Lease or convert an existing property rather than building, because a hotel is capital-heavy. The licences are the same whether or not you seek a star rating, and the Ministry of Tourism's classification guidelines list them: a trade licence, fire NOC, health NOC, police NOC, consent to operate from the state pollution control board, land use permission, sanctioned plans and an occupancy certificate, plus a bar licence if you serve alcohol. Food needs FSSAI: Registration at Rs 100 a year at small scale, a State Licence (Rs 5,000) for hotels up to 4 star and a Central Licence for 5 star and above. Every foreign guest must be reported on the Bureau of Immigration's Form C. Star classification itself is voluntary, valid five years, at fees from Rs 6,000 for 1 star to Rs 25,000 for 5 star deluxe, applied for through the NIDHI+ portal. What kills most hotels is occupancy against fixed costs, so model the bad months.
The Ministry of Tourism's voluntary star classification scheme, with the full list of licences an operating hotel must show: trade licence, fire NOC, health NOC, police NOC, pollution board consent, bar licence where needed, land use permission, sanctioned plans and occupancy certificate. Classification fees run from Rs 6,000 for 1 star to Rs 25,000 for 5 star deluxe, valid five years.
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.
From
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 Bureau of Immigration's online system where every accommodator, hotels and homestays included, must report foreign guests, including OCI cardholders.
