How to Start a Home Bakery Business in India
A home bakery needs FSSAI Basic Registration, now valid up to ₹1.5 crore turnover, proper labels on sealed bakes, and a price per kg built from real costs.
To start a home bakery business in India, you need FSSAI Basic Registration, permission to cook commercially from your home, labels that meet FSSAI's rules on anything you sell sealed, and a price per kilo built from your real costs. Most of it costs very little. The parts people get wrong are the licence tier, the labels and the pricing.
Start with the licence, because much of what you'll read about it is out of date. Several of the top guides still say Basic Registration stops at ₹12 lakh of turnover and that bigger bakers need a State Licence. FSSAI raised that limit to ₹1.5 crore on 1 April 2026.
Key takeaways
- Home bakers need FSSAI registration. Basic Registration covers turnover up to ₹1.5 crore since 1 April 2026 and costs about ₹100 a year.
- Anything you sell sealed and ready for sale, like cookies in a jar, counts as pre-packaged food and needs a full FSSAI label.
- Cakes, pastries and biscuits moved from 18 percent to 5 percent GST on 22 September 2025.
- A home business that only sells goods usually doesn't need GST registration below ₹40 lakh a year in most states.
- Price per kilo from ingredients, packaging, oven time and decoration time, not from what the bakery down the road charges.
FSSAI registration for home bakers
Every food business in India needs FSSAI registration or a licence, and a home bakery is no exception. The tier depends on annual turnover, and the limits changed from 1 April 2026, per FSSAI's own reforms release.
| Tier | Annual turnover | Rough fee |
|---|---|---|
| Basic Registration | Up to ₹1.5 crore | Around ₹100 a year |
| State Licence | ₹1.5 crore to ₹50 crore | ₹2,000 to ₹5,000 a year |
| Central Licence | Above ₹50 crore | Higher |
A home bakery is very unlikely to outgrow Basic Registration. If a guide quotes ₹12 lakh for Basic Registration or ₹20 crore for a Central Licence, it's working from the old rules.
You apply on FSSAI's FoSCoS portal with ID proof, a photograph, proof of your address and a list of the products you'll make. Registrations are perpetually valid now, though the annual fee still applies. Miss the annual fee, though, and the registration is now "deemed suspended" automatically; see FSSAI license renewal in 2026. Your FSSAI number has to go on your packaging, so register before you order printed boxes or stickers.
When your bakes need a full label
This is the part almost every home bakery guide skips.
FSSAI's Labelling and Display Regulations define pre-packaged food as food placed in a package "in such a manner that the contents cannot be changed without tampering it and which is ready for sale to the consumer". Sealed jars of cookies, packed brownies, boxed rusks and wrapped cake slices sold off a shelf fit that description, and they need a full label.
The label has to carry:
- the name of the food and its ingredients, in descending order by weight
- nutritional information
- the veg or non-veg mark
- your name and address, and the FSSAI logo and your registration number
- net quantity, retail price and consumer care details
- a batch or lot number
- the date marking
- allergens
Two details matter for bakers. For food with a shelf life of seven days or less, the date of manufacture can be left off, but the "use by" date must be on the label. And because almost everything you bake contains gluten, milk or egg, and often nuts, the allergen line is rarely empty.
A cake made to order and handed over for a party is a different case. The same regulations treat prepared food served for immediate consumption, by caterers or halwais for example, more lightly, asking for minimum information at the point of sale. If you mostly sell custom cakes, that is closer to your situation. If you're unsure which applies to a product, check with your local food safety office before you print a run of labels.
If your bakery grows past Basic Registration into a State Licence, it becomes a licensed manufacturer and must file an annual return by 31 May; see FSSAI annual return.
Egg, eggless and the veg mark
Eggless baking is a real selling point in India, and the mark has to be right. Anything containing egg carries the non-veg mark: a brown filled triangle inside a brown-outlined square. The veg mark is a green filled circle in a green square. For packaged food, the regulations allow you to add a note that egg is the only non-vegetarian ingredient, which is worth doing so customers don't mistake your egg cake for something with meat in it.
