How to Start a Tea Stall Business in India

To start a tea stall business in India, you need permission for your spot (a vending certificate if you're on the street, which also counts as FSSAI registration, or a shop licence and FSSAI Basic Registration if you rent a unit), a location with morning and evening footfall, and a price per cup worked out from what each cup really costs you. The equipment is cheap. The location and the per-cup maths decide whether it works.

Before anything else, clear up one licence that keeps appearing in tea stall guides. Several say you need a licence under the Tea Control Order, 2005. You almost certainly don't.

Key takeaways

• On the street, the permission that matters is a certificate of vending from your Town Vending Committee under the Street Vendors Act, 2014. Since March 2026, vendors registered under that Act are deemed registered under FSSAI.
• In a shop or kiosk, you need FSSAI Basic Registration, which now covers turnover up to ₹1.5 crore and costs about ₹100 a year.
• The Tea Control Order licence is for distributors of imported tea and tea exporters, not for someone brewing chai.
• In our worked example, a ₹15 cup costs about ₹7 to make, leaving about ₹8 before rent and wages.
• Snacks sold with the chai lift the average bill more than raising the price of tea does.

The licences you actually need

FSSAI registration

Every food business needs to be registered under food-safety law, and a tea stall is a food business. How you get there depends on where you sell.

On the street, your vending certificate counts. The FSSAI amendment notified on 10 March 2026 says "street food vendors, hawkers, food trucks, carts and any such other food businesses registered under the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014 ... shall be deemed registered under the Food Safety and Standards Act", as published in the Gazette notification. You don't need a separate FSSAI application. You still have to follow FSSAI's hygiene and sanitary rules in Schedule 4.

In a shop or kiosk, apply for Basic Registration. Since 1 April 2026, Basic Registration covers annual turnover up to ₹1.5 crore, raised from ₹12 lakh, per FSSAI's reforms release. It costs about ₹100 a year and you apply on FSSAI's FoSCoS portal. Even 200 cups a day at ₹15 comes to about ₹11 lakh a year, comfortably inside the limit. Display your registration number at the stall, and keep paying the annual fee: since the same amendment, an unpaid fee makes the registration "deemed suspended" until you pay.

Permission for your spot

This depends on where you set up.

On the street. The Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014 says every street vendor identified in the town's vending survey "shall be issued a certificate of vending by the Town Vending Committee", subject to the local vending scheme and zone rules. Ask your municipal body how your town's committee runs the survey and which zones allow vending. Where a zone is full, the Act has the committee allot certificates by draw of lots.

In a shop or kiosk. If you rent a unit, you need your municipal trade licence and, once you employ staff, Shops and Establishments registration. Our licence guide covers the order to apply in. In Bengaluru, a coffee or tea stall under 200 sq ft sits in a ₹2,000 a year trade licence category; see the BBMP trade license fee list.

The Tea Control Order: not for chai stalls

Several top-ranking guides tell tea stall owners to get a licence under the "Tea Control Order, 2005" using "Form A". That order is the Tea (Distribution and Export) Control Order, 2005, and its licence clause reads: "No distributor shall carry on the business of distributing imported tea and no exporter shall export tea or export imported tea except under a business licence."

So it applies to people distributing imported tea and to tea exporters. A stall that buys tea leaves in India and sells brewed chai is neither. Don't pay an agent to get you this licence.

GST

Selling chai is a supply of food and drink as a service, so the GST registration threshold is ₹20 lakh of turnover a year, or ₹10 lakh in some special-category states. Most tea stalls are well below it. Listing on a delivery app changes that, which we cover in whether you need GST to sell on Zomato and Swiggy.

What a cup of chai really costs

Guides quote "₹1,000 a day profit" without showing the maths. Here's the maths, with assumed prices you should replace with your own.

One batch: 1 litre of milk at ₹60, 25 grams of tea leaves (at ₹500 a kilo, ₹12.50), 100 grams of sugar (₹4.50) and ₹5 of ginger and elaichi. That's ₹82 for the batch, which makes about 15 cups of 100 ml once the water boils down.

