Eating House License in Delhi (2026): What Replaced It and What It Costs

If a consultant quotes you for a Delhi Police eating house licence in 2026, you don't need it. Delhi withdrew police licensing for restaurants in June 2025. The licence that still matters is the Municipal Corporation of Delhi's health trade licence, and since June 2026 your FSSAI registration counts as that licence once you pay MCD's fee. For most restaurants the fee is ₹11,500 to ₹28,750 a year, set by seats, plus a one-time registration charge.

Most pages ranking for this search still describe the old police process, or list the documents without giving a single fee. This guide uses MCD's own orders and fee schedule.

Key takeaways

• The Delhi Police eating house licence is gone. The Lieutenant Governor's order of 19 June 2025 withdrew police licensing for "all eating houses or restaurants" and six other trades.
• In MCD areas, your FSSAI registration or licence is treated as a deemed health trade licence, under an MCD order dated 29 May 2026. It only takes effect when you pay MCD's fee.
• The fee depends on your category and seats: ₹11,500 a year for up to 20 seats, ₹23,000 for 21 to 50, and ₹28,750 above 50, plus a one-time charge of ₹10,000 to ₹20,000.
• In NDMC areas such as Connaught Place and Khan Market, FSSAI registration also counts as the health licence, under a council decision of January 2026.
• None of this covers fire safety, pollution consent, land use or a bar licence. Those are still yours to sort out.

What happened to the Delhi Police licence

For four decades a Delhi restaurant needed a licence from the police licensing unit on top of its municipal licence. That ended with an order from Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena dated 19 June 2025, which withdrew police regulation of seven trades: hotels and guest houses, "all eating houses or restaurants", swimming pools, discotheques, video game parlours, amusement parks and auditoriums, as Hindustan Times reported. The Ministry of Home Affairs notified the order at the end of June.

The old online route went with it. MCD's health trade licensing portal now carries a notice that the MHA Unified Portal has been discontinued for eating house licence services, and that applicants should use the MCD portal instead. Any guide that tells you to register on the Delhi Police licensing site, or to get a police clearance certificate for an eating house licence, describes a process that no longer exists.

Your FSSAI registration is now the MCD licence

On 29 May 2026 MCD's Additional Commissioner (Public Health) signed an order under sections 417, 420 and 421 of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957. Its core line: FSSAI registration or licence "shall be treated as Deemed Health Trade license" for 67 food business categories, from restaurants and dhabas to food courts and hawkers.

The order is not a fee waiver. It says the payment for the deemed licence "will be collected on availing FSSAI registration/license on yearly basis or corresponding to the duration" of the FSSAI registration, at MCD's existing rates. MCD opened the new portal on 9 June 2026. Hindustan Times quoted an MCD official saying an applicant uploads the FSSAI certificate, pays the fee, and gets an instant licence in 5 to 10 minutes, which becomes final once MCD verifies the details over 21 days.

So the sequence is: get FSSAI first, then pay MCD. If you don't have FSSAI yet, our guide to the FSSAI license fee covers which tier you need. Most new restaurants now qualify for Basic Registration at ₹100 a year.

MCD fees for restaurants, by category

These are the eating establishment rows from MCD's fee schedule (office order of 28 March 2025), which the May 2026 order repeats for the deemed licence. The annual fee applies from FY 2025-28.

Two rows deserve a second look before you file. The open space and terrace row is listed at ₹200 per sq ft for eating houses, so a 500 sq ft rooftop seating area could add ₹1,00,000 a year on that reading. And "independent food outlet or kitchen" is charged by floor area at ₹575 per sq ft, while "catering" is a flat ₹11,500. If you run a delivery kitchen, confirm which category MCD puts you in before you pay, because the difference can run into lakhs.

The fees also rise on a timetable. The March 2025 fee order says the annual fee goes up 15% every three financial years, so the next increase is due from 1 April 2028.

A worked example

Take a 40-seat cafe-restaurant in Lajpat Nagar, an MCD area, with turnover under ₹1.5 crore.

Add ten seats and it moves into the above-50 band: ₹20,000 to register and ₹28,750 a year. It's worth counting your seats honestly at the planning stage, because 50 is also roughly where fire safety rules start to bite. Licence fees are one of the fixed costs in our restaurant business plan template.

What the deemed licence doesn't cover

The May 2026 order is explicit that MCD is only regulating hygiene. Everything else stays with you.

Fire safety. The order says the licensee "shall comply pollution/fire safety and other statutory norms" at their own level, and that the licensee alone is liable if there's loss of life or property. MCD's general terms of March 2025 go further: an applicant who needs a fire NOC should get it before applying, and the health licence lapses when the fire certificate does. The long-standing threshold is 50 seats or more. A Delhi Fire Service circular of 9 April 2019 also referred to restaurants with 90 square metres or more, and a restaurant owner challenged that circular in the Delhi High Court in 2020. Ask the fire service which rule applies to your premises.

