Setting Up a Business in Indonesia

An in-depth guide for foreign entrepreneurs and companies looking to enter the Indonesian market — Southeast Asia’s largest economy, with a genuinely large domestic market offset by a foreign investment framework that varies significantly by sector.
This guide covers legal structures — the crucial distinction between a standard PT, closed to foreign shareholders, and the PT PMA, the only compliant vehicle for foreign investors — business taxation, company formation under BKPM Regulation 5/2025’s two-tier capital requirements (paid-in capital versus total investment commitment by KBLI code), the cost of labor, and immigration routes for executives, investors, and entrepreneurs, including the 2024 visa system reform and the recurring DKP-TKA foreign worker levy. Includes a dedicated chapter on the Positive Investment List and the PT-versus-PT-PMA decision, an operational checklist, and useful contacts.
Available in English.