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FSSAI amends licensing and registration regulatory framework
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Friday, 03 July, 2026, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Ashwani Maindola, New Delhi
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The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has amended its licensing and registration regulatory framework to provide major relief to small and medium food business operators across India.
According to the updated rules, food traders who only sell products and do not manufacture them are now entirely exempt from keeping daily inventory records.
Previously, all licensed grocery owners, retailers, wholesalers, and distributors had to maintain strict daily logs to track stock based on "First In, First Out" (FIFO) or "First Expiry, First Out" (FEFO) protocols.
Experts say that eliminating this requirement removes a massive administrative burden from daily shop operations.
To implement this change, the FSSAI added a specific provision to Schedule 2 of the Food Safety and Standards (Licensing and Registration of Food Businesses) Regulations, 2011, clarifying that "this condition shall not be applicable to non-manufacturing food businesses."
Similarly, the authority amended regulation 5.2.5 under Schedule 4 regarding FIFO and FEFO storage conditions, explicitly stating that these requirements do not apply to retailers.
According to the FSSAI, these structural amendments aim to improve the "Ease of Doing Business" by eliminating excessive red tape for daily traders.
Shankar Thakkar, national president of the All-India Edible Oil Traders Federation and National Secretary of CAIT, welcomed the initiative, noting that it frees retail shopkeepers from the constant hassle of heavy documentation.
"The government emphasised that this relaxation applies strictly to retail traders not involved in manufacturing. Food processing units, factories, and manufacturers must continue to log every batch of production to ensure that consumer safety and food quality standards are never compromised," said Thakkar.
Earlier, based on recommendations from NITI Aayog, the FSSAI had introduced several other trader-friendly measures.
Thakkar added that the recurring process of renewing food licenses every one to five years has been discarded and licenses will now remain valid for a lifetime, subject to certain conditions. Furthermore, the annual turnover limit for basic registration has been increased to keep small units out of complex tax and licensing loops, and duplicate regulations targeting roadside street vendors have been removed.
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