Gas. Where a piped natural gas network is available, the order says the food business "will operate only with PNG". Cylinders are out in those areas.

Land use and construction. The order says the deemed licence has no bearing on unauthorised construction or ownership claims. A licence on paper doesn't make a restaurant on a non-commercial street legal.

Pollution consent. Applications to the Delhi Pollution Control Committee have moved to the CPCB's UCAMS portal, according to the MCD portal's notice.

Liquor. A bar licence still comes from the Delhi Excise Department, and MCD's document checklist lists the liquor licence separately. If you serve alcohol, budget for music licences too; see our guide to the PPL license for restaurants and bars.

Inspections come later, not never

The deemed licence is fast because MCD has moved checks to after the licence is issued. Hindustan Times reported in September 2026 that MCD had issued 2,091 licences under the new system since 7 June, that new licensees were not yet being inspected, and that MCD has fewer than 200 inspectors. The plan is risk-based random checks, starting with larger establishments.

The order sets out what happens when an inspector finds a problem: a notice giving up to three weeks to fix it, after which the deemed status can be revoked. Picking the wrong category is the obvious trap. The Hauz Rani fire of 3 June 2026, which killed 23 people, involved an owner who held a "tea and snacks" licence while running a full kitchen and restaurant, as Hindustan Times reported. Choose the category that matches what you actually do, and keep these on file for the day an inspector arrives:

• Medical certificates for food handlers, including typhoid vaccination
• A current pest control certificate
• A structural safety certificate for the building
• Proof of a CCTV system that keeps 30 days of recordings
• Your fire NOC, if your seats or area need one
• Ownership papers or a registered lease for the premises

That list comes from MCD's document checklist and its published reasons for rejection. Rent receipts and electricity bills are not accepted as proof of premises.

NDMC areas and other cities

NDMC. The New Delhi Municipal Council, which covers Connaught Place, Khan Market and Lutyens' Delhi, decided in January 2026 to treat FSSAI registration as the deemed health licence for eating houses, so a separate licence is not required, per Hindustan Times. NDMC says it will keep inspecting. Ask NDMC whether a fee applies to your premises before you assume it's free.

Other cities. "Eating house licence" means different things across India. In Mumbai, eating house registration has come from the police under the Bombay Police Act, 1951; the Supreme Court's 2019 dance bar judgment lists it among the licences a venue holds. In Bengaluru there's no separate eating house licence, and the municipal licence is the trade licence; see our BBMP trade license guide for fees. For the full list of what any food business needs, start with cloud kitchen licences in India.

FAQ

Do restaurants in Delhi still need an eating house licence?

Not from the police. Delhi withdrew police licensing for eating houses and restaurants by an order of 19 June 2025. You still need MCD's health trade licence, but since June 2026 your FSSAI registration counts as that licence once you pay MCD's fee through its health trade licensing portal.

What is the eating house licence fee in Delhi?

In MCD areas the annual fee is ₹11,500 for up to 20 seats, ₹23,000 for 21 to 50 seats and ₹28,750 above 50 seats. There's also a one-time registration charge of ₹10,000, ₹15,000 or ₹20,000 for those bands. Coffee houses pay ₹11,500 a year and dhabas ₹6,900.

Is FSSAI registration enough to run a restaurant in Delhi?

In an MCD area, FSSAI registration becomes the health trade licence only after you pay MCD's fee. In NDMC areas, FSSAI registration counts as the health licence. Either way you still need a fire NOC if your premises qualify, pollution consent, a permitted location and, if you serve alcohol, an excise licence.

How long does the MCD health trade licence take?

MCD officials told Hindustan Times that the portal issues an instant licence in 5 to 10 minutes once you upload your FSSAI certificate and pay. It becomes final after MCD verifies the details over 21 days. If an inspector later finds a problem, you get up to three weeks to fix it.

Does a cloud kitchen need a health trade licence in Delhi?

Yes. Cloud kitchens are among the food businesses covered by MCD's deemed licence. Check the category carefully: MCD's schedule charges an independent food outlet or kitchen ₹575 per sq ft a year, while catering is a flat ₹11,500, so the wrong choice can cost you a lot.

What to do next

Get your FSSAI registration first, then file on the MCD health trade licence portal under the category and seat band that match your floor plan. Before you sign a lease, check the fire threshold and the land use, because no licence fixes either after the fact.

Once the paperwork is done, the fixed costs only pay off if the tables spend more. If you're opening in the capital, see how dineomAI handles restaurant ordering in Delhi, then book a short demo to see guests order and add to their bill from the table.