Trade Licence in Assam

What is a trade licence in Assam?

A trade licence in Assam is the written permission of the urban local body to carry on a stated trade at a stated premises. Assam's municipal boards, town committees and municipal corporations issue it for their own areas, and the Department of Housing and Urban Affairs is the state department that owns the service and puts it online.

Assam delivers the service through Sewa Setu, the state's consolidated citizen and business services portal at sewasetu.assam.gov.in. Sewa Setu lists the trade licence under the Department of Housing and Urban Affairs in two distinct forms:

• Application for Trade Licence, for a first licence at a premises.
• Application for Auto Renewal of Trade Licence, for renewing a licence you already hold.

That split matters practically. An Assam business owner who already holds a licence should not re-file a fresh application at renewal time; the auto-renewal service is the correct one, and using it avoids re-uploading the whole document set every year.

A trade licence is not a business registration. It sits alongside, not instead of, GST registration, shop and establishment registration under the labour department, FSSAI registration for food businesses, and Udyam registration for MSME identity. The trade licence is the one that certifies your premises may lawfully host that trade.

Who can and cannot apply for an Assam trade licence?

Any person of 18 years or above carrying on a trade, business or profession from a fixed premises inside an Assam urban local body can apply. Sole proprietors, partnership firms, LLPs, private limited companies, societies and trusts are all eligible applicants, provided they lawfully occupy the premises named in the application.

You cannot apply, or your application will not be granted, where:

• You have no lawful right over the premises, no ownership document, no valid rent or lease agreement, and no landlord consent.
• The holding is in arrear of municipal holding tax. Boards check this first.
• The premises lie outside the limits of any municipal board, town committee or corporation, in which case the licensing authority is not the urban local body.
• The trade is prohibited at that location by the building's permitted use.
• The trade is regulated and you lack the prior statutory approval. A restaurant without FSSAI registration, a pharmacy without a drug licence, or a polluting unit without the Assam Pollution Control Board's consent.
• The business is mobile street vending, which is regulated under separate street-vendor provisions rather than as a fixed-premises trade licence.

How to apply for a trade licence in Assam on Sewa Setu

1. Open Sewa Setu and create a citizen account. Go to sewasetu.assam.gov.in, register with your mobile number and email, and complete the OTP verification. Use a mobile number you will keep, because every status update and query notice is sent to it.
2. Search the trade licence service. Search "Trade Licence" or browse the business services of the Department of Housing and Urban Affairs, then choose Application for Trade Licence for a first licence, or Application for Auto Renewal of Trade Licence if you already hold one.
3. Select your urban local body and ward. Pick the municipal board, town committee or municipal corporation covering the shop address. Selecting the wrong body sends the file to an office that has no power to issue it, and the application has to be started again.
4. Fill the application form. Enter the trade name, the nature of the trade, the constitution of the business, the full premises address with the holding number, the floor area used for the trade, the number of workers, and the proprietor or partner details.
5. Upload the documents. Identity proof, premises proof, the latest holding tax receipt, landlord NOC for rented premises, constitution documents for a firm or company, and any sector approval the trade needs. Scan each page clearly and keep every file inside the size limit the portal states.
6. Pay the fee shown on the portal. Sewa Setu computes the fee from the trade category and premises details and displays it before payment. Pay through the portal's own gateway and download the receipt.
7. Note the reference number and track the file. The acknowledgement carries an application reference number. Use it to check status, respond to any query raised by the licence section, and finally download the issued trade licence.

How to apply offline in Assam

An offline route genuinely exists, and in smaller town committees it is still the common one.

1. Go to the licence or revenue section of the municipal board, town committee or municipal corporation in whose area the shop stands.
2. Collect and fill the trade licence application form.
3. Attach self-attested copies of the identity proof, premises proof, latest holding tax receipt, landlord NOC where the premises are rented, and any trade-specific approval.
4. Submit the form at the counter and collect a dated acknowledgement carrying the application number.
5. Pay the fee at the board's cash counter and keep the printed receipt.
6. Be present at the premises when the licence inspector visits, and collect the licence from the same counter once it is issued.

A Common Service Centre operator can also file the Sewa Setu application for you. The CSC may charge its published service charge for the assistance, which is separate from and additional to the government fee — ask what it is before you agree, and insist on a receipt.

How do I check my trade licence application status in Assam?

Log in to Sewa Setu with the same credentials you applied with and open the application-tracking section, using the reference number from the acknowledgement. Sewa Setu shows the stage the file is at and any query the licence section has raised. Answer queries promptly, because an unanswered query is the commonest reason a file sits still. Offline applicants take the acknowledgement slip back to the licence section that received it.

Renewal and validity

An Assam trade licence is an annual permission tied to the financial year, which is exactly why Sewa Setu carries a standing auto-renewal service alongside the fresh-application service. Renew before your municipal board's cut-off; boards publish their own renewal windows and their own late fees, so read the notice your board issues rather than assuming a statewide date.

Where a material detail changes. The trade carried on, the premises area, the constitution of the firm, or the ownership, get the licence amended rather than waiting for the next renewal. A licence describing a business you no longer run gives you no protection during an inspection.

Why Assam trade licence applications get rejected

• Holding tax arrear on the premises.
• Wrong urban local body selected on the portal, so the file reaches an office with no jurisdiction.
• Premises proof mismatch, the address on the rent agreement or deed differs from the address typed into the form.
• Expired rent agreement, or no landlord NOC for commercial use.
• Missing sector approval for a regulated trade such as food, drugs or a polluting process.
• Illegible uploads, especially holding tax receipts where the holding number cannot be read.
• Unanswered portal query, which eventually closes the application.

Grievance route and a warning about middlemen

Sewa Setu is the first grievance channel: use the grievance or track-application link inside your login, quoting the application reference number. If the file still does not move, escalate at the licence section of the issuing municipal board or corporation, and then to the Department of Housing and Urban Affairs, which owns the service on Sewa Setu.

Pay only the fee the official portal computes and displays, through the portal's own payment gateway. The Assam trade licence process carries no charge beyond the municipal fee, and, if you choose to use a Common Service Centre, that centre's own published assistance charge. No agent or "licence consultant" can move a municipal file faster, and no one is entitled to cash on the side for issuing a licence. Apply yourself on sewasetu.assam.gov.in, keep every receipt, and raise a grievance the moment someone asks for a payment the portal never showed you.