FSSAI registration, state licence or central licence: which one your food business needs in 2026

Until 31 March 2026 the basic registration ceiling was ₹12 lakh and the state licence ran to ₹20 crore. Raising the registration ceiling to ₹1.5 crore moved most home kitchens, cloud kitchens, small restaurants and traders from the licence regime into the simpler registration. A business already holding a state licence keeps it until expiry and can apply for the tier it now qualifies for after that.

Turnover is the total sales of the food business across all its premises in a state for the financial year. A business that expects to cross a threshold during the year should apply for the higher tier before it does, not after.

• Importers and exporters of food, for the import-export operation
• E-commerce food business operators: the platform, and sellers who operate through it in the notified categories
• Food businesses operating in premises of the central government, railways, airports, seaports and defence establishments
• Manufacturers above the notified capacity thresholds, such as dairy units handling more than 50,000 litres a day and slaughterhouses above the specified animal counts
• 100 percent export-oriented units
• Businesses with units in more than one state, for the head office, with each unit licensed in its own state

The category test is applied before the turnover test. A small importer with ₹30 lakh of turnover holds a central licence, not a registration.

State licence fees depend on what the business does: manufacturers pay ₹3,000 or ₹5,000 a year depending on capacity, hotels rated four star and above pay ₹5,000, and restaurants, traders, distributors, caterers and most other categories pay ₹2,000. Central licences are a flat ₹7,500 a year. Basic registration is ₹100 a year.

Licences have historically been issued for one to five years at the applicant’s choice, with the fee paid for the whole period upfront. FSSAI’s 2026 reform package announced a move to perpetual validity so that compliant operators no longer renew; until FoSCoS shows no expiry date on your certificate, treat the date printed on it as binding and renew ahead of it.

Where a renewal is still required, the application must be filed before expiry. FSSAI’s 2021 order allows a late renewal within 90 days of expiry at three times the annual fee, and between 91 and 180 days at five times, with no renewal at all after 180 days and no food business permitted in the gap.

Basic registration (Form A): a photograph, identity proof, and proof of the premises. Applied on FoSCoS and usually granted within seven working days, often sooner.

State and central licence (Form B): identity and address proof of the proprietor, partners or directors; proof of possession of the premises; the constitution document; a list of food categories; a food safety management plan; for manufacturers, a layout plan, the list of equipment, a water test report and a no-objection from the municipality; for importers, the IEC. An inspection may be ordered before grant, and the statutory outer limit is 60 days from a complete application.

The licence number must be printed on labels, invoices and receipts, and displayed at the premises. Manufacturers and importers holding a state or central licence file an annual return in Form D-1 by 31 May each year; milk units file half-yearly in Form D-2. Late annual returns attract a daily penalty. Every licensed business must also have at least one trained Food Safety Supervisor for every 25 food handlers under the FoSTaC scheme.

Carrying on a food business without the registration or licence the law requires is an offence under section 63 of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006: imprisonment up to six months and a fine up to ₹5 lakh. The same section applies to a business that continues operating after its licence has expired.

The practical enforcement is quieter and more frequent: food delivery platforms delist restaurants without a valid FSSAI number, e-commerce marketplaces will not list packaged food without one, and a licence in the wrong tier is treated as no licence during inspection.

Applications are made on FoSCoS. Our FSSAI service works out the tier, prepares the documents and files the application from ₹999.