FSSAI license for hotels: which one you need and how to apply

If your hotel serves food, you need an FSSAI license for hotel kitchens, restaurants and even a breakfast buffet. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) does not care whether food is your main business or a side service: anyone who prepares, stores or serves food to guests is a food business operator. The good news is that the rules got simpler on 1 April 2026. Turnover limits went up, so many small hotels now need only a basic registration, and new licences no longer expire. This guide explains which category you fall into, what it costs, how to apply on FoSCoS and what you must display once you have it.

Who needs FSSAI in a hotel

Any property that serves food to paying guests needs either FSSAI registration or an FSSAI licence. That includes:

• A hotel with a restaurant, bar food or room service.
• A homestay or guest house that serves breakfast or meals, even if breakfast is included in the room rate.
• Banquet halls and catering for weddings and events on your premises.
• A hostel cafe run by the property.

FSSAI's own business table names "boarding houses serving food", "banquet halls with food catering arrangements" and hotels "providing lodging, meals, and other guest services" as food businesses. If you outsource the restaurant to a separate operator, that operator needs its own licence for the outlet. Your hotel still needs one if it serves any food itself, such as breakfast or in-room snacks.

Registration, state licence or central licence

There are three levels. Which one you need depends mainly on annual turnover. FSSAI's order dated 13 March 2026 set new limits from 1 April 2026:

Before April 2026, registration stopped at ₹12 lakh, so a large number of small hotels and restaurants that held a state licence now fall under registration. FSSAI's FAQs say existing businesses will be given time to move to the new category through FoSCoS, that the licence number does not change, and that fee already paid for a state licence is adjusted against the registration fee.

Where hotels sit in the table

FSSAI's kind-of-business table on FoSCoS (updated 1 April 2026) has a specific row for hotels:

• Five star and above: central licence.
• Up to four star: state licence.
• Annual turnover up to ₹1.5 crore: registration.

Restaurants follow the plain turnover bands above. The hotel row mixes star rating and turnover, so a small classified hotel can fall into two lines at once. When you apply, FoSCoS asks questions about your business and shows the category it thinks applies. If you are a star-classified hotel with turnover under ₹1.5 crore, confirm the category with your state's food safety office before you pay.

FSSAI license fee for hotels

FSSAI publishes the fees in the same FoSCoS table. These are per year:

Under the new rules you can pay the annual fee for several years at once, and at any time of the year.

Worked example (illustrative). A 40-room hotel with a restaurant has total turnover of ₹3.2 crore a year, of which ₹90 lakh is food and beverage. If FoSCoS places it under a state licence, the fee is ₹5,000 a year. Paying five years at once means ₹25,000 now and nothing more to pay for five years. If its category is instead registration, the cost drops to ₹100 a year, or ₹500 for five years. That difference is why the turnover question above is worth settling with your CA before you apply.

Agents and consultants charge their own service fees on top. Those are not FSSAI fees, and FoSCoS is simple enough that many owners apply themselves.

How to apply on FoSCoS

FSSAI applications are made online on FoSCoS, the Food Safety Compliance System at foscos.fssai.gov.in.

1. Check eligibility. On FoSCoS, choose your state, the kind of business (hotel, restaurant, banquet or caterer) and answer the turnover questions. The portal tells you whether you need registration, a state licence or a central licence.
2. Create your login. Register with a mobile number and email that the business will keep. Avoid a manager's personal number, since you will need this login for years.
3. Fill the form. Registration uses Form A; licences use Form B. Enter the premises address, food categories (for example, prepared food, beverages), the person in charge and your turnover.
4. Upload documents. FoSCoS lists the exact set for your category. Expect identity and address proof of the owner or partners, proof of possession of the premises (sale deed, lease or rent agreement), a photograph and, for licences, more detail such as a list of equipment, a water test report and a food safety management plan.
5. Pay the fee online for the number of years you choose.
6. Inspection, if ordered. Registration is usually granted without a visit. A licence may involve an inspection by a food safety officer before it is granted.
7. Download the certificate from FoSCoS once it is approved, and note the 14-digit number.

