FSSAI license fee 2026 — how much you actually pay, by turnover and category (India)

The 3 FSSAI licence categories at a glance

FSSAI classifies every Food Business Operator (FBO) — restaurant, cloud kitchen, food truck, packaged food maker, importer, exporter, marketplace — into one of three tiers based on annual turnover and scope of operations. Pick the wrong tier and your application either gets rejected or, worse, is issued and later revoked when inspection finds the turnover slab is off.

Tenure is chosen by the operator at application. The fee multiplies by the number of years — a 5-year State Licence for a restaurant is ₹2,000 × 5 = ₹10,000 paid upfront. Longer tenure is cheaper administratively because you skip 4 renewal cycles.

Basic Registration (Form A) — ₹100/year

The entry tier. Applies to Food Business Operators — legally called Petty FBOs — with annual turnover up to ₹12 lakh. In restaurant terms this is a tea stall averaging under ₹3,300/day, a very small takeaway, a hawker, or a home-based food seller in the early months.

Who qualifies:

• Turnover under ₹12 lakh/year
• Petty retailers, hawkers, itinerant vendors, temporary stall holders
• Small-scale or cottage industry food producers under ₹12 lakh turnover
• Home-based food business operators (subject to the state's specific rules)

Documents needed: PAN card of proprietor, Aadhaar, passport-size photo, proof of premises (rent agreement or utility bill), and a declaration of the food categories you will handle. That is the full list — no FSMS plan, no water test, no NOC layers.

Timeline: 7-15 working days on FoSCoS if documents are clean. Total year-one cost: ₹100 government fee plus whatever your local Xerox and stamping charges add — usually under ₹500 end-to-end.

State Licence (Form B) — ₹2,000-5,000/year

This is where 80% of Indian restaurants sit. Turnover between ₹12 lakh and ₹20 crore, operations confined to a single state, no import or export. Government fee varies by category — Schedule 3 lists the price band, and for restaurants the number is ₹2,000/year.

State Licence fee by category (Schedule 3)

Documents needed: Basic Registration list plus premises layout plan, list of food categories, Food Safety Management System (FSMS) plan, Form IX (nomination of authorised signatory), NOC from property owner if rented, and — for manufacturing — water test report from an NABL-accredited lab.

Timeline: 30-60 working days including Designated Officer verification and, in some cases, a premises inspection. Applications with a clean document set and correct turnover slab clear in 30-40 days. Applications with any of the 8 common mistakes below add 15-30 days per rejection loop.

Renewal window: file at least 30 days before expiry. Late renewal within 90 days of expiry attracts a ₹100/day late fee. Beyond 90 days the licence is treated as lapsed — you file a fresh application and lose your existing licence number.

Central Licence (Form B) — ₹7,500/year

Mandatory in three situations regardless of turnover: (1) turnover above ₹20 crore/year, (2) any interstate operations — production in one state, sale in another — and (3) any e-commerce food supply, export or import. A cloud kitchen brand delivering nationwide through a single online storefront needs a Central Licence even if turnover is under ₹1 crore.

Documents needed: everything in the State Licence list plus a source-of-raw-material declaration, IE Code for importers/exporters, ministry-issued NOCs where applicable, and a Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) for the authorised signatory. The DSC alone costs ₹500-1,500 from a licensed vendor.

Timeline: 45-75 working days — the file goes through the FSSAI regional office (not the state Designated Officer) and the FSMS plan gets a substantive review. Most operators apply through a consultant here — the ₹1,500-5,000 fee is worth it to avoid document rejection.

Complete FSSAI fee schedule 2026 (all categories)

Single reference view — every FBO type an operator is likely to fall under, and the government fee that goes with it. Fees are per year of tenure. Multiply by 1-5 for the tenure you pick at application.

Total cost of getting FSSAI — the honest number

The government fee is not the whole bill. Here is what a new restaurant operator actually spends to get and stay compliant in year one — separated into government fees, mandatory additions, and optional accelerators.

The penalty line is why every operator gets this done. A ₹2,000 State Licence buys immunity from a ₹5 lakh fine, aggregator de-listing and premises sealing. There is no operational case for skipping it.

Step-by-step: how to apply for an FSSAI license on FoSCoS

FoSCoS — Food Safety Compliance System — is the FSSAI online portal at foscos.fssai.gov.in. It replaced the older FLRS system in 2020 and is now the only accepted channel for new applications, modifications and renewals. Free to use. No third-party sites are official — the ones that appear in Google search results as fssai-license.in or similar are consultants charging a markup.

