What licenses are required to manufacture chocolate in India?

Answer 1

· For setting up a unit for the manufacture of any other items or any substantial expansion in its manufacture (provided its manufacture is permissible for the category to which the entrepreneur belongs) the entrepreneur has to submit a "Industrial Entrepreneurs Memorandum' in the prescribed form in requisite number of copies along with a fee of Rs.1000/= only in the form of a crossed Demand Draft payable at State Bank of India,

Nirman Bhavan,

New Delhi-110001

in favour of The Pay & Accounts Officer, Department of Industrial Development , Ministry of Industry, Government of India, New Delhi to The Secretariat for Industrial Approvals (SIA), Department of Industrial Development, Department of Industry, Udyog Bhavan, New Delhi - 110001.

· A similar "Industrial Entrepreneur Memorandum' in the prescribed form in requisite number of copies without

any fee has to be submitted again to The Secretariat for Industrial Approvals(SIA), Department of Industrial Development, Ministry of Industry, Udyog Bhavan, New Delhi - 110001, when the unit is commissioned and commercial production starts. The Government requires this information basically for records and statistical purposes

· In the application for industrial license or for submitting the 'Industrial Entrepreneurs Memorandum' to the SIA,

the entrepreneur is required to quote the ITC(HS Classification) Code No. of the article he intends to manufacture and also a fuller description of the item in words. The Government permits existing and new units to manufacture new products other than those for which are licensed or have submitted 'Industrial Entrepreneurs Memorandum' without any permission from the government or submitting a fresh or new 'Industrial Entrepreneurs Memorandum' to the Government provided no additional investment(in capital goods) is made or is required to be made for the manufacture of the new product and the new product is not included in the list of industries requiring compulsory industrial licensing or reserved for the small scale sector or the public sector.

· The Government permits all units to expand substantially (expand their capacity by more than 25%) provided the item of manufacture for which substantial expansion is planned is neither reserved for the public sector nor for the small scale sector.

· In case the item is included in Annexure II, the unit may apply for a substantial expansion and if the item is not listed in Annexure II, the unit may submit 'Industrial Entrepreneurs Memorandum' to the SIA for that as in the case of new units.

· All existing units other than the small scale units, however, which are located in areas other than those conforming to the locational policy of the Government of India, have to apply for an Industrial license for undertaking substantial expansion.

· The application for industrial license is required to be made in a prescribed form titled " FORM IL " available from the Public Relations & Complaints Officer, Ministry of Industry, Udyog Bhawan, New Delhi.

· The application form is required to be filled in and submitted with all the necessary enclosures with 11 spare

copies to The Secretariat for Industrial Approvals, Central Receipt & Despatch Section, Ministry of Industry, Government of India, Udyog Bhawan, New Delhi - 110001, with a crossed demand draft for Rs.2500 in favour of the Pay & Accounts Officer, Department of Industrial Development), Ministry of Industry, Government of India, New Delhi - 110001 payable at The State Bank of India, Nirman Bhavan, New Delhi - 110001.

· Requests for extension of validity period of letter of intent can be addressed to the Deputy Secretaries of the administrative Department concerned.

· Applications for extension beyond a total period of 2 years, in two steps of one year each, are normally not considered.

· Letters of intent which remain unimplemented for a period of more than five years are treated as automatically lapsed and the applicant has to apply afresh if he wants to pursue the project.

· Requests for revalidation of letters of intent should be made prior to the expiry of this period of 3 years to the concerned administrative ministry.

· The administrative ministry scrutinizes the various steps taken for the implementation of the project and brings the proposal before the Approvals Committee with its recommendations, in case it finds any justification for revalidation of the letter of intent.

· Once the conditions given in the letter of intent are fulfilled, the applicant can apply for conversion of letter of intent into an industrial license.

· The application should be made to the administrative ministry, and a copy of the application should also be sent to the Secretariat for Industrial Approvals.

· There is no prescribed form for this application and no fee is payable along with the application. Photostat copies of the following documents to the extent they are relevant with the letter of intent issued for the project may be enclosed with the application, to avoid unnecessary correspondence, as proof of fulfillment of various conditions laid out in the letter of intent.

a. Letter of approval of foreign collaborations, if any.

b. Letter approving import of machinery or import license from the appropriate authorities such as SIA, Central or Regional Import Licensing authorities.

c. If any export obligation is imposed in the letter of intent, a letter conveying acceptance of the bond executed for undertaking export obligation issued by Chief Controller of Imports & Exports/Directorate General of International Trade or any other licensing authority.

d. Proof of Submission of loan application to the financial institutions if it was proposed to take loans from financial institutions to meet a part of the cost of the project.

e. Letter from the State Pollution Control Board conveying acceptance of the scheme submitted by the entrepreneur for proper pollution control.

f. If the letter of intent was originally obtained by the entrepreneur in his individual name and he desires to obtain the industrial license in the name of a company which he has formed subsequent to obtaining the letter of intent for implementing the project, or otherwise, a certificate of incorporation issued by the Registrar of Companies and the Memorandum and Articles of Association of the company.

g. The change in the name of the implementing agency such as from an individual to a company formed by the individual ( by signing the Memorandum and Articles of Association of the company as a signatory and subscribing to at least 10% of the paid-up equity capital of the company) and from a company to its wholly owned subsidiary is permitted by the administrative ministry.

h. Letter agreeing to abide by the other conditions, stipulated in the letter of intent and the additional conditions if any indicated in the annexure attached thereto.

i. If other conditions like sub-contracting of components to small scale sector or ancillarization etc., are stipulated in the letter of intent, letter from the appropriate Government authority in token of having settled such conditions to the satisfaction of the authority concerned.

On receipt of recommendation from the administrative machinery, the SIA issues a conversion license to the applicant provided all the necessary information has been furnished by him and the letter of intent has not expired or revoked in the meanwhile. The validity period of an industrial license is two years within which commercial production must start. The administrative ministry can grant two extensions of one year each in the validity period of the license if there are good and sufficient reasons for the delay in commissioning of the project in spite of the best efforts made by the entrepreneur. Requests for extension of validity period should be made to the administrative ministry concerned. Ministry of Food Processing Industries is the administrative ministry for:

· Processing and Refrigeration of specified dairy products such as Milk powder, Infant milk food, Malted milk food, Condensed milk, Ghee, Butter, Cheese, and other dairy products

· Poultry and eggs

· Meat and meat products

· Processing of fish

· Marine fishing and deep sea fishing beyond territorial waters,

· Fruit and vegetable processing,

· Food grains milling industries,

· Bread

· Breakfast foods

· Biscuits

· Confectionery

· High Protein food

· Protein Isolate

· Extruded food products and Ready-to-eat foods,

· Non-molasses based alcoholic drinks,

· Beer

· Aerated Drinks

Answer 2

You will need to speak with the local government to find out which permissions and licenses are needed to make chocolate in India. One license that is needed is the business license.