Trade Licence in Andhra Pradesh (CDMA)

What is a trade licence in Andhra Pradesh, and who issues it?

A trade licence in Andhra Pradesh is permission from an urban local body for a named person to carry on a named trade at a named premises. The licence is granted by the municipality or municipal corporation whose limits the premises falls in, and the whole system sits under the Commissioner and Director of Municipal Administration (CDMA) in the Municipal Administration and Urban Development Department.

What makes Andhra Pradesh different from many states is that CDMA runs a single common portal for every urban local body in the state, at cdma.ap.gov.in. A shopkeeper in Visakhapatnam and one in Kadapa use the same citizen login, the same service list and the same status tracking, with the file routing to their own municipality. CDMA describes the portal as one place to access municipal services, make payments and report issues, and publishes Service Level Agreements for those services on the same site.

CDMA also publishes Puramithra, its official mobile app, on both the App Store and Google Play. Puramithra reaches the same municipal services as the website, which matters for small traders who run a business from a phone rather than a computer.

Who can and who cannot apply?

You can apply for an Andhra Pradesh trade licence if you carry on, or intend to carry on, a trade at a premises inside a municipality or municipal corporation in the state and you can document that premises. Individuals, partnership firms and companies are all eligible. There is no income limit, no caste criterion and no age bar. A trade licence is a regulatory permission attached to premises, so the eligibility tests governing Andhra Pradesh's income and caste certificates simply do not apply.

You cannot apply through CDMA for a premises outside urban local body limits. A shop in a gram panchayat area is not eligible on this route and must deal with the Panchayat Raj side instead. You are also not eligible for a licence covering a trade that the municipality does not permit at that location, or a premises whose actual use conflicts with its assessed and permitted use.

Applicants whose premises carries municipal property tax arrears are eligible in principle, but the file is commonly held until the assessment is cleared. Because CDMA links the trade licence to the property's assessment number, arrears surface immediately rather than late.

What documents are required?

Andhra Pradesh's CDMA trade licence file is built around identity, the premises, and the municipal assessment of that premises:

• Identity proof of the person the licence will be issued to.
• Proof of the trade premises; ownership papers, or a rent or lease agreement with the owner's no-objection.
• The property tax assessment number of the premises, plus the latest receipt.
• A working mobile number for the CDMA citizen login and the Puramithra app.
• Proof of constitution, partnership deed or incorporation certificate, for a firm or company.
• FSSAI registration or licence for any food-handling trade.
• The payment receipt the portal generates.

Keep originals at the shop. A municipal sanitary or town planning officer may inspect, and having the tenancy and tax papers ready on the first visit is what shortens the file most.

How to apply for a trade licence in Andhra Pradesh online

1. Open cdma.ap.gov.in and create a citizen login, or sign in to an existing one. The mobile number registered here carries every update.
2. Select the trade licence service from the municipal services list, and select your own municipality or municipal corporation so the file routes to the right office.
3. Enter the property details, starting with the property tax assessment number of the premises. CDMA identifies municipal properties by that number, and an incorrect one is the fastest way to have the file returned.
4. Fill the application. The applicant's name exactly as on the identity document, the complete premises address, and the precise trade category, the category drives both the fee and which officer examines the file.
5. Upload the documents — identity, premises proof, constitution documents and FSSAI where the trade handles food; in the formats the upload screen states.
6. Pay the fee on the portal. The applicable amount for your trade and urban local body appears on the payment screen. Pay it online and save the receipt and the application number.
7. Attend the inspection if one is scheduled, with the originals available at the premises.
8. Download the licence from the same login once the municipality approves it.

The Puramithra app follows the same sequence on a phone, using the same citizen login.

How to apply offline at your municipal office

1. Go to the municipality or municipal corporation office covering the premises, with the full document set and the originals.
2. Ask at the revenue or licensing section for the trade licence application and submit it, quoting the property assessment number.
3. Pay the fee at the counter and collect a stamped acknowledgement carrying the application number: never leave without a receipt.
4. Follow up at the same section, and collect the licence when it is granted.

How do you check the status of an Andhra Pradesh trade licence?

Log in to cdma.ap.gov.in; or open Puramithra, with the citizen account used to file, and track the application by its number. CDMA publishes application status tracking on the portal alongside the Service Level Agreements for its municipal services, and those SLAs are the published commitment your municipality is measured against. Read the SLA that covers trade licence on the portal before assuming a duration, because it is the authoritative figure and it is where you point if the file overruns.

How long does the licence last, and how is it renewed?

An Andhra Pradesh trade licence runs for the period recorded on the licence document, and has to be renewed before that period ends. Do the renewal from the same CDMA citizen login rather than filing a new application, so the renewal attaches to the existing licence record and the existing property assessment. Running a trade on a lapsed licence exposes the business to municipal penalty and, at renewal, to a demand covering the gap.

Why do Andhra Pradesh trade licence applications get rejected?

• The premises falls in a gram panchayat area rather than a municipality.
• The property tax assessment number entered does not match the premises.
• Municipal property tax on the premises is in arrears.
• The trade category on the form does not match the business actually run.
• The rent or lease document is expired or carries no owner's no-objection.
• A food business applied without FSSAI registration.
• Nobody was available at the premises for the municipal inspection.

What does it cost, and what about agents?

Andhra Pradesh's trade licence fee is fixed by the urban local body according to the trade and the premises, and the figure shown on your own payment screen at cdma.ap.gov.in is the entire government charge. Nothing more is payable to any clerk, sanitary inspector or facilitator.

Agents who offer to "get the trade licence done" for a lump sum are charging for a queue position that does not exist, CDMA routes the file to the same municipal officer whoever submits it, and the status is visible to you on the portal. Pay online, keep the receipt CDMA generates, and if anyone demands money beyond it, escalate to the Commissioner of the municipality or municipal corporation, whose office is also the right first stop when the published Service Level Agreement for the service has been overrun.