FSSAI Registration or Food Licence: Which Does Your Business Need?

Under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, no one may start or carry on a food business without the approval the law requires: a registration for smaller food businesses and a licence for larger ones. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) sets the categories, and state food safety departments administer most of them. What changed in 2026 is where the lines are drawn and how long an approval lasts.

Who counts as a food business?

The Act's idea of a food business is wide. It is not only restaurants and food factories. It covers anyone carrying on any activity at any stage of manufacture, processing, packaging, storage, transport, distribution, sale or import of food, whether or not for profit. A cloud kitchen, a sweet shop, a dairy collecting milk, a cold store, a distributor of packaged snacks, a caterer and a home baker selling to customers are all food businesses. Each needs the approval that fits its size and activity.

What is generally outside it is food made at home for your own household. The moment you sell, even occasionally and even from home, you are running a food business.

What is the difference between FSSAI registration and a licence?

The order states that it supersedes all earlier orders and regulations on turnover thresholds and categorisation criteria. Before it, the limits were ₹12 lakh for registration and ₹20 crore for the move from a state to a central licence. Many websites, and some older templates, still show those figures.

What does perpetual validity mean?

The Food Safety and Standards (Licensing and Registration of Food Businesses) Amendment Regulations, 2026, notified on 10 March 2026, provide for perpetual validity of FSSAI registrations and licences, subject to risk-based inspections. In practice an approval no longer lapses after a fixed term of one to five years and does not need a periodic renewal application.

It does not mean the approval cannot end. A registration or licence can still be suspended or cancelled for non-compliance, and inspections continue, weighted towards higher-risk businesses. The obligations attached to it, such as hygiene, labelling and keeping details up to date, continue for as long as the business runs.

Which approval would these businesses need?

These are illustrations of how the 2026 turnover limits apply, not advice on any particular business. Check the activity questions on FoSCoS before applying.

What documents does the application usually ask for?

FoSCoS lists the documents for the category and activity you select. Registration asks for less than a licence. Commonly requested:

How do you apply on FoSCoS?

1. 1

   Go to the official portal

   Use FoSCoS, FSSAI's Food Safety Compliance System. Check the address before entering any details.

2. 2

   Answer the eligibility questions

   Choose the state, the kind of business and the turnover. The portal indicates whether you need a registration, a state licence or a central licence.

3. 3

   Complete the form

   Enter the business, premises and food category details, and upload the documents requested.

4. 4

   Pay the fee shown

   The fee depends on the category and is displayed by the portal before payment.

5. 5

   Respond to any query or inspection

   The authority may ask for clarification or inspect the premises before granting the approval, particularly for a licence.

6. 6

   Display the certificate and use the number

   Keep the certificate displayed at the premises, and use the FSSAI number where the regulations require it, such as on the labels of packaged food.

What responsibilities continue after approval?

• Hygiene and sanitary practice. The regulations set general hygiene and sanitary requirements for premises, equipment, water, pest control and personal hygiene of food handlers. Larger and higher-risk operations have more detailed requirements.
• Labelling. Packaged food must carry the FSSAI number and the label information the labelling regulations require.
• Keeping details current. A change of premises, ownership, food categories or the person responsible should be applied for as a modification on FoSCoS.
• Returns where they apply. Some licence holders, such as manufacturers and importers, file periodic returns on FoSCoS. The portal shows whether your category has one.
• Inspections. With perpetual validity, inspection becomes the main check, and it is risk-based. Records of suppliers, cleaning and training are what an inspector asks to see.

What should a business already registered before April 2026 check?

The order applies the new thresholds to food businesses generally and supersedes the earlier ones. A business that was licensed under the old limits, for example one with a state licence and a turnover of ₹40 lakh, now falls within the registration limit. Do not cancel or change an existing approval on your own reading of the order. Check your category on FoSCoS and follow what it, or your state food safety department, says about moving between categories. Keep the existing approval in force until the change is confirmed.

Which mistakes are most common?

• Relying on the old ₹12 lakh and ₹20 crore limits quoted in older guides.
• Choosing the category by turnover alone without checking whether the activity places you in another category.
• Starting to sell before the approval is granted.
• Describing the food categories too narrowly, then adding products the approval does not cover.
• Not updating the approval when the premises, ownership or kind of business changes.
• Using an unofficial website that charges a fee for what FoSCoS does directly.

Common misconceptions

• "A small home business does not need FSSAI." Small food businesses need a registration; being small changes the category, not the requirement.
• "Registration and licence are the same thing." They are different approvals with different requirements.
• "Perpetual validity means no more compliance." It removes periodic renewal, not hygiene, labelling or inspection.
• "An FSSAI number registers my business." It is a food-safety approval. The business still needs its own structure and any GST, shops and establishments or municipal registration that applies.

Where does Raulji Group fit?

When we set up a business, we advise on which activity approvals apply, FSSAI included, alongside the structure and the state registrations. We do not file FSSAI applications as a service. For the application itself, use FoSCoS directly or a food-safety consultant.