At 200 cups a day, that's ₹3,000 of sales and about ₹1,600 left each day, or about ₹48,000 a month, before rent, a helper's wages, the stall itself and the days it rains. Those fixed costs decide whether the stall pays you a living.

Cost your own recipe once, carefully. If your cup is 80 ml rather than 100, or milk costs ₹70 where you are, the margin moves a lot. Our free food cost calculator works out a per-cup cost if you enter the batch.

Location beats everything else

Chai sells at the moments people pause: before work, mid-morning, and the 4 to 7 pm break. The best spots sit on those routes: outside offices, colleges, hospitals, bus and railway stations, and markets.

Count before you commit. Stand at the spot at 8am, 11am and 5pm on a weekday and count the people walking past and how many are already buying tea nearby. A good location on a crowded route can support a second stall. A quiet one won't support the first.

Equipment

You need far less than you think: a gas stove and cylinder, a large vessel or tea boiler, strainers, a kettle or flask for holding hot chai, cups, a water container, storage for milk, and a cart or counter. Get two or three quotes for each item locally rather than trusting a national price list, because prices for carts and stall structures vary widely by city.

Keep the milk cold and buy it fresh daily, use clean drinking water, and wash anything reusable between customers. Our opening and closing checklist has a kitchen section you can cut down to a stall.

Grow the bill, not just the cups

The cheapest way to earn more per customer is to sell them something with the chai. A samosa, biscuits, bun maska or a sandwich priced near your chai roughly doubles what one person spends, without needing a new customer. Swiggy's How India Swiggy'd 2025 report counted 3.42 million samosa orders and 2.9 million adrak chai orders on the platform in one year, as reported by Storyboard18, which tells you how naturally the two go together.

Price list on a board, specials changing daily, and one suggestion every time ("samosa with that?") will do more than a ₹2 price rise. The same idea at restaurant scale is in how to increase average order value.

Franchise or your own name?

Chai franchises are widely advertised, and some will tell you a brand brings customers. Compare the franchise fee, the royalty and the required fit-out against what you would spend under your own name, and ask for the address of a running outlet you can visit. A tea stall's biggest advantage is how little it costs to start; a franchise can quietly remove that.

If the stall works and you want seating, a menu and staff, the next step is a cafe. Our cafe business plan shows how to work out whether the numbers hold at that size.

FAQ

What licence do I need to start a tea stall in India?

On the street, a certificate of vending from your Town Vending Committee, which since March 2026 also counts as FSSAI registration. In a shop, a trade licence and FSSAI Basic Registration, which costs about ₹100 a year. GST registration is needed only above ₹20 lakh of annual turnover.

Do I need a Tea Board licence for a chai stall?

No. The Tea (Distribution and Export) Control Order, 2005 requires a licence for businesses distributing imported tea and for tea exporters. A stall that buys tea in India and sells brewed chai is neither, despite what several online guides say.

How much profit does a tea stall make per cup?

In our worked example with assumed prices, a ₹15 cup costs about ₹7 in ingredients, cup and gas, leaving about ₹8. At 200 cups a day that is roughly ₹1,600 a day before rent, wages and other fixed costs. Cost your own recipe, because milk price and cup size change it a lot.

How much does it cost to start a tea stall?

The basic equipment is a stove and cylinder, a boiler or large vessel, strainers, a flask, cups, water storage and a cart or counter, plus FSSAI Basic Registration at about ₹100 a year if you're in a shop rather than on the street. Prices for carts and stalls vary widely by city, so get local quotes before setting a budget.

Is a tea stall business profitable in India?

It can be, on a busy route with steady morning and evening footfall, because each cup costs little to make. Profit depends on daily volume, rent and wages. Count footfall at your spot before starting, and add snacks to raise what each customer spends.

What to do next

Pick two or three possible spots, count footfall at each at 8am, 11am and 5pm, and cost your recipe per cup. If you're on the street, ask your municipal body about the vending certificate, which also covers FSSAI registration; in a shop, apply for FSSAI Basic Registration. Start with chai and two snacks, and add more only once you know what sells.

If your stall grows into a cafe where people sit down, book a short dineomAI demo to see table ordering and GST billing in one system.