Business Licences in Chandigarh: Shops Registration, Trade Licence and Sector Approvals

A business in Chandigarh needs the same national registrations as anywhere else, plus several local and municipal licences. This guide covers the ones most businesses here meet, and how the administration's industries department helps with industrial approvals.

For Every Business With Premises

Shops and establishments registration

Punjab's shops and commercial establishments law, as extended to Chandigarh, applies to offices in the union territory. Register with the Chandigarh Labour Department. It governs working hours, holidays and employee records, and is often used as business proof when opening a bank account.

Trade licence

An office within the Municipal Corporation Chandigarh may need a licence from the corporation. It's tied to the premises and is usually renewed every year.

Professional tax

Chandigarh doesn't currently levy professional tax. If the company has staff or offices in Punjab, Punjab's State Development Tax applies to employees there.

For Manufacturing and Industrial Units

Industrial units need approvals such as building permissions, fire NOCs, consent to establish and consent to operate from the Pollution Control Committee for the union territory, factory licences under the Factories Act and power connections. In Chandigarh, the administration's industries department brings many of these together, with defined timelines for approvals. Units in government industrial parks or estates also have to follow the park's own allotment conditions.

Sector Licences

• Food: FSSAI registration or licence, with the Commissioner of Food Safety for Chandigarh and district food safety officers handling State licences and inspections.
• Pharma: drug licences from the local drugs control authority for pharmacies, wholesalers and manufacturers.
• Packaged goods: Legal Metrology registration for packers, importers and manufacturers of pre-packaged goods.
• Import and export: the Import Export Code (IEC) from DGFT, which is valid for life with an annual update between April and June.
• Other regulated trades: licences for things such as liquor, explosives, cinemas and private security agencies, from the authority that regulates each.

Also Worth Knowing in Chandigarh

• Tricity operations: if the company also works from Mohali or Panchkula, each location falls under that state's rules, with its own shops and establishments and, where applicable, GST registration.

A Checklist for Businesses in Chandigarh

1. Register under the shops and establishments law.
2. Get a trade licence from your local body.
3. Confirm professional tax for staff in other states, since Chandigarh doesn't levy it.
4. For manufacturing, apply through the administration's industries department.
5. Get sector licences, such as FSSAI, a drug licence or Legal Metrology registration, as they apply.
6. Get an IEC before your first import or export.
7. Keep a renewal calendar for every licence.

Getting Help

Think Filing handles licences and registrations for businesses in Chandigarh, including shops and establishments, trade licences, FSSAI, IEC and industrial approvals.