1. Create a FoSCoS account. Click Sign Up on the homepage, enter mobile number and email, verify the OTP, set a password. Use the email you check daily — every application update and inspection notice comes here.
2. Choose the licence category. Log in and open the eligibility wizard. It asks for turnover, premises type, kind of business (KoB), and whether operations cross state boundaries. It outputs whether you need Basic, State or Central. Do not guess this — the wizard is authoritative.
3. Fill Form A or Form B. Form A for Basic Registration is 1 page. Form B for State and Central Licence is 3-5 pages. Enter FBO name, PAN, address, food category codes (from the drop-down — do not free-text), Kind of Business, layout details, and authorised signatory contact.
4. Upload the document set. PDF or JPEG, each under 3 MB. Files must be named per the FoSCoS convention — "PAN.pdf", "Aadhaar.pdf", "Photo.jpg", "Premises_Proof.pdf". Rejections here are the #1 cause of application delays.
5. Pay the government fee online. Net-banking, UPI, debit or credit card. ₹100/year Basic, ₹2,000-5,000/year State, ₹7,500/year Central. Pick tenure 1-5 years — the total shown is the year-fee × tenure. No refunds if you later cancel.
6. Note the Application Reference Number (ARN). FoSCoS issues an ARN on payment confirmation. Save it — every future action (query response, correction, renewal, inspection) uses this ARN as the file identifier.
7. Track status and clear queries. Log in, open Track Application. The Designated Officer (State) or FSSAI Regional Office (Central) may raise queries — missing document, unclear layout, category mismatch. Reply within 30 days or the application lapses and the fee is forfeit.
8. Download the certificate. On approval the PDF licence appears under Issued Licences. Download, print in colour, and display at the outlet in a visible location — this is mandatory under Section 31(10) of the FSS Act. Also upload the PDF to your Swiggy, Zomato and any other aggregator dashboard within 15 days.

Documents checklist — Basic, State, Central

Basic Registration (Form A)

• PAN card of proprietor or business
• Aadhaar of proprietor or authorised signatory
• Passport-size photo of the Food Business Operator
• Proof of premises — rent agreement, or utility bill in owner's name
• Declaration of food categories to be handled

State Licence (Form B) — Basic list plus:

• Layout plan of the premises (blueprint with dimensions, kitchen area, storage, wash zones)
• List of food categories with codes from the FoSCoS drop-down
• Food Safety Management System (FSMS) plan — 4-8 page document, template available on FoSCoS
• Form IX — nomination of authorised signatory (signed by proprietor, notarised)
• NOC from property owner if rented
• Water test report from an NABL-accredited lab (manufacturing only)
• FoSTaC certificate number of at least one Food Safety Supervisor

Central Licence (Form B) — State list plus:

• Source-of-raw-material declaration
• Import Export (IE) Code for importers and exporters
• Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) for authorised signatory
• Ministry-issued NOCs where applicable (Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Tourism for hotels)
• Recall plan (for manufacturers)

Renewal — do it 30 days before expiry

An FSSAI licence does not auto-renew. You file the renewal application on FoSCoS at least 30 days before expiry. Renewal fees are the same as the fresh-application fees — ₹100/year Basic, ₹2,000-5,000/year State, ₹7,500/year Central. Tenure is again 1-5 years, chosen at renewal.

Late renewal fee: ₹100/day, applicable if you file after expiry but within 90 days. Cap is ₹9,000 on top of the standard renewal fee. Beyond 90 days after expiry the licence is treated as lapsed — you file a fresh application, lose your existing licence number, and every downstream compliance (aggregator listing, invoices, packaging labels) needs updating.

Common mistakes that get FSSAI applications rejected

Roughly 30-40% of first-time FSSAI applications bounce back with a query. Almost all rejections cluster around 8 avoidable issues.

1. Wrong turnover slab. Operators apply for Basic Registration when honest turnover is ₹15 lakh. Inspection catches it, licence gets revoked, fresh application starts.
2. Missing FBO photograph. Passport-size photo must be recent, uploaded separately, JPEG, under 100 KB. Photos embedded in the PAN/Aadhaar file get rejected.
3. Unsigned Form IX. The authorised signatory nomination form must be signed and notarised. Unsigned or e-signed Forms IX are the #2 rejection reason.
4. Wrong food category code. FoSCoS has 800+ food category codes. Free-texting the category or picking a close-but-wrong code fails inspection.
5. Incomplete FoSTaC declaration. State and Central require the FoSTaC certificate number of a Food Safety Supervisor to be entered in Form B. Blank field or "will provide later" triggers rejection.
6. Rent agreement mismatch. Address on the rent agreement must match the address on the application, character-for-character. "Shop 4, Building 12" ≠ "Shop No. 4, Bldg No. 12" — FoSCoS treats them as different.
7. Layout plan without dimensions. The premises layout must be to scale, show kitchen/storage/wash zones and include dimensions. Hand-drawn sketches without measurements bounce.
8. Missing water test report. Manufacturing categories need an NABL-accredited lab report for potable water quality. Test reports from non-NABL labs are not accepted.

FoSTaC certificate — what it is and when you need it

FoSTaC (Food Safety Training and Certification) is FSSAI's mandatory training programme for food handlers. Any State or Central Licensee must have at least one FoSTaC-certified Food Safety Supervisor on staff per 25 food handlers. A 50-person kitchen needs 2 supervisors trained. A 100-person kitchen needs 4.

