How to Register Your Restaurant on Zomato and Swiggy (2026)

To register your restaurant on Zomato or Swiggy, you'll need an FSSAI license, GST registration, a PAN card, and a cancelled cheque, submitted through each platform's own partner portal, followed by a document check and usually a site visit before you go live. Most restaurants clear the whole process in one to two weeks. Here's exactly what you need, how each platform's sign-up works, what it costs to get listed, and the one decision worth making before you do.

Key takeaways

• You need the same core documents for both platforms: FSSAI license, GST certificate, PAN, a cancelled cheque, and your menu with photos.
• FSSAI rules changed on 1 April 2026, and most small and mid-sized restaurants now qualify for the cheapest tier, Basic Registration, where many used to need a costlier State License.
• Selling through Zomato or Swiggy generally means you need GST registration too, whatever your turnover, and you can't use the GST composition scheme once you're listed on an aggregator.
• Zomato charges a one-time onboarding fee as a condition of listing; neither platform publishes an exact rupee figure, so confirm the current amount with your account manager before you sign.
• Registering gets you delivery reach. It doesn't have to define how guests order when they're already sitting in your restaurant.

What documents do you need to register?

Both platforms ask for the same core paperwork, since it's largely what Indian law requires to sell food commercially, not something either app invented.

• FSSAI license or registration, the food safety certificate every food business needs
• GST registration certificate
• PAN card, business or proprietor's
• Cancelled cheque or bank proof, for payouts
• Business address proof (a rental agreement, utility bill, or your Shop and Establishment registration)
• Menu with photos of your dishes and, usually, your storefront

Have these scanned and ready before you start. Missing one document is the single biggest reason listings stall midway.

Once you're listed, the same billing system has to keep an aggregator order and a dine-in order straight, since they're taxed differently. Our roundup of the best restaurant billing software in India covers what to look for.

How to register on Zomato

Zomato takes new restaurant sign-ups through its partner page at zomato.com/business, or through the Zomato Restaurant Partner app.

1. Submit your restaurant's basic details: name, address, cuisine, and contact information.
2. Upload your FSSAI license, GST certificate, PAN, and bank details.
3. Upload your menu and photos of your dishes and space.
4. A Zomato representative typically visits your restaurant to verify the documents and take photos for your listing.
5. Once verification clears, your listing goes live and you start receiving orders.

How to register on Swiggy

Swiggy runs its onboarding through partner.swiggy.com, and its own partner guide walks through the same document list below.

1. Register your restaurant's details on the partner portal.
2. Upload the same core set: FSSAI license, GST certificate, PAN, cancelled cheque, a copy of your menu, and a takeaway bill sample.
3. Submit your business address proof.
4. Swiggy reviews the submission and, in many cases, arranges a visit or a verification call.
5. Once approved, your menu goes live on the app.

What does it cost to register?

There's the paperwork cost, and there's what the platform itself charges. They're not the same thing.

Zomato charges a one-time onboarding fee as a condition of listing, confirmed in Zomato's own onboarding fee terms. Neither Zomato nor Swiggy publishes a fixed rupee amount for this fee on a public pricing page, and reported figures vary restaurant to restaurant, so treat any specific number you see online as unconfirmed. Ask your onboarding contact for the current fee before you commit, and get it in writing.

That onboarding fee is separate from the ongoing commission on every order, which we cover in detail in what Zomato and Swiggy commission really costs restaurants. It's also separate from the per-order "platform fee" both apps charge diners at checkout, which has nothing to do with your registration at all, and which both platforms raised in March 2026. Once you're live, the next thing worth understanding is when the money actually reaches your account.

How long does registration take?

Most restaurants go live within one to two weeks of submitting a complete set of documents, on either platform. The most common reason it drags past that is a document, a mismatch between your GST name and your FSSAI registration usually, so it's worth double-checking that your paperwork lines up before you submit.

The FSSAI license: what changed in 2026

FSSAI licensing has three tiers, based on your turnover, and 2026 brought a genuinely big change to where those tiers sit.

Effective 1 April 2026, FSSAI raised these turnover limits sharply. Basic Registration now covers turnover up to ₹1.5 crore (it was ₹12 lakh), the State Licence runs from ₹1.5 crore to ₹50 crore, and the Central Licence applies above ₹50 crore, per FSSAI's own reforms release. Licences are also perpetually valid now, with no periodic renewal, though the annual fee still applies. In practice, most restaurants that once needed the pricier State Licence now qualify for the cheap, simple Basic Registration. If you registered before April 2026, it's worth checking whether you now sit in a lighter tier. Opening a delivery-only operation rather than a dine-in restaurant? Our guide to starting a cloud kitchen in India covers the same licensing from that angle, and if you're cooking at home, running a cloud kitchen from home covers the extra hurdles a residential address brings.

