How to Get Shop and Establishment Registration in Rajasthan

Shop and establishment registration is usually the first labour-law registration a business needs. In Rajasthan the rules have changed twice in recent years. Most guides online still describe the old regime, with fee slabs in the tens of rupees and five-year renewals. Neither applies any more.

The current position, in short: establishments with ten or fewer employees are exempt from registration, those with more must register within 30 days of starting, the fee is paid once, and there is no renewal. The rest of this guide is the detail.

The law that applies

• The Rajasthan Shops and Commercial Establishments Act, 1958 sets the substantive rules on registration, working hours, weekly closure, leave, wages and employment of young persons.
• The Rajasthan Shops and Commercial Establishments Rules, 1959 set the forms and fees. They were significantly amended in 2019.
• Notifications under Section 3(2) let the State Government exempt classes of establishments from specific provisions. Both of the recent changes discussed below came this way.

The Act extends to the whole of Rajasthan but applies in the areas the State Government notifies. Cities and towns, including Jaipur, have long been covered. For a rural location, confirm coverage with the local Labour Office.

Who the Act covers

An establishment is either a shop or a commercial establishment:

• a shop is any premises where trade or business is carried on or services are provided to customers, including its offices, storerooms and godowns;
• a commercial establishment includes commercial, trading, banking and insurance businesses, establishments whose staff mainly do office work, hotels, restaurants, cafés and eating houses, and theatres and other places of public entertainment.

That covers most non-factory businesses: retail shops, offices of private limited companies and LLPs, IT and service firms, consultancies, clinics run as businesses, coaching centres, restaurants and showrooms. A shop attached to a factory whose workers are covered by the Factories Act, 1948 falls outside the definition.

Who must register now: the ten-employee threshold

By a notification dated 20 August 2025 (No. F.14(11)(3)RegistrationExemption/Labour/Law/2025/Part/002067), issued under Section 3(2), the State Government exempted establishments employing zero to ten employees from registration under the Act and the 1959 Rules.

In practice:

Three points on reading the threshold:

• Family members do not count. The Act's definition of employee excludes members of the employer's family: the spouse, and a son, daughter, father, mother, brother or sister who lives with and depends on the employer.
• Apprentices do count. The definition of employee includes an apprentice.
• The exemption covers registration only. It does not take the establishment out of the Act. Working hours, weekly holidays, leave, wage payment and the rules on young persons still apply to a three-person shop just as they apply to a fifty-person office.

Watch the headcount as you grow. The exemption is tied to the number of employees, so a business that hires its eleventh employee falls outside it. Treat the date you cross ten as the trigger. The Act's 30-day window runs from the start of work, and once you are outside the exemption you should register promptly.

Why some exempt businesses register anyway. Banks, payment gateways and landlords sometimes ask for a shop act certificate as proof of business. There is also a newer reason. A Labour Department notification of 19 June 2026 (S.O. 20) exempts shops and commercial establishments registered under the Act from Section 11(1), the government-fixed opening and closing hours, and Section 12(1), the compulsory weekly closing day. The exemption comes with conditions:

• one day's paid weekly rest for every employee, in rotation;
• working hours of no more than ten a day and forty-eight a week, with a separate record of any extra work;
• overtime paid according to law;
• an appointment letter to every employee, with a copy sent to the area's Labour Inspector and the acknowledgement kept on record.

If any condition is breached, the exemption is treated as automatically revoked. A business that wants to stay open every day of the week should check with the Labour Office how this notification applies to an establishment that is exempt from registration, since it is framed for registered establishments.

The fee: one-time, by headcount

The Rajasthan Shops and Commercial Establishments (Amendment) Rules, 2019 (G.S.R. 43, notified in November 2019) replaced the old fee table and made registration a one-time payment. The fee depends on the maximum number of employees on any day:

The first row matters now only for an exempt establishment that chooses to register. The LDMS portal works out the fee from the employee count you enter. Check the amount shown on the payment screen before you pay.

No renewal. The same amendment deleted the renewal rule (Rule 6) and the renewal form (Form 5). It also provided that the validity of an existing certificate can be extended permanently by paying the one-time fee. A certificate issued under the current rules does not expire.

Documents you will need

The Labour Department's LDMS user manual lists these for an application under the Shops Act:

• Photograph of the owner or employer, scanned
• Photograph of the establishment with the employer, scanned
• Photo ID of the applicant: PAN, Aadhaar, driving licence or passport
• Address proof of the establishment
• Rent agreement or ownership document for the premises
• Affidavit (declaration form) in the department's format
• Form No. 1, the application form under the amended Rule 3
• Details of employees, in the department's Excel template: names, and the rates of wages
• Names of persons in management or confidential positions
• Employee weekly holidays, in the department's Excel template, where there are employees
• Business Registration Number (BRN), a 16-digit number issued through the Rajasthan government's BRN portal

For a company or LLP, keep the certificate of incorporation, PAN and the board resolution or authorisation for the signatory ready too. The inspector may ask for them as clarification.

Step-by-step: applying on LDMS through Raj SSO

Applications are made online through the Labour Department Management System (LDMS), which you reach through the state's single sign-on.

1. Log in to Raj SSO (sso.rajasthan.gov.in). Register first if you do not have an SSO ID. A citizen ID linked to the proprietor or authorised signatory is usual.
2. Open the LDMS application from the SSO dashboard. First-time users register on LDMS; returning users log in.
3. Choose registration under the Shops and