Penalty for Operating Without an FSSAI License
Operating a food business without valid FSSAI registration or a license is an offence under Section 63 of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 — punishable with imprisonment of up to 6 months and a fine of up to ₹5 lakh, on top of the practical risk of your premises being shut down during an inspection.
A concrete example first
A food stall was shut down mid-service during a surprise inspection after the operator had been trading for months without ever applying for FSSAI registration.
The legal penalty
Section 63 of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 makes it an offence to manufacture, sell, store, distribute, or import food without the registration or license required for your business — punishable with imprisonment of up to 6 months and a fine of up to ₹5 lakh.
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Check my category →Beyond the fine — practical consequences
Inspectors can shut down premises found operating without valid registration on the spot. Separately, most food delivery aggregators, marketplaces, and B2B buyers won't onboard a business without a valid FSSAI number — see FSSAI for restaurants and cloud kitchens for how this plays out with aggregators specifically.
Other FSSAI offences worth knowing
Separate, often steeper, penalties apply for selling substandard, misbranded, or unsafe food — that's a different and more serious category of offence from simply operating without registration, and isn't covered by the Section 63 penalty above.
Is there a grace period to get registered after I've already started operating?
No formal grace period exists — the requirement applies from the point you start manufacturing, storing, distributing, or selling food. If you've already started without registration, the priority is to apply immediately, since the exposure continues to accrue for every day you operate unregistered.
This article is for general information only. For your specific situation, consult a practicing CA.
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