Licences You Need to Open a Restaurant in India

To open a restaurant in India you need, at minimum, FSSAI registration or a licence, a Shops and Establishments registration or intimation, a health or trade licence from your municipal body, and GST registration once you cross the threshold. Depending on your size, building and city, you may also need a fire NOC, a signage permit, pollution consent, music licences and, if you serve alcohol, a liquor licence. The names, fees and thresholds change from state to state, and even from city to city, so treat this as a map, not a legal opinion.

Updated October 2026. Thresholds below reflect the FSSAI changes that took effect on 1 April 2026. Check the current rules with your local authority or a consultant before you apply.

The restaurant licence checklist

1. FSSAI registration or licence

Every restaurant, café, cloud kitchen, dhaba and caterer needs FSSAI approval before it starts selling food. Which kind you need depends mainly on annual turnover. From 1 April 2026, FSSAI raised the thresholds:

The old limits (₹12 lakh for registration and ₹20 crore for a state licence) are still quoted on many websites, so check the date on anything you read.

A few points that catch new owners out:

• Turnover is not the only test. Some categories have their own rules. For example, five-star and above hotels fall under the central licence regardless of turnover. Use the eligibility check on the FoSCoS portal for your exact kind of business.
• Renewals are going away. Under the 2026 reforms, licences and registrations are reported to stay valid unless suspended, cancelled or surrendered, while the annual fee still applies. Confirm the current position for your licence on FoSCoS before your validity date.
• Existing businesses moving bands because of the new thresholds keep their licence number, and FSSAI says no fee applies for that migration.
• Display your number. FSSAI requires your licence or registration number on bills and cash memos, and at the premises.

You apply on the FoSCoS portal. For a state licence, expect an inspection of your kitchen before it is granted.

2. GST registration

Restaurant service is a supply of services, so GST registration becomes mandatory once your aggregate turnover crosses ₹20 lakh in a financial year (₹10 lakh in some special category states). Aggregate turnover is counted across all your outlets under the same PAN.

You can also register voluntarily below the threshold. Once registered, you either charge GST on bills (5% for a standalone restaurant) or, if eligible, opt for the composition scheme. Our guide to GST on restaurant food covers rates, input tax credit and what goes on the bill.

3. Shops and Establishments registration

Each state has its own Shops and Establishments Act, covering working hours, holidays, wages records and staff conditions. Most require a restaurant to register, or at least notify the authority, within a set period of opening. In many places it is called a "gumasta" or "shop act" licence.

The thresholds vary a lot. Gujarat, for example, amended its Act from 16 December 2025 so that only establishments with 20 or more workers need full registration; smaller ones file a one-time online intimation. Other states have different headcounts and fees, so check your state's labour department website.

4. Health or trade licence from the municipal body

Most municipal corporations require eating places to hold a health licence, trade licence or both. This is separate from FSSAI, and checks things like sanitation, water supply, drainage and whether the building can be used commercially.

The name and process differ by city. In Delhi, for example, the MCD health trade licence is required to open a restaurant. Expect to need your property papers or rent agreement, building plan or occupancy certificate, FSSAI details and identity documents. Municipal teams do carry out enforcement drives and have sealed eateries operating without valid licences.

5. Fire NOC

A fire No Objection Certificate is issued under your state's fire safety law, usually after the fire department inspects exits, extinguishers, alarms, gas lines and electrical loads.

Whether you need one depends on your state and on seating capacity, floor area and building height. A small ground-floor outlet may fall below the threshold; restaurants on upper floors, in malls or with larger seating usually do not. Do not assume you are exempt. After the May 2024 game zone fire in Rajkot, Gujarat's municipal corporations sealed hundreds of commercial properties, including restaurants, that lacked a fire certificate or building use permission.

6. Eating house licence (some cities only)

Some cities have historically required an eating house licence from the police, on top of municipal licences. This is changing. In June 2025, Delhi withdrew the police's power to register eating houses and moved licensing to local bodies, so Delhi restaurants no longer need a police eating house licence. Other cities, including Mumbai, have had their own requirements. Check with your local police and municipal body whether it still applies where you are.

7. Signage permit

Many municipal bodies charge for and regulate sign boards, hoardings and illuminated signs, by size and location. Get the permit before you install the board, not after the notice arrives.

8. Liquor licence

Alcohol for human consumption is outside GST and is controlled by each state's excise department, so there is no national liquor licence. Licence types, fees and conditions differ by state, and the process is usually the longest and most expensive on this list. States usually expect your other licences to be in place first.

Some states, such as Gujarat and Bihar, follow prohibition, so a restaurant there generally cannot get a licence to serve liquor at all. Serving alcohol also affects your GST position: a restaurant that serves liquor cannot use the GST composition scheme.

9. Music licences

Playing recorded music in a restaurant is a public performance under the Copyright Act, so you generally need permission from the rights owners. Traditionally, restaurants have taken licences from IPRS (for the underlying music and lyrics) and PPL (for sound recordings).

This area is being actively litigated. In 2025 the Delhi High Court held that only registered copyright societies can issue such licences on a collective basis, which affected PPL; the Supreme Court then stayed part of that order while it hears an appeal. Other High Courts have restrained restaurant chains from playing PPL's catalogue without a licence. Before you pay any music licence fee, or decide not to, get current advice on who is entitled to license the music you play.

10. Pollution consent

Under the Water and Air Acts, State Pollution Control Boards can require a Consent to Establish and a Consent to Operate. The Central Pollution Control Board classifies restaurants into categories by factors such as seating capacity, and state boards apply their own versions of that list. Small restaurants are often in the lightest category, which may need little or no consent; larger restaurants, banquet operations and those using certain fuels may need full consent. Check your State Pollution Control Board's current categorisation.

Other registrations to plan for

• Professional tax: in states that levy it, such as Gujarat and Maharashtra, an employer must register and deduct it from salaries
• EPF and ESI: under the Code on Social Security, in force since 21 November 2025, once your headcount crosses the thresholds (commonly 20 employees for EPF and 10 for ESI)
• Lift, generator or LPG approvals: if your building or kitchen setup needs them

A sensible order to apply in

1. Sign the lease only after checking the property can legally be used as a restaurant and will pass a fire inspection
2. FSSAI and Shops and Establishments as soon as you have the address
3. Municipal health or trade licence and fire NOC, which usually involve inspections
4. GST registration before your first bill if you will cross the threshold or want to register voluntarily
5. Liquor and music licences last, since they depend on the others and take the longest

Budget time for inspections and keep copies of every certificate at the premises. Inspectors ask for them.

Where restaurant software fits

Software cannot get you a licence. What it can do is help you run the restaurant the way those licences assume you will: with consistent, numbered bills and correct tax on each one.

In KhaanaPina's POS and billing, each outlet has its own tax and fee lines (SGST, CGST, service charge and platform fee), its own invoice prefix and reset date, and bills that show the SGST and CGST split. The daily close summary shows the GST collected alongside cash, card and UPI. If you are opening in Gujarat, see our guide to starting a restaurant in Gujarat, and for software costs read what restaurant POS software costs in India.

KhaanaPina is restaurant management software built in Gujarat, India, for restaurants across India — QR table ordering, POS billing, kitchen display, table management, inventory and GST-ready reports on one platform. Book a free demo or read more restaurant operations guides on the KhaanaPina blog.