A cloud kitchen is a delivery-only restaurant, so start small in a rented commercial kitchen with one cuisine and a short menu, and list on Zomato and Swiggy, which ask for your PAN, GST number if applicable, FSSAI licence, menu, food photos and bank details. Under FSSAI's table revised from 1 April 2026, a restaurant including a delivery-only one needs just a Registration at Rs 100 a year up to Rs 1.5 crore turnover, a State Licence (Rs 5,000) up to Rs 50 crore and a Central Licence above that, all applied for on FoSCoS. You will also need your municipality's trade licence and, depending on the city, a fire NOC; GST registration follows the turnover threshold. Running two or three brands from one kitchen is how most cloud kitchens fill the stove. What kills them is the app's share: commission, discounts and ads come out of every order, so price your menu so an order still makes money after the app takes its cut, and move repeat customers to your own WhatsApp or website ordering.
The FSSAI's current table of which food business needs which licence and what it costs a year, revised from 1 April 2026: most businesses up to Rs 1.5 crore turnover need only a Registration at Rs 100, a State Licence costs Rs 5,000 up to Rs 50 crore, and a Central Licence Rs 7,500 above that. Importers, merchant exporters and businesses registered as e-commerce need a Central Licence whatever their size, and hawkers pay nothing.
This is the plain-language answer to "do I have to register yet." It lays out the 40 lakh goods / 20 lakh services limits, the lower special-category-state limits, and a state-by-state table so you can check your own state instead of guessing. It also lists the 11 categories (interstate supply, e-commerce sellers, casual and non-resident taxable persons) where registration is mandatory from rupee one, which is the trap most first-time founders miss.
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ClearTaxby ClearTax Editorial Team12 min read
Standard limits are 40 lakh turnover for goods and 20 lakh for services, dropping to 20/10 lakh in special category states, computed on aggregate turnover across the same PAN.
Interstate supply and selling on marketplaces like Amazon or Flipkart force registration regardless of turnover, so "I'm still small" does not exempt you.
Aggregate turnover counts taxable, exempt, export and interstate supplies together, so businesses often cross the line sooner than they expect.
The four MUDRA loan bands for a micro business, given through banks and NBFCs: Shishu up to Rs 50,000, Kishore up to Rs 5 lakh, Tarun up to Rs 10 lakh and Tarun Plus up to Rs 20 lakh.
The official front door for the most common sector licence founders need, food, plus a reminder that regulated sectors each have their own primary regulator. For fintech, the RBI regulatory sandbox and payment-aggregator authorisation are the legitimate paths (see note); for food, FoSCoS is where you actually apply.
Zomato's own sign-up page for restaurants and home kitchens, listing what you need to go live: PAN, GST number if applicable, FSSAI licence, bank details and your menu.
