Starting a Restaurant in Gujarat: Licences, GST and Setup

Starting a restaurant in Gujarat follows the same broad path as anywhere in India: FSSAI, GST, a Shops and Establishments filing, a municipal health licence and fire safety approval. But three things are specific to Gujarat and shape your plan from day one. The state's Shops and Establishments law changed in December 2025, enforcement of fire and building-use permissions has been strict since 2024, and Gujarat is a prohibition state, so liquor is not part of the business model for an ordinary restaurant.

Updated October 2026. This guide reflects rules in force as we write, including the 2026 FSSAI thresholds and the amended Gujarat Shops and Establishments Act. It is not legal or tax advice. Rules and fees change, and municipal processes differ between cities, so confirm with the relevant department or your CA before you apply.

Gujarat restaurant checklist

Step 1: Check the property before you sign

The most expensive mistake is signing a lease on a property you cannot legally run as a restaurant. Before you commit, ask the owner for:

• Building use (BU) permission that covers commercial use for the space
• Fire safety compliance for the building, under the Gujarat Fire Prevention and Life Safety Measures Act, 2013
• Approved plans, so your kitchen, exhaust and seating layout do not need structural changes the building cannot get approved

This matters more in Gujarat than in many states. After the TRP game zone fire in Rajkot in May 2024, which killed 27 people, municipal corporations across the state ran sealing drives. In Surat alone, hundreds of properties were sealed, including dozens of restaurants, for missing fire safety certificates or building use permission. Get your own fire NOC, where your seating, floor area or building requires one, before you open.

Step 2: FSSAI registration or licence

Every food business in Gujarat needs FSSAI approval. Applications go through the national FoSCoS portal; state licences are handled by Gujarat's food safety administration, and an inspection is normal before a licence is granted.

From 1 April 2026, the turnover bands are:

Many Gujarat-focused guides still quote the old ₹12 lakh and ₹20 crore limits, and validity of "1 to 5 years". Under the 2026 FSSAI reforms, licences and registrations are reported to no longer need renewal — you pay the annual fee and they stay valid unless suspended or cancelled — but confirm this for your licence on FoSCoS. Print your FSSAI number on your bills, as FSSAI requires.

Step 3: Gujarat Shops and Establishments registration

Restaurants in Gujarat come under the Gujarat Shops and Establishments (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 2019, the law locals still call the "gumasta" licence.

The Act was amended by an ordinance on 16 December 2025, later replaced by the Gujarat Shops and Establishments (Amendment) Act, 2026, which applies from the same date. The key changes:

• 20 or more workers: you must register and comply with the full Act. The threshold used to be 10 workers.
• Fewer than 20 workers: you are exempt from most of the Act, but you must still file a one-time online intimation of starting your business, within 60 days of commencement.
• Working hours: the daily limit rose from 9 to 10 hours, with the 48-hour weekly cap retained, and the rest break now comes after 6 hours of continuous work instead of 5.
• Night shifts for women are permitted with safeguards and consent.

Most new restaurants in Gujarat start with fewer than 20 staff, so the intimation route applies. Do not skip it. Track your headcount as you grow, because crossing 20 workers brings full registration and compliance. Some commentators have flagged possible conflicts between the amended hours and the central labour codes, so check working-hour policies with an advisor before you rely on the 10-hour day.

Step 4: Municipal health licence

Gujarat's municipal corporations, including Ahmedabad (AMC), Surat (SMC), Vadodara (VMC) and Rajkot (RMC), and smaller municipalities, each run their own health or trade licensing for eating places. Names, forms, fees and inspection practices differ, so get the current requirements from your own corporation's zone office or website.

Expect to provide your property documents and BU permission, FSSAI details, identity proof and, often, staff medical fitness certificates, pest control records and water quality reports. Ahmedabad has run food safety drives through 2026 that sealed eateries operating without the required licences, so keep every certificate at the premises.

Step 5: GST registration in Gujarat

GST registration becomes mandatory once your aggregate turnover crosses ₹20 lakh in a financial year, which is the limit for service providers in Gujarat. You can also register voluntarily below that.

Your Gujarat GSTIN will begin with 24, Gujarat's state code, followed by your PAN. The state side of GST is administered by Gujarat's State Tax department, and the central side by the CGST zones in Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Rajkot.

What you charge:

• Standalone restaurant: 5% GST (2.5% CGST + 2.5% SGST), without input tax credit
• Restaurant in a hotel counted as "specified premises": 18% (9% + 9%) with input tax credit
• Composition scheme: available to restaurants with turnover up to ₹1.5 crore that do not serve alcohol. You pay 5% of turnover yourself and issue a bill of supply without GST.

Because restaurant service is taxed where it is performed, a meal served in Gujarat is billed with CGST and SGST even for guests from other states. Our full guide to GST on restaurant food explains specified premises, ITC, service charge and what must be on the bill.

Step 6: Professional tax

Gujarat levies professional tax on employment. As an employer you need a registration certificate to deduct and pay professional tax for your staff, and the business usually also needs an enrolment certificate. Apply through Gujarat's State Tax department and confirm the current salary slabs and due dates there, as third-party guides often disagree on the numbers.

Step 7: Liquor in Gujarat (and the GIFT City exception)

Gujarat has followed prohibition under the Gujarat Prohibition Act, 1949. An ordinary restaurant in Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara or anywhere else in the state cannot get a licence to serve alcohol. Plan your menu, pricing and average bill without bar revenue.

The only meaningful exception for food businesses is GIFT City in Gandhinagar. Since late 2023, licensed hotels, restaurants and clubs there have been allowed to serve liquor in designated areas. A notification in December 2025 eased the rules further:

• Visitors from outside Gujarat and foreign nationals can drink in permitted hotel and restaurant areas by showing valid photo ID, without a permit
• People working in GIFT City still need a liquor access permit
• Everyone must be 21 or older
• There is no takeaway sale of alcohol

If you are not opening inside GIFT City, none of this applies to you. If you are, the licence conditions are specific and have changed more than once, so work from the current notification and the prohibition and excise department, not from news summaries.

Other approvals to plan for

• Signage permit from your municipal corporation for boards and hoardings
• Music licences if you play recorded music. Who can license music to restaurants is being contested in Indian courts, so take current advice.
• Gujarat Pollution Control Board consent, depending on how your category and size are classified
• EPF and ESI registration once your headcount crosses the thresholds under the Code on Social Security

Our national guide to licences you need to open a restaurant in India covers each of these in more detail.

Setting up billing for a Gujarat restaurant

Once the licences are in place, your bills need to carry the right tax, every time, from the first day. That means CGST and SGST at the correct rate, a service charge line only if you choose to offer one, and invoice numbers that run cleanly through the financial year.

KhaanaPina is built in Gujarat, and its GST billing is set per outlet: named tax and fee lines (SGST, CGST, service charge, platform fee) as a percentage or a flat amount, each switched on or off; bills that show the SGST and CGST split; an invoice prefix and reset date for each outlet; and a daily close summary with GST collected alongside cash, card and UPI. It does not file returns, so you will still work with your CA for that. See how it works for local restaurants on our restaurant billing software in Gujarat page.

KhaanaPina is restaurant management software built in Gujarat, India, for restaurants across India — QR table ordering, POS billing, kitchen display, table management, inventory and GST-ready reports on one platform. Book a free demo or read more restaurant operations guides on the KhaanaPina blog.