FSSAI's 2026 press release describes registration for small businesses as instant, with no pre-inspection. Licences still go through scrutiny by the licensing authority.

Renewal after the 2026 changes

This is the change most owners have not caught up with.

• Issued on or after 1 April 2026: the licence or registration has perpetual validity. It stays valid unless it is suspended, cancelled or surrendered, and there is no renewal application. FSSAI's FAQ is clear that you must still meet every hygiene and safety condition.
• Issued before 1 April 2026: under the old regulation, licences were granted for 1 to 5 years and had to be renewed no later than 30 days before expiry. FSSAI has said existing businesses will be given time to migrate through FoSCoS. Log in, check what your licence page shows, and do not let the printed expiry date pass without acting.

Keep paying the annual fee. Perpetual validity removes the paperwork, not the fee. Unpaid fees put the licence at risk of suspension, and a suspended licence means no food service until it is cleared. FoSCoS shows what is due. Put the fee date in the same calendar as your property tax and fire certificate.

You still apply for a modification whenever something changes: a new kitchen, a new outlet at another address, a change of owner or a jump in turnover that moves you to a higher category.

Display and billing rules

Once you have the licence, three things show it to guests and inspectors:

• The certificate at the premises. Keep it where an inspector can see it on arrival, usually at the restaurant entrance or the front desk.
• The Food Safety Display Board. FSSAI's licence conditions say a restaurant must display a Food Safety Display Board at all times at a prominent place in the premises. The board shows your licence or registration number and basic hygiene points. FSSAI's guidance suggests A4 size for registered businesses and A3 for licensed ones, with more than one board for large outlets.
• The number on every bill. FSSAI's order requires food businesses to print the 14-digit licence or registration number on cash receipts, bills and purchase invoices. Check that your restaurant bills, room service bills and any combined folio carry it. Licence numbers start with 1 and registration numbers with 2.

If you sell food through delivery apps, the platform will also ask for your FSSAI number and show it on your listing.

Hygiene checklist inspectors look at

FSSAI inspections focus on what happens in the kitchen, not the paperwork. Use this as a monthly self-check:

• Clean, pest-free kitchen with screens on windows and drains covered.
• Separate areas or boards for raw and cooked food, with veg and non-veg kept apart.
• Fridge and freezer temperatures logged daily.
• Drinking water tested, with the latest report on file.
• Food handlers in clean uniforms, caps and gloves where needed, with medical fitness records.
• A trained Food Safety Supervisor. FSSAI's FoSTaC programme trains and certifies supervisors, who then train your food handlers; ask your local food safety office how many your kitchen needs (see our staff training guide).
• Purchase bills from licensed suppliers, so you can trace any ingredient.
• Pest control contract and service records.
• Waste and used cooking oil disposed of through an authorised collector.

Keep all of this in one folder, paper or digital, so whoever is on duty can show it.

Where FSSAI fits with your other licences

FSSAI is one of several licences a hotel holds. Your city may also want a municipal health or trade licence for the kitchen, the fire department a NOC, and the police a lodging licence. Our hub guide on how to get a hotel license lists all of them, with links to fire NOC for hotels and the trade licence. For the tax side of your restaurant, read GST on hotel rooms and restaurants and our guide to the hotel GST invoice format.

If you are choosing a billing system for the restaurant, our hotel POS guide covers what to look for. GuestHawk puts restaurant, room service and room charges on one folio with the right GST rate on every line; see billing on GuestHawk or book a demo.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

1. FSSAI: order on revised turnover thresholds for licence categories, 13 Mar 2026
2. FSSAI: FAQs on the Licensing and Registration Amendment Regulations 2026, 27 Mar 2026
3. FSSAI: press release on licensing reforms and perpetual validity, 13 Mar 2026
4. FSSAI FoSCoS: kind of business, eligibility criteria and fees (revised 2026)
5. FSSAI: Regulation 2.1.7, validity and renewal of registration and licence (pre-2026)
6. FSSAI: direction on licensing amendments, incl. the Food Safety Display Board
7. FSSAI: order on printing the licence number on bills and invoices, Sep 2021
8. FSSAI: Food Safety Display Boards for food businesses

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