Indonesia’s New KBLI 2025 Is Quietly Redefining Company Formation in 2026

Indonesia closed 2025 with a regulatory change that has received far less public attention than it deserves. In December, the Central Statistics Agency (Badan Pusat Statistik) officially enacted KBLI 2025, a new national business classification system that replaces KBLI 2020. On the surface, the update appears administrative. In practice, it is reshaping how companies are formed, licensed, and regulated in Indonesia—particularly for new incorporations in 2026.

For founders and foreign investors, KBLI 2025 is not a background technicality. It now sits at the center of company registration, influencing everything from licensing risk levels to foreign ownership eligibility. Businesses that underestimate its impact may find themselves restructuring sooner than expected.

KBLI (Klasifikasi Baku Lapangan Usaha Indonesia) defines how economic activities are categorized across Indonesia’s regulatory ecosystem. Every company—local or foreign-owned—must select one or more KBLI codes when registering through the Online Single Submission (OSS) system.

These codes do far more than describe what a business does. They determine which licenses are required, how risk is assessed under Indonesia’s risk-based licensing framework, which authorities supervise the company, and how tax offices classify business activities. For PT PMA entities, KBLI selection also affects whether an activity is open to foreign ownership and under what conditions.

KBLI 2025 was formally established under Peraturan BPS No. 7 of 2025 and came into force in December. Crucially, the regulation explicitly revokes KBLI 2020 as a legal reference. This is not a gradual update or optional adjustment—it is a full replacement.

The regulation provides a six-month adjustment period for existing companies, setting a deadline in mid-2026 to realign their classifications. For new companies incorporated in 2026, however, there is no transition window. All Articles of Association, OSS registrations, and Business Identification Number (NIB) applications must use KBLI 2025 from day one.

KBLI 2025 introduces a more granular and modern classification structure aligned with International Standard Industrial Classification (ISIC) Revision 5. The updated framework formally recognizes activities that were previously ambiguous or loosely defined.

Digital businesses, professional services, information technology, content production, healthcare services, and specialized consulting now fall under clearer, more precise classifications. This reduces interpretive gaps that often caused OSS rejections or licensing mismatches under KBLI 2020.

At the same time, the new system narrows room for overbroad classifications. Companies are expected to define their core and supporting activities with greater precision, particularly when applying for licenses linked to medium- or high-risk sectors.

For companies entering Indonesia in 2026, KBLI selection is no longer a procedural step—it is a strategic decision. The chosen codes directly influence:

Licensing risk levels and post-registration obligations

Whether additional sectoral permits are required

Alignment with tax classification (KLU)

Operational scope permitted under OSS

Eligibility for foreign ownership under investment regulations

Misalignment at incorporation can create downstream friction. Amending KBLI after registration often requires changes to corporate documents, OSS updates, and in some cases shareholder approvals. These adjustments cost time and may delay operations, hiring, or capital deployment.

The impact of KBLI 2025 is particularly pronounced for foreign investors establishing PT PMA entities. Indonesia’s Positive Investment List frequently references KBLI codes to determine which activities are open to foreign participation and under what conditions.

With KBLI 2025 introducing more detailed activity definitions, foreign investors must now be more deliberate when defining their business scope. Selecting an overly narrow code may limit future expansion, while selecting an incorrect one can trigger licensing delays or capital compliance issues.

In effect, KBLI 2025 raises the importance of planning business activities not only for current operations, but for medium-term growth.

Indonesia’s regulatory direction favors consistency across systems rather than discretionary interpretation. OSS, tax registration, sectoral licensing, and investment reporting increasingly draw from the same classification data. This integration reduces ambiguity but also limits room for informal correction.

From a policy perspective, KBLI 2025 supports clearer supervision and more accurate economic data. From a business perspective, it rewards early accuracy and penalizes assumptions carried over from previous frameworks.

Early incorporations using KBLI 2025 have already revealed recurring issues. Some companies rely on legacy KBLI 2020 mappings that no longer exist. Others underestimate how supporting activities—such as digital marketing, data processing, or logistics—need to be reflected in their classifications.

In several cases, businesses complete incorporation only to discover that their licenses do not cover actual operations, forcing corrective filings soon after launch. These scenarios underscore why KBLI planning must be integrated into incorporation strategy rather than treated as an afterthought.

As classification becomes more consequential, many founders and investors are reassessing how they approach company registration in Indonesia. Rather than focusing solely on speed, there is growing emphasis on alignment—ensuring that corporate documents, OSS filings, and long-term business plans are consistent from the outset.

Advisory firms such as CPT Corporate are often referenced by businesses navigating KBLI 2025 during incorporation, particularly where foreign ownership, regulated sectors, or multi-activity models are involved. The focus is less on paperwork and more on preventing structural mismatches that can constrain growth.

KBLI 2025 does not change Indonesia’s investment ambitions, nor does it introduce new restrictions by itself. What it does is sharpen definitions. In doing so, it shifts risk away from interpretation and toward preparation.

For companies forming in 2026, KBLI 2025 effectively defines their legal identity from the moment of incorporation. It determines how regulators see the business, how licenses are issued, and how expansion is evaluated.

Indonesia’s introduction of KBLI 2025 reflects a broader trend toward system-driven governance. For businesses, this means clearer rules—but also fewer second chances to correct foundational decisions.

For founders and foreign investors planning to enter Indonesia in 2026, the message is straightforward. KBLI 2025 is no longer a technical appendix to incorporation. It is the framework through which your business will be licensed, assessed, and regulated.

Those who approach it early and deliberately will find Indonesia’s registration process more predictable. Those who do not may discover that the most time-consuming part of market entry is fixing decisions that should have been settled at the start.

This press release has also been published on VRITIMES