Health Trade Licence (Trade Licence) in Delhi

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

A trade licence in Delhi is written permission from the municipal body to carry on a named trade at a named premises. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi issues it for the great majority of the city, and MCD delivers the service through its citizen services portal at mcdonline.nic.in, which carries the health trade licence and factory licence modules along with property tax and the rest of MCD's citizen services.

Delhi is unusual because it is not one municipal jurisdiction but three. MCD covers most of the National Capital Territory. The New Delhi Municipal Council covers the Lutyens' Delhi area, and the Delhi Cantonment Board covers the cantonment. A shop inside NDMC or Cantonment limits is licensed by that body under its own rules and does not go through mcdonline.nic.in at all. Establishing which of the three your address falls in is the first real step, and it is the step most Delhi applicants skip.

The licence is premises-specific and trade-specific. It says that this person may run this trade at this address. Shift the shop to a different address, or change what you sell in a way that changes the trade category, and the licence has to be amended or applied for afresh, it does not simply follow the business.

Who can and who cannot apply?

You can apply for an MCD trade licence if you run, or intend to run, a trade at a premises inside MCD limits and you can produce documentation for that premises. Individuals, partnership firms and companies can all hold a licence. There is no income test, no caste criterion and no domicile requirement. A trade licence is a regulatory permission tied to premises, not a welfare benefit, so none of the eligibility filters that apply to Delhi's income or caste certificates apply here.

You cannot apply to MCD for premises outside MCD limits. NDMC-area and Cantonment-area businesses are not eligible on the MCD portal and must approach their own municipal body. You are also not eligible to hold a trade licence for a premises being used in breach of its permitted land use, or for a trade prohibited in that zone: MCD's licensing decision follows the planning position of the premises, not the applicant's preference.

Applicants whose premises carries unpaid MCD property tax are eligible in principle, but should expect the file to be held. Clearing the property tax demand first is faster than arguing about it afterwards.

What documents are required for a Delhi trade licence?

MCD's trade licence file is built around three things: who you are, what the premises is, and whether the premises is clean with the corporation.

• Identity proof of the person the licence will be issued to.
• Proof of the premises, ownership papers, or a registered rent or lease agreement with the owner's no-objection.
• The latest MCD property tax receipt for that property.
• A site plan or layout showing the covered and trade areas, particularly for cooking, storage or manufacturing.
• Proof of constitution: partnership deed or incorporation certificate, where a firm or company applies.
• FSSAI registration or licence wherever food is handled.
• The payment receipt the portal generates.

Keep the originals available. An MCD inspecting officer may visit the premises, and producing the tenancy and tax papers on the first visit is the single thing that shortens the file most.

How to apply for a trade licence in Delhi online

1. Confirm your municipal body. Check whether the shop address falls under MCD, NDMC or the Delhi Cantonment Board. Only MCD addresses proceed on mcdonline.nic.in.
2. Register on mcdonline.nic.in. Create the citizen account with a mobile number you actually hold — every update on the application goes to that number.
3. Open the trade licence module. From the citizen services list, choose the health trade licence, or the factory licence where the activity is manufacturing rather than trade.
4. Fill the application. Enter the applicant's name exactly as on the identity document, the complete premises address with the MCD zone and ward, the property's unique property identification where the portal asks for it, and the precise trade category. Getting the trade category right matters. It drives both the fee and which officer examines the file.
5. Upload the documents. Identity, premises proof, property tax receipt, site plan, constitution documents and FSSAI where applicable, in the formats the upload screen states.
6. Pay the fee on the portal. MCD displays the applicable amount on the payment screen. Pay it online and save the receipt and the application number.
7. Attend the inspection. The zonal licensing or health staff may inspect the premises. Be present or have someone authorised present, with the originals.
8. Download the licence from the same login once MCD approves it.

How to apply offline at an MCD zonal office

1. Go to the zonal office of the MCD zone your premises falls in, with the complete document set and the originals.
2. Ask for the trade licence application and submit it at the licensing counter, quoting the property's identification number.
3. Pay the fee at the counter and collect a stamped acknowledgement carrying the application number: do not leave without it.
4. Follow up on the same number at the zonal office, or on 155305, and collect the licence when it is approved.

How do you check the status of a Delhi trade licence application?

Log in to mcdonline.nic.in with the account used to file and open the application by its number. MCD's Citizen's Call Centre, 155305, handles queries on filed applications, and the MCD311 app carries the same services on a phone. For portal faults specifically. An upload that will not go through, a payment that debited without updating, MCD publishes the email address mcd-ithelpdesk@mcd.nic.in.

An application sitting unchanged for several days is usually waiting on the zonal inspection rather than stuck in the software.

Why do Delhi trade licence applications get rejected?

• The premises falls under NDMC or the Delhi Cantonment Board, not MCD.
• MCD property tax on the premises is in arrears.
• The trade category chosen does not match what the premises actually does.
• The rent or lease document is unregistered, expired, or carries no owner's no-objection.
• The trade is not permitted under the land use notified for that plot.
• A food business applied without FSSAI registration.
• The applicant was not available for the zonal inspection.

What does it cost, and what about agents and middlemen?

MCD charges a licence fee that varies with the trade category and the premises, and the exact amount for your application appears on the payment screen of the mcdonline.nic.in portal itself. That displayed amount is the entire legitimate government charge. There is nothing to pay to any officer, inspector or facilitator on the side.

Agents promising a Delhi trade licence "in 48 hours" for a lump sum are charging for a queue position that does not exist. The file reaches the same zonal officer either way. Pay on the portal, keep the receipt it generates, and if anyone at a zonal office asks for money beyond it, report it to the Deputy Commissioner of the zone and through MCD's Citizen's Call Centre on 155305.