The registrations
Central, state and municipal, all at once.
The registrations an outlet needs come from three levels of government and do not arrive in one place. GST registration is central and is required once turnover crosses the threshold — and in practice from the start, because a franchisee paying 18% GST on rent and royalty wants the input credit. Registration under the state Shops and Establishments Act covers employment, opening hours and weekly holidays, and is a state subject, so the form, the fee and the renewal cycle differ between Maharashtra, Karnataka and Gujarat.
The municipal layer issues the trade licence, and for anything involving food or assembly the fire NOC. Both attach to the premises rather than to you, which is why they cannot be started before site control is settled.
Scroll sideways to see all columns
| Registration | Level | Applies to |
|---|---|---|
| GST registration | Central | Any outlet over the turnover threshold, and in practice from day one |
| Shops and Establishments | State | Every commercial premises employing staff |
| Trade licence | Municipal | Permission to carry on that trade at that address |
| FSSAI registration or licence | Central, via state | Anything manufacturing, storing or selling food |
| Fire NOC | State fire service | Food premises and most assembly or larger floor plates |
Food and beverage
FSSAI decides which tier you fall into.
Any business that manufactures, stores, distributes or sells food needs an FSSAI registration or licence under the Food Safety and Standards Act, and the tier depends on scale: basic registration for the smallest operators, a state licence for mid-sized ones, and a central licence for larger turnover or multi-state operation. A franchised QSR or café will normally sit in the state-licence band on a single unit.
The licence number has to appear on the premises and on packaging, and renewal is on a fixed cycle rather than open-ended. For a franchisee, the practical point is that the brand's specifications — kitchen layout, storage, water testing — are usually written to satisfy this regime, so deviating from them to save fit-out cost tends to cost the licence instead.
Order of operations
Half of these need the premises first.
The trade licence, fire NOC and FSSAI licence all attach to an address, so none of them can be completed before site control. GST and the company or LLP registration can run in parallel from the start. That ordering is what makes a wrongly chosen site expensive twice: the deposit is committed, and so is the clock on every address-bound approval.
Plan the licensing timeline against the lease commencement rather than against the opening date, and negotiate the rent-free fit-out window with the approval lead times in view rather than the construction schedule alone.
