FSSAI Central Licence — above ₹50 crore, or anyone who imports, exports or sells online.
Issued by FSSAI’s Central Licensing Authority. ₹7,500 a year, flat. For many businesses turnover is irrelevant — the kind of business puts them here on day one.
Is this your licence?
- Any food business with annual turnover above ₹50 crore
- Importers — at any turnover
- Exporters: 100% export-oriented units, manufacturer-exporters and trader-exporters — at any turnover
- E-commerce food businesses running their own platform
- Health supplement and nutraceutical manufacturers
- Hotels rated 5-star and above
- The head or registered office of a business operating in two or more States or UTs
- Food businesses at airports and seaports, and in Central Government agencies
Not this one, if…
- Grain, cereal and pulses mills — they stay on a State Licence at any turnover
- Two rows carry a lower ₹2,000 Central fee: catering at Central Government establishments, and food businesses at railway stations
Central-licensed manufacturers in high-risk categories — dairy, meat, fish, eggs, foods for special nutritional uses, prepared foods and packaged drinking water — also owe an annual third-party food safety audit by an FSSAI-recognised auditor.
FSSAI Kind of Business eligibility table, updated 01.04.2026
2026 tablePer FSSAI’s table updated 01.04.2026. We confirm your kind of business before filing.
What FoSCoS will ask for.
The typical list for a Central Licence. FoSCoS asks per kind of business, so we send you the exact checklist for yours before you gather anything.
- Form B, signed by the proprietor, a partner or a director
- Photo ID and address proof of the proprietor, partners or directors
- Proof of possession of the premises
- Constitution of the business — partnership deed, MoA/AoA or incorporation certificate
- List of food categories you will make, store or sell
- Food Safety Management System (FSMS) plan
- Nomination of a responsible person (Form IX, for companies)
- Layout plan of the processing area, with dimensions
- List of equipment and machinery, with capacity
- Water test report from an FSSAI-notified or NABL lab, where water goes into the food
- Importer-Exporter Code (IEC) from DGFT, for import and export
- Star-classification certificate from the Ministry of Tourism, for hotels
- List of premises by state, for a head-office licence
Exactly what you’re paying for.
Included
- Free 10-minute check — tier and kind of business confirmed against the 2026 table
- A document checklist written for your kind of business
- Every document reviewed before anything is filed
- Fixed fee confirmed in writing before we start
- Application prepared and filed on your own FoSCoS login
- Guidance through the government-fee payment — paid by you, straight to FSSAI
- Portal queries answered until grant, however many rounds
- Updates at each stage — filed, query, granted
- Certificate checked on issue — name, address and kind of business
- Food Safety Display Board — the format and where it goes
- How your number and the FSSAI logo go on your label
- First-year compliance calendar, every date with its rule
- A reminder before your first annual fee falls due
- Layout plan and equipment list checked before filing
- FSMS plan drafted for your premises — not a template
- Water-test and medical-fitness requirements explained, with notified labs (the lab bills you)
- FoSTaC supervisors you need, worked out — one per 25 food handlers
- Inspection preparation if the authority visits
- Form D-1 return date on your calendar where you make or import
- Central eligibility confirmed — by turnover or by kind of business
- IEC, star certificate and other kind-specific documents checked
- Head-office licence application where you trade in two or more states
- Third-party audit schedule on your calendar for high-risk categories
Not included
- The ₹7,500 government fee (paid by you)
- Third-party audit agency fees
Anything outside scope is quoted in writing before we do it.
The mistakes we see most.
Importers are Central at any turnover.
Operating in two or more states adds one.
The import licence falls with it.
Four steps, on your own login.
Confirm the kind of business
Matched against the 2026 table and your documents, so the licence describes what you actually do.
Free first callPrepare the file
Checklist, document review, layout plan check and FSMS plan — nothing goes in until it’s right.
Reviewed by usFile on FoSCoS
Submitted on your login with your approval. You pay ₹7,500 a year directly to FSSAI.
Your login, your feeGrant, then the calendar
Queries and any inspection handled until the certificate issues. Then the obligations below start.
Kept valid afterNo renewal — but these keep it valid.
Missing the annual fee or a required return puts the licence under deemed suspension. The rest are what inspectors ask for.
Let us run this calendarWhat changes when your file is kept.
From hoping nobody checks to ready whenever they do.
The right licence for what you actually do, filed first time on your own login.
Every fee, return and test on a calendar someone else is watching.
Every pack checked against the rules before the printer — not after an officer reads it.
The folder an officer asks for, ready and current, whenever they walk in.
New outlets, new states, marketplaces, imports and exports — without starting from zero.
Our promises, in writing
You get the fee before we start. If the scope changes, you hear it from us before it costs you.
We file on your own FoSCoS account with your approval. Nothing to hand back if you ever leave.
Straight to FSSAI on FoSCoS. It never passes through us.
Each requirement comes with the regulation behind it — and our readings are marked as ours.
Central Licence questions
I’m a small importer. Do I really need a Central Licence?
Yes. Importers are licensed centrally at any turnover, and the licence is tied to your Importer-Exporter Code — if DGFT suspends or cancels the IEC, the FSSAI import licence is deemed cancelled with it (Import Regulations, reg. 4(4)).
What’s the head-office licence?
If you operate in two or more States or UTs, your head or registered office needs its own Central Licence, in addition to the licence each premises holds.
Do I need a third-party audit?
Every year, if you’re a Central-licensed manufacturer in a high-risk category. A State commissioner can also direct any business to get one at its own cost under the new regulation 2.1.17(5).
Is there a ₹10,000 fee for importers?
No. Several websites still publish ₹10,000 for importers and ₹15,000 for large manufacturers. Neither figure appears in the current table — the Central fee is ₹7,500.
Start your Central Licence today.
Book a free 10-minute check. A person — not a bot — calls you back within working hours, tells you exactly which licence you need and what it costs, before you commit to anything.
- Government fee paid by you, directly to FSSAI
- Filed under your own FoSCoS login
- Fixed fee, confirmed in writing before we start
Not ready to talk? Get the free 2026 checklist or find your licence yourself.