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FSSAI notifies 2026 Amendment Regulations changing how food businesses operate
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Wednesday, 18 March, 2026, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Ashwani Maindola, New Delhi
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Following a review by a NITI Aayog High-Level Committee, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has officially notified the 2026 Amendment Regulations, fundamentally changing how food businesses operate across the country.
The new rules aim to reduce the compliance burden on small-scale entrepreneurs while maintaining rigorous safety standards through a risk-based oversight model, wherein the ‘Registration’ category, previously reserved for very small operations, has been expanded to include businesses with an annual turnover of up to Rs 1.5 crore.
And ‘Businesses’ earning between Rs 1.5 crore and Rs 50 crore will now fall under the ‘State Licence’ category, while the ‘Central Licence’ bracket will apply only to those exceeding ?50 crore.
This change in regulations is set to take effect on April 1, 2026.
The FSSAI, in a statement, said that based on recommendations of NITI Aayog’s High Level Committee on Non-Financial Regulatory Reforms and subsequent approval of Food Authority and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India has notified the Food Safety and Standards (Licensing and Registration of Food Businesses) Amendment Regulations, 2026, relating to provisions for addressing dual compliance requirements for registration of street food vendors, perpetual validity of FSSAI registration and licence subject to risk-based inspections and enabling provisions for specifying turnover thresholds and other categorisation criteria by the Food Authority.
Meanwhile, by broadening these limits, the regulator is effectively moving thousands of small and medium enterprises out of complex licensing queues and into a more streamlined registration process.
Beyond the financial shifts, the 2026 amendments introduce ‘perpetual validity’ for FSSAI registrations and licences. This decision eliminates the need for periodic renewals, which has long been a source of administrative fatigue for Food Business Operators (FBOs).
However, this permanent status is not unconditional and it is strictly tied to a new system of risk-based inspections.
Further, the industry welcomed the move. In a statement issued by CAIT secretary-general and Member of Parliament Parveen Khandelwal, granting perpetual validity to FSSAI licences and registrations is a historic reform, which clearly reflects the Government’s commitment to promoting ease of doing business.
He noted that the requirement of renewing licences every year or periodically has long been a complicated and time-consuming exercise, which often created unnecessary hurdles for businesses and sometimes led to delays and corruption in the system.
“The new system of perpetual licences will remove such roadblocks and significantly simplify compliance requirements for food business operators,” said Khandelwal.
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