Cost: ₹550 per person for the 1-day catering & hospitality course, the most common for restaurants. Where to book: the official portal at fostac.fssai.gov.in. Sessions run in every major city almost weekly, and online sessions are also available. Validity: 2 years — after which refresher training is required.

The FoSTaC certificate number must be declared in your FSSAI licence application. Missing this field is one of the top rejection reasons above. Complete FoSTaC first, then file FSSAI — that is the correct sequence, not the other way around.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the FSSAI license fee in India for 2026?

FSSAI fees in 2026 are set by Schedule 3 of the FSS (Licensing and Registration) Regulations. Basic Registration is ₹100/year. State Licence ranges from ₹2,000 to ₹5,000/year depending on category — restaurants, cloud kitchens and standalone caterers pay ₹2,000/year, 3-star and above hotels pay ₹5,000/year. Central Licence is ₹7,500/year. Tenure is selectable from 1 to 5 years and the fee is charged per year of tenure.

How much does a food license cost for a small restaurant?

A typical single-outlet restaurant with annual turnover between ₹12 lakh and ₹20 crore falls under the State Licence category and pays ₹2,000/year in government fees. A 5-year tenure costs ₹10,000. Below ₹12 lakh turnover — usually a tiny tea stall or small takeaway — Basic Registration at ₹100/year applies. Consultant charges, if you use one, add ₹1,500-5,000 one-time. FoSTaC training for a supervisor adds ₹550 per person.

What is the difference between FSSAI Basic, State, and Central licenses?

Basic Registration (Form A) is for Food Business Operators with turnover up to ₹12 lakh/year — Petty FBOs like tea stalls and small takeaways. State Licence (Form B) is for turnover between ₹12 lakh and ₹20 crore/year and covers most restaurants, cloud kitchens and caterers operating in a single state. Central Licence (Form B) is mandatory for turnover above ₹20 crore/year, or for any operator doing interstate business, export, import or e-commerce food supply — regardless of turnover.

How long is an FSSAI license valid?

An FSSAI licence or registration is valid for the tenure you pick at application — 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 years. The government fee is charged per year of tenure, so a 5-year State Licence for a restaurant costs ₹2,000 × 5 = ₹10,000 upfront. Longer tenure is cheaper administratively — one application and inspection cycle instead of annual renewals. Renewal must be filed at least 30 days before expiry.

What is the food certificate and food licence fee for a cloud kitchen?

A cloud kitchen in India needs a State Licence at ₹2,000/year if annual turnover is ₹12 lakh-20 crore and operations are single-state. Cloud kitchens listed on Swiggy, Zomato or any e-commerce marketplace must upload a valid FSSAI licence number to the aggregator dashboard within 15 days of signup. Cloud kitchens operating across multiple states, or through nationwide delivery, need a Central Licence at ₹7,500/year regardless of turnover.

Can I apply for an FSSAI license online myself?

Yes — Basic Registration and State Licence are DIY-friendly on the FoSCoS portal (foscos.fssai.gov.in). Create an account, run the eligibility wizard, fill Form A or Form B, upload documents, pay online. Turnaround is 7-15 days for Basic and 30-60 days for State. Central Licence is more paperwork-heavy — FSMS plan, digital signature, water test report — and most operators use a consultant charging ₹1,500-5,000 one-time to avoid rejection loops.

What documents are required for an FSSAI license?

Basic Registration needs PAN, Aadhaar, passport photo of the Food Business Operator and proof of premises. State Licence adds a layout plan of the premises, list of food categories, food safety management plan, NOC from the property owner if the premises are rented, and Form IX (nomination of authorised signatory). Central Licence adds a water test report from an NABL lab, source of raw material declaration, and a digital signature certificate for the authorised signatory.

What is the penalty for running a restaurant without an FSSAI license?

Operating a food business without a valid FSSAI licence attracts fines from ₹1 lakh up to ₹5 lakh under Section 63 of the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006, plus imprisonment up to 6 months. Aggregators including Swiggy and Zomato de-list any outlet whose licence lapses or is missing from the FoSCoS database. Local authorities can also seal the premises. A ₹2,000/year State Licence removes all of this risk — the cheapest insurance in the entire food business.

How long does it take to get an FSSAI license?

Basic Registration: 7-15 working days from FoSCoS submission if documents are clean. State Licence: 30-60 working days including Designated Officer verification and, in some cases, a premises inspection. Central Licence: 45-75 working days because it involves the FSSAI regional office and mandatory FSMS plan review. Applications with wrong turnover slab, missing FoSTaC declaration or unsigned Form IX bounce back and add 15-30 days per rejection loop.

Do I need FoSTaC certification along with my FSSAI license?

Yes if you hold a State or Central Licence. FSSAI requires at least one FoSTaC-trained Food Safety Supervisor per 25 food handlers in your outlet. FoSTaC training is a 1-day course costing ₹550 per person, booked on fostac.fssai.gov.in, and the certificate is valid for 2 years. The FoSTaC certificate number must be declared in your FSSAI application. Basic Registration does not need FoSTaC but training is still recommended for anyone handling food commercially.