This article is written by Shreyash Choudhary.

Trade License

Any form of a business being fostered requires an authorization from the local government of the place that is the respective municipal authorities of different states, where such business is being held, such an authorization is in the form of a trade license which is mandatory in nature and has to be procured before manufacturing, exchange or storage of any activity/commodity related to such business.

Who issues Trade Licenses?

Any place of business within the purview of a State, Corporation or Municipality will mandatorily require a trade license from their respective State Government, Municipality or Corporation for functioning and carrying out business. Rules and regulations pertaining to trade license varies from state to state. Hence, to obtain a trade license, the applicant should in the first place understand the jurisdiction under which he/she is operating or running a business and the concerned Act and statutes. In most of the states, the application for grant or renewal of a trade license will have to be made to the Commissioner in states respective Municipal Corporation. The application should be filed within 30 days of starting to operate a business. While applying for the trade license grant or renewal required documents need to be given along with the application to the concerned Officer who will ensure that the business is suitable for the proposed use, there should minimal possibility of danger or nuisance for any person concerned and he will also issue the license.

Trade license should normally be issued within a period of 7-15 days after the submission of application is successfully done.Trade licenses are issued by the respective licensing departments under the ambit of municipal corporations in different departments for instance the health department, industries department, engineering department etc… Such authorization is done in order to limit the liabilities of any license owners against any unethical/illegal practice being carried on which reinforces the credibility of the license owners. The process of procuring a trade license or renewal of the same is as mentioned above ‘state specific’ and varies in accordance with the local municipal rules and regulations.

What is the validity of Trade Licenses?

The issued trade licenses have a validity period of one year which has to be renewed on an annual basis. After the authorized period of a year the application for renewal of such a trade license is required. This is done with an aim that the business entities will be able to continue its businesses in compliance with the contemporary and applicable provisions of local laws.

Renewal of Trade Licenses

Before the commencement of the valid period of a trade license a duty is casted upon the licensee to get such a trade license timely renewed, According to the indian laws any trade license has to be renewed within the time period from January 1st to March 31st. Every renewal application for any trade license should be made a minimum of 30 days prior to the commencement of the year for which such renewal is sought. In case of any delays in the renewal process there are provisions for mandatory inclusion of fines that is 50 percent of the license fee so submitted which varies in accordance with the issuing authority in different states across the nation.

Documents required for license Renewal

At the time of submission of the application for renewal of trade licenses the following documents have to submitted:

1. Original License Copy
2. Previous year fees challans
3. Updated tax paid receipt

As stated earlier the process of renewal of trade licenses is state specific in nature through the broad procedure for them in every state is similar with variation in accordance with local municipal rules and regulations. With the advent of technology the procedure for renewal of trade licenses in more advanced municipalities like that of Bangalore or Mumbai have shifted to online application process whereas less developed states still accept the offline applications, in case of an offline process the applicant will have to get the application form from the local municipal authorities office or download it online and for further processing the filled application form will have to be submitted at the respective offices of different departments of the municipal corporations.

(NOTE: In some State, the trade license will only be issued after an in-person physical verification from the concerned authorities. However, majority of the states have already done away with any such requirement.)

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What is the expected average processing time?

In the entire procedure from submitting the application form to its acceptance and further processing it, in general, takes around 7-10 days of time in the more developed municipal corporations like those of metro cities while it takes more time for the same work in rural areas or rather less developed municipal corporations.

Application Process

1. Access the online portal of BBMP that is bbmp.gov.in in browser.
2. Select the tab mentioning ‘Trade License’.
3. Click on Online Trade License (For Public).
4. Go through the terms and conditions and agree with the same and proceed by clicking on Continue.
5. Following which one will have to select the financial year for which the following trade renewal application is to be generated if this is not done so and suppose one enter the previous financial year then in the next step a message will pop up with warning, “Kindly Pay 2016-17 trade license tax then proceed for current financial year”, so kindly enter the correct financial year.
6. In the next step the applicant has to pay then for current financial year trade license through the online payment gateways.
7. You will be required to enter the previous year application number.
8. Once an applicant is confirmed, the current application number for the renewal process will be generated.
9. After which one has to make the payment for current financial year. In case If the applicant chooses the previous financial year (suppose 2016-17) then it will be followed by another message stating a warning, “You have paid 2016-2017, Kindly select 2017-2018 for renewal your Trade License”.
10. In order to pay for the current financial year one will have to enter the previous year application number for the trade license.
11. If the applicant entered the application number correctly then he will be able to see all the details regarding the application and will have to confirm the same.
12. Once confirmed, the renewal application number will be generated.
13. After getting renewal application number online applicant will have to pay the trade license tax. He can do that by selecting the payment gateway and clicking on Proceed for payment button.

Payment Options

• There are two modes of payment:

1. Online: One can save the Application procured and then proceed with selecting the payment gateway type that can be Atom, Payu etc… and then clicking on Proceed to Payment.
2. At MOH Office/Bank: Once the procured application is saved, download the same application by clicking on Save & pay later at MOH/Bank office. Later one can submit the application form at MOH /Bank Office along with DD/Cheque /Cash (if trade fee is less 1000).

Steps for making the payment for Trade License Renewal

• Online Payment gateway page

1. Once you have selected the proceed for payment button it will redirect you to the payment page. Here you will have to enter the card details via which you would be making the payment and hence you can proceed further.
2. If the payment is successful it the gateway will redirect you to the Successful Transaction page. Acknowledge print can be also downloaded by clicking on the Print Acknowledge button.

• Steps to download the Acknowledgement.

1. For every successful payment made the trader can take the reprint acknowledgement online by clicking the “To Download acknowledgement for paid application”.
2. Following which one will have to select the download type as Acknowledgement.
3. Further, Click on the Download button and an acknowledgement copy will be generated.

• Steps to download the Receipt.

1. Once the applied trade application is approved by the concerned Medical officer, only then the trader will be able to generate the receipt through the online portal which can be done by selecting the download type as Receipt.
2. Enter the application number and click on the Download button to generate the Receipt.

• Trade License Certificate

1. Once the Trade is approved by the concerned Medical officer, then the Trader can collect the Renewal New Trade License Certificate through the online portal by clicking on to download the certificate button.
2. Enter the Application number and select the Trade type then click on Download button to generate the certificate.

• Steps to Know your Application Status

1. After getting the acknowledgement online the trader can also know their application status through the same online portal by clicking on “To Know your Application Status” button.
2. One will just have to enter the Application number and click on “Get Status” button.
3. Trader will now be able to view their Application details and status of the same.

Majority of the states now have an online portal for the facilitation of the process of granting the trade license or renewing the same which are easily accessible or one can always get the application form from their respective municipal offices and proceed with the offline option. Trade licenses have proven to be an essential part of the trading world which are responsible for the compliance of all businesses with the contemporary laws of the land so that in the entire process the citizens are safe and sound.

Important Links

BBMP Application Form for issue of Trade License

Application Form for Issue of Trading License