Bali flags nominee arrangements in motorcycle-rental sector

Bali — Bali’s provincial investment and licensing agency said on Oct. 2, 2026, that it had identified a wide gap between licensed foreign-investment motorcycle-rental companies and the much larger number of operators believed to be active on the island.

Why it matters: Businesses and investors in Bali’s motorcycle-rental sector face closer scrutiny of foreign-investment licensing, ownership arrangements and compliance between permits and actual activities.

The agency recorded no more than five companies with official foreign-investment licences for motorcycle-rental activities, while field mapping indicated that about 400 to 500 motorcycle-rental businesses may be operating, according to Bali Post.

Agency head I Ketut Sukra Negara also raised concerns about alleged nominee arrangements. Under such an arrangement, Indonesian citizens are listed as shareholders while foreign nationals are alleged to control the business, Bali Post and Detik Travel reported.

The agency said oversight should continue after a licence is issued, including checks that a company’s actual activities match those authorised in its permit. The reports described the motorcycle-rental sector as a prominent example of the gap between licensing records and business activity on the ground.

The reports did not establish that every operator in the estimated 400-to-500 range was foreign-owned or unlicensed. The figures refer to the agency’s estimate of businesses operating in the sector and its count of formally licensed foreign-investment companies.

Sources

• Bali Post
• Detik Travel