Indian Railways, a centrally managed autonomous body, transports nearly 22 million passengers every day. Not all travelers carry food, making them reliant on meals provided on trains or at railway stations. This creates a huge opportunity for food businesses operating within the railway ecosystem, making it one of the most profitable segments under IRCTC (Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation).
To ensure the safety and quality of food served on trains and platforms, IRCTC mandates that all Food Business Operators (FBOs) working in its network must obtain a Central FSSAI License. This license is a prerequisite for signing any contract or initiating food-related services on railway premises.
To enforce food safety standards, the Government of India enacted the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, which requires every FBO associated with Indian Railways or IRCTC to be registered under FSSAI. This regulation helps streamline food quality and protects the health of millions of commuters.
To ensure food safety and standardization, the Government of India introduced the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006. Under this act, every FBO working with IRCTC must obtain an FSSAI food license specific to Indian Railways to be considered for future contracts and continue their operations.
FSSAI Food License [Sample]
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The FSSAI is a government body established in 2006 to lay down science-based standards for food articles and regulate their manufacture, storage, distribution, sale, and import to ensure the availability of safe and wholesome food for all their commuters and employees of railways.
FSSAI registration is a 14 digit registration number given to FBOs after the registration. It is now mandatory for all catering services, hawkers, hotel businesses, and food vending machine operators operating on railway premises.
This form of Basic registration is for petty FBOs whose turnover is less than 12 lakh rupees per annum.
Such as;
Hawkers, individual home bakeries, and small shop owners.
State Fssai licensing is required for FBOs whose annual turnover falls within the limit of 12 LPA to 20 crore rupees per annum (LPA).
Such as;
Food manufacturers, oil processing, local food chain owners, 3 stars 5 star hotels, and mid-day meal catering services.
FSSAI Central license is required in case of FBOs whose turnover exceeds 20 crore rupees per annum or have multiple manufacturing/processing units in different states or the FBOs who operate on-premises such as railways, airports and seaports.
Such as;
Food manufacturers, oil processing, local food chain owners, 3 stars 5 star hotels, and mid-day meal catering services.
Note: FBOs wanting to work with IRCTC need to have only a central FSSAI license.
FBOs can apply for FSSAI license on the FOsCos web portal in a few easy steps.
After submitting the form, FSSAI will proceed within 7 days if authorities accept the application, and then approval for the license is given. If it’s rejected, FSSAI will hold an inspection on the premises.
Once the thorough inspection is done by the food safety officer, approval for a license will be issued by the authorities, and the license will be issued within 30 days.
Following documents needed to be submitted for a new application for a permit to Indian Railway Licensing Authority:
| Classification of FSSAI License | FEE |
| FSSAI Central license | Rs. 7,500 |
Note: The aforementioned Fees is exclusive of GST.
Note : As per the new norm of FSSAI. The applicants are required to pay only Initial fee of ₹1000 + 18% GST on it for their FSSAI licenses. However once the application is processed and passed by the licensing authorities then the rest of the differential amount i,e respective license fee along with differential GST has to be paid by the applicant within 30 working days. If the applicant failed to pay the amount then approval will be auto rejected.
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According to FSS Act 2006, all food operators running businesses on railway premises need to have a central FSSAI license, it's mandatory to get a contract from IRCTC.
FSSAI license fee is categorized into 3 categories.
No, there is no need to submit physical documents at State offices for Central/ State licenses.
The application can be rejected based on non-compliance with FSSAI, or improper information given during filling of the application.
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