Whichever tier applies, FSSAI is mandatory to sell food in India at all, aggregator or not. Neither Zomato nor Swiggy will complete your listing without it.

Do you need GST registration to list?

In practice, generally yes. Regular GST registration kicks in once your turnover crosses ₹20 lakh (₹10 lakh in some special-category states), but selling through an aggregator changes the calculation. The exemption that lets small service sellers skip GST registration specifically excludes services notified under Section 9(5) of the GST law, and restaurant food sold through a platform like Zomato or Swiggy has been notified under that section since January 2022. The widely held reading among tax practitioners is that this leaves aggregator-listed restaurants needing GST registration regardless of turnover.

There's a related nuance. The GST composition scheme, the flat 5%-of-turnover option many small restaurants use to simplify their tax, is widely assumed to be off-limits to a restaurant selling through Zomato or Swiggy, since the scheme bars composition dealers from supplying through an e-commerce platform. But whether that bar actually applies to restaurant food is debated, because the platform, not the restaurant, is the tax-liable party on those orders. We unpack the question in do you need GST to sell on Zomato and Swiggy, and go deeper on rates and the scheme in GST on restaurant food, rates explained.

Practically: on orders placed through the app, the platform itself collects and remits the 5% GST as the deemed seller, so you're not double-taxing the same order. But you'll almost certainly need to be GST-registered to list in the first place, so check with your CA before you assume you're exempt.

Should you register on both, or just one?

Most restaurants end up on both, since Zomato and Swiggy split the delivery market close to evenly in most Indian cities, and skipping one just hands that half to a competitor down the street. Running both isn't much extra admin once the first listing is live, since the document set is identical.

The harder question isn't which platform. It's how much of your business you let either one own.

Registering gets you delivery. It shouldn't get your dining room too

Here's the thing nobody mentions during onboarding. Registering on Zomato and Swiggy is about reach, a customer three kilometres away who's never heard of you finds your menu and orders. That's worth the commission.

It's a different story for the guest who's already walked in, sat down, and scanned a QR code at your table. That order was never going to come from anywhere but your own dining room, and routing it through an aggregator's dine-in program just to take payment means paying a platform commission on a customer you didn't need any help finding. We've laid out exactly what that costs in Zomato and Swiggy commission, the real numbers.

The honest split is simple: keep the aggregators for what they're actually good at, delivery reach, and take dine-in ordering in-house. A QR code plus AI chat ordering, like dineomai runs, takes the table order directly in the diner's own language, on a flat monthly fee with zero commission on what it sells, and suggests the pairing a busy waiter would forget to. Register on Zomato and Swiggy for the customers you haven't met yet. Keep the ones already at your table.

FAQ

What documents do I need to register on Zomato or Swiggy?

You need an FSSAI license, a GST registration certificate, a PAN card, a cancelled cheque for payouts, business address proof, and your menu with photos of your dishes. Both platforms ask for essentially the same set, since it reflects what Indian law requires to sell food, not a platform-specific rule.

Is there a fee to register on Zomato or Swiggy?

Zomato charges a one-time onboarding fee as a condition of listing, confirmed in its partner terms, though it doesn't publish a fixed public amount, so confirm the current figure with your onboarding contact. This is separate from the ongoing commission on each order and from the platform fee charged to diners at checkout.

How long does it take to get listed on Zomato or Swiggy?

Most restaurants go live within one to two weeks of submitting a complete document set. Delays usually come down to a missing or mismatched document, most often a GST name that doesn't match the FSSAI registration, so check that your paperwork is consistent before you submit.

Do I need GST registration to sell on Zomato or Swiggy?

Generally yes. Restaurant food sold through an aggregator has been notified under Section 9(5) of the GST law since 2022, and the exemption that lets small sellers skip GST registration specifically excludes that category, so most aggregator-listed restaurants need to be GST-registered regardless of turnover. You also can't use the GST composition scheme once you're selling through a platform.

What FSSAI license do I need for a small restaurant?

Since 1 April 2026, Basic Registration covers turnover up to ₹1.5 crore, up sharply from the old ₹12 lakh limit, so most small and mid-sized restaurants now qualify for it. FSSAI is mandatory either way, whether or not you list on an aggregator, and neither Zomato nor Swiggy will complete onboarding without it.

What to do next

Gather your FSSAI license, GST certificate, PAN, and a cancelled cheque, and check which FSSAI tier you actually qualify for under the 2026 thresholds before you assume you need the pricier license. Register on zomato.com/business and partner.swiggy.com for the delivery reach, then decide separately how your dine-in guests order. Those are two different businesses sharing one kitchen, and the mistake we see most often is letting the aggregator decide both. Read what Zomato and Swiggy commission really costs restaurants before you sign, and if you're weighing what should run the room itself, start with POS vs ordering system and how to increase average order value. Then book a short dineomai demo and keep the table orders that were always yours.