Explained: What changes after NDMC exempts FSSAI-registered restaurants from getting health licence

A health trade licence is issued by the municipal bodies for eateries, lodging houses, meat shops, hawkers, theaters, auditoriums, circuses, dancing halls, gyms, and spas, among other establishments. This licence ensures that the establishments maintain hygiene, sanitation and safety.

So far, establishments have been asked to obtain both the licences — the one from the civic body and the FSSAI, operating under the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.

The FSSAI registration is valid for a period of 1 to 5 years, as chosen by the food business operator. The FSSAI licence has to be renewed at least 30 days before the date of expiry to avoid a late fee of Rs 100 per day.

Meanwhile, the NDMC granted the health trade licence for a period of one year. After the completion of one year, the establishments needed to apply for a three-year renewal.

Even after the issuances of licences, regular inspections are carried out by officials.

The move has been welcomed by industry players. Manpreet Singh, owner of ZEN restaurant and National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) treasurer, said that this move was long awaited. “Both of the licences are the same. We had requested them to regularise this for a long time after FSSAI came. This will reduce the time and hassle to get the licence renewed, which took a long time as sometimes the officials used to also trouble a lot, sometimes delaying the process unnecessarily,” he said, adding that this will make new people entering this industry easy.

“Given an option to choose between both the licenses, we would have chosen the FSSAI license because it is issued by the central body, making it more relevant,” Singh said because filing the same documents did not make sense.

Civic body’s plan to cope with revenue loss

As per civic body officials, the license yielded a high revenue for the body. A total of Rs. 3.3 crore was collected between 2022 and 2025 for a total of 1034 health licences issued.

“The average annual loss is Rs. 1.1 crore, which shall be recovered through revised property tax, service charges, or fees,” said an official, adding that any court case pending due to non-issuance of a health licence or any other licence under the aforesaid sections of the NDMC Act shall be subject to the orders of the High Court on a case-to-case basis and deemed licensing will not apply in such cases.

Meanwhile, NDMC vice-chairperson Kuljeet Singh Chahal said that the civic body will still continue to carry out inspections to ensure compliance with health, hygiene and sanitation standards in the interest of public safety.