risk-based business licensing, in force 5 June 2025. Article 185, the investment sector. Article 186, the electronic systems sector. Article 213(3), supporting activities. Lampiran I.T, other management consulting. Lampiran I.U, electronic systems activities.
- Peraturan Menteri Investasi dan Hilirisasi/Kepala BKPM No. 5 Tahun 2025, in force 2 October 2025. Article 35(6) and (7), supporting activities that earn revenue. Article 270(3)(d), a representative office may not earn income in Indonesia.
- PP No. 71 Tahun 2019 on electronic systems and transactions. Article 2(5), private-scope electronic system operators. Article 6, registration before users start using the system. Permenkominfo No. 5 Tahun 2020 (amended only in Article 47 by Permenkominfo No. 10 Tahun 2021), Article 2, the same duty to register.
- UU No. 18 Tahun 2003 on advocates, Articles 3 and 23. UU No. 5 Tahun 2011 on public accountants, Article 3. PMK No. 111/PMK.03/2014 on tax consultants, as amended by PMK No. 175/PMK.01/2022, Article 2. UU No. 6 Tahun 2017 on architects, Articles 18 and 20.
- UU No. 25 Tahun 2007 on investment, Article 5(2), foreign investment in the form of a limited company.
- UU No. 40 Tahun 2007 (the Company Law). Articles 18 and 21, business activities in the articles of association and amendments needing the Minister's approval.
A foreign investor can own a consulting company in Indonesia outright. Management consulting and IT services appear on neither the foreign-ownership list nor the list reserved for co-operatives and small businesses, so the business is set up as a PT PMA (Perseroan Terbatas Penanaman Modal Asing, a foreign-investment limited company) with up to 100% foreign shareholders.
General management consulting (the “other management consulting” heading) needs only the NIB (Nomor Induk Berusaha, the business identification number), issued automatically. A few specialised IT activities need a certificate on top of it. And a few kinds of advice — legal, audit, licensed tax work, architecture — are professions with rules of their own.
Can a foreigner own a consulting company in Indonesia?
Yes. Indonesia’s investment list works the other way round from a permission list: every business field is open to investment unless it is closed or reserved to the central government (Perpres 10/2021 as amended by Perpres 49/2021, Article 2(1)). Open fields can carry conditions, and the fields with foreign-ownership limits are listed in Lampiran III of that regulation, and none of them touches IT or consulting.
Unless a law provides otherwise, foreign investment has to take the form of a PT PMA (UU 25/2007, Article 5(2)). A representative office is not an alternative here: it may not earn income in Indonesia, so it cannot sell consulting or IT services (Permeninves/BKPM 5/2025, Article 270(3)(d)).
Our guide to the company forms open to foreign investors sets the two side by side. A PT PMA also has an investment plan and paid-up capital to meet, and how those two tests work is explained separately.
There is a narrow reservation. Transport consulting, architecture, engineering and laboratory testing that use simple or intermediate technology are allocated to Indonesian co-operatives and micro, small and medium businesses (Perpres 49/2021, Lampiran II, entries 49 to 52). That is consulting which is really engineering. Management and IT consulting do not appear on that list.
“Open to 100%” means the investment list sets no ceiling. The rules of each profession still apply alongside it (Perpres 10/2021, Article 13), and those are covered further down.
Management consulting or IT: two kinds of business line
Every business line is chosen from KBLI 2025 (Klasifikasi Baku Lapangan Usaha Indonesia, the government’s standard business classification, set by Peraturan BPS 7/2025, from Badan Pusat Statistik, the statistics agency). Consulting and IT fall into different parts of it.
Management consulting
KBLI 2025 describes management consulting as advice and help to other businesses on management questions: strategy and organisation, financial decisions, marketing policy, human resources policy and practice, production planning and control.
It also says what management consulting is not. Legal advice, accounting and audit, tax advice, architecture and engineering, executive search and education consulting each have headings of their own.
IT services
KBLI 2025 groups IT work into four areas:
- computer programming: writing, customising, testing and supporting software and applications
- IT consulting and facilities management: advice on hardware, software and systems, systems integration, and running a client’s systems on site
- other IT services, such as disaster recovery, software installation and digital forensics
- hosting, data processing and computing infrastructure
Two things that sound like IT are classified elsewhere. Software publishing sits in a different category, and financial services delivered through software are a financial activity, not an IT one.
Advising and building are two business lines
KBLI puts advice on a client’s software needs under IT consulting, not programming, and repeats that under each programming heading. A firm that advises and also builds therefore registers two lines. For a PT PMA, each main line carries its own investment test. A supporting line that earns no revenue of its own is exempt from that test (PP 28/2025, Article 213(3); Permeninves/BKPM 5/2025, Article 35(6) and (7)). So the main lines are worth choosing carefully, and MAM advises on them before the deed is drafted.
IT consulting regulations: which licence follows
Other management consulting is one of the activities licensed in the investment sector, the sector for work that has no line ministry of its own (PP 28/2025, Article 185).
At that heading it is low risk at every business size. The licence is the NIB alone, issued automatically, and the one obligation listed for it is a quarterly LKPM (Laporan Kegiatan Penanaman Modal, the investment activity report) filed through OSS (Online Single Submission, the government’s licensing system) (PP 28/2025, Lampiran I.T). Our note on avoiding LKPM mistakes covers that report.
For ordinary programming and IT consulting, our guide to how OSS and KBLI decide a licence explains the method, and we confirm what applies to your lines before anything is filed.
A handful of IT activities that the government treats as sensitive have their own licensing rules (PP 28/2025, Article 186 and Lampiran I.U):
| Risk level | Licence | |
|---|---|---|
| Other management consulting | Low | The NIB alone, issued automatically |
| AI programming, blockchain, IoT design, game publishing | Medium-low | NIB and a standard certificate |
| Digital identity, electronic certificates | Medium-high | NIB and a verified standard certificate; electronic certificates for large businesses only |
Running your own platform or app
If the company runs its own platform or app for one of the purposes listed in PP 71/2019, Article 2(5), such as selling goods or services, payments, paid content or communication, it registers as an electronic system operator, or PSE (Penyelenggara Sistem Elektronik), through OSS before users start using it (PP 71/2019, Articles 2(5) and 6; Permenkominfo 5/2020, Article 2). Our guide sets out who must register, and how.
Advice that is a regulated profession
A few kinds of advice are professions with their own licences, and a general consulting company does not offer them under its business licence:
- Legal advice is given by Indonesian advocates, through an advocates’ office (UU 18/2003, Articles 3 and 23).
- Audit and other assurance are given only by licensed public accountants (UU 5/2011, Article 3).
- Practising as a licensed tax consultant requires Indonesian citizenship and residence, among other conditions (PMK 111/PMK.03/2014 as amended by PMK 175/PMK.01/2022, Article 2).
- Architecture: a foreign architect works in partnership with an Indonesian architect (UU 6/2017, Articles 18 and 20), and architecture and engineering work that uses simple or intermediate technology is allocated to Indonesian co-operatives and smaller businesses, as above.
Questions people ask
What is the KBLI code for management consulting?
Can a representative office sell consulting services?
Is a fintech company an IT company?
Can we add IT work to a consulting company later?
What this means for you
A consulting company in Indonesia can be wholly foreign-owned as a PT PMA, and general management consulting is licensed with the NIB alone. For IT work, which of your lines needs more than the NIB is settled before the deed is signed. Our PT PMA formation work takes it from there.