If you also hand out a printed price list, our free menu card maker puts the correct marks and allergen labels on it.
Selling on Instagram and WhatsApp
Most home bakeries sell through Instagram and WhatsApp before anything else. The same regulations cover this: when food is sold through e-commerce "or any other direct selling means", the mandatory label information has to be given to the customer before the sale, apart from the batch number and dates.
In practice, that means your product post or catalogue should list the ingredients, the veg or non-veg status and the allergens, and your FSSAI number belongs in your profile. It also protects you: a customer who knew the cake had nuts before ordering can't say they weren't told.
Take an advance at order time, especially for custom cakes. Set a cut-off, such as 48 hours before delivery, and a cancellation rule. Plan delivery carefully; a tiered cake doesn't survive a bike ride without a proper base and box.
Check your building first
FSSAI doesn't decide whether you can run a business from your flat. Your municipality's rules on commercial use and your housing society's bye-laws do, and a society can fine members who break them. Read both, and your rental agreement if you rent, before you invest in a bigger oven. We cover this in detail in how to start a cloud kitchen from home.
Price per kilo from your real costs
Home bakers commonly price by copying the nearest bakery and end up working for nothing. Cost one kilo of your most popular cake:
| Line | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| Ingredients | Flour, butter, sugar, eggs or substitute, cream, flavourings, decorations, at what you pay |
| Packaging | Cake board, box, candles or toppers if you include them |
| Oven and gas | A share of electricity and gas for the bake |
| Decoration time | Fondant work and piping take hours, and hours are your margin |
| Delivery | If you deliver, what it costs per order |
Add them, then add what you want to earn. Charge separately for custom designs, because a fondant theme cake takes several times the work of a plain cream cake for the same weight. Our free food cost calculator works out ingredient cost per batch with yield, which helps when a recipe makes more than one cake.
GST: the rate and the threshold
A home bakery that only sells baked goods supplies goods, not a restaurant service, so the goods threshold applies. That is ₹40 lakh of turnover a year in most states, and lower in a few. Below it, you usually don't need to register.
If you do register, note the rate changed recently. The GST Council moved pastry, cakes, biscuits and other bakery wares from 18 percent to 5 percent from 22 September 2025, as part of its rate rationalisation. Plain bread went to zero.
Selling through Zomato or Swiggy changes the picture, because food sold through those apps is handled differently. Read whether you need GST to sell on Zomato and Swiggy before you list.
FAQ
Do home bakers need an FSSAI licence?
Yes. Every food business needs FSSAI registration, including a home bakery. Bakers with turnover up to ₹1.5 crore need only Basic Registration, which costs about ₹100 a year. The limit was raised from ₹12 lakh on 1 April 2026, so older guides quote the wrong figure.
Which FSSAI registration does a home bakery need?
Basic Registration, in almost every case. It covers food businesses with annual turnover up to ₹1.5 crore since 1 April 2026. A State Licence is needed only above ₹1.5 crore and a Central Licence above ₹50 crore. Apply on the FoSCoS portal before you print packaging.
What is the GST rate on cakes in India?
5 percent. The GST Council moved pastry, cakes, biscuits and other bakery wares from 18 percent to 5 percent from 22 September 2025. A home bakery that only sells goods usually doesn't need to register below ₹40 lakh of turnover a year in most states.
What must be on a home bakery label?
For sealed, ready-for-sale items: the food's name, ingredients, nutrition information, the veg or non-veg mark, your name and address, the FSSAI logo and number, net quantity and price, a batch number, the date marking and allergens. For bakes lasting seven days or less, the use-by date is required.
How do I price a home-made cake per kg?
Add the cost of ingredients, packaging, oven and gas, decoration time and delivery for one kilo, then add the profit you want. Charge extra for custom and fondant designs, which take far more time for the same weight. Avoid simply copying a nearby bakery's price.
What to do next
Check your society bye-laws, register on FoSCoS, and cost your three best sellers per kilo before you set prices. If you sell anything sealed, design one compliant label and reuse the layout for every product.
If the bakery grows into a cafe where customers sit down and order, book a short dineomAI demo to see table ordering and GST billing in one system.
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