Regulators
Government eases food business rules, introduces perpetual FSSAI licences
Perpetual licences and higher turnover limits aim to cut red tape
NEW DELHI: The Union Health Ministry of India has approved a set of regulatory reforms designed to simplify compliance for food businesses while maintaining strict food safety standards across the country.
The reforms, developed after consultations with states, union territories and industry stakeholders, also draw on recommendations from a high level committee on non financial regulatory reforms set up by NITI Aayog.
One of the most notable changes is the move towards perpetual validity for registrations and licences issued by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India. Earlier, food business operators had to renew these periodically. Under the new framework, the licences will remain valid indefinitely, cutting down paperwork, compliance costs and repeated visits to licensing authorities.
Officials say the change will allow regulators to spend less time on administrative renewals and more on monitoring, enforcement and capacity building within the food sector.
The ministry has also raised the turnover threshold for registration from Rs 12 lakh to Rs 1.5 crore. Businesses with turnover up to Rs 50 crore will now fall under state licensing, while companies above that level will require central licensing. The revised thresholds will come into effect from 1 April 2026.
The change is expected to simplify compliance for micro and small food enterprises by reducing fees, paperwork and pre-inspection requirements. For state authorities, the adjustment is meant to sharpen focus on oversight and enforcement within their jurisdictions.
Street food vendors stand to gain as well. Vendors already registered with municipal corporations or town vending committees under the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014 will now be treated as automatically registered under FSSAI rules. The step is expected to benefit more than one million vendors by removing the need for multiple registrations across departments.
Another key feature of the reforms is the introduction of a technology driven risk based inspection system. Instead of routine checks for all operators, inspections will be prioritised based on factors such as the type of food handled, past compliance records and third party audit results.
The ministry said the approach would ensure focused oversight while reducing unnecessary inspections for businesses with strong compliance histories.
Taken together, the reforms aim to strike a balance between easing the regulatory load on food businesses and ensuring that food safety standards remain firmly in place for consumers.
MUMBAI: When the numbers go silent, the noise on screen gets a little harder to measure. Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has extended the suspension of television rating data for news channels, directing Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) to withhold TRPs for another four weeks. The latest order, issued on March 31, 2026, builds on an earlier directive from March 6 that had paused ratings for a month. The ministry has clarified that the blackout will continue for four weeks or until further instructions are issued whichever comes earlier keeping the industry in a prolonged state of data drought.
The reasoning, officials suggest, lies far beyond domestic screens. With geopolitical tensions in West Asia continuing to escalate, the government has flagged concerns over how such developments could influence news consumption and presentation. The move is aimed at curbing excessive sensationalism and speculative coverage during what it describes as a sensitive global moment.
For the broadcast ecosystem, the absence of Television Rating Points (TRPs) is more than symbolic, it removes the industry’s primary scorecard. Ratings dictate advertising flows, shape editorial strategies and fuel the competitive pecking order among news channels. Without them, broadcasters are effectively operating without a public performance benchmark.
The timing only adds to the complexity. Amid a high-intensity global news cycle, channels must now navigate audience engagement without the weekly feedback loop that typically drives programming decisions. Advertisers, too, are left recalibrating, leaning on proxies such as brand strength, reach and distribution instead of hard viewership data.
While framed as a temporary regulatory intervention tied to maintaining public order, the extended suspension underscores a broader unease about the tone and direction of news coverage. For now, the ratings race is on pause but the battle for attention continues, just without a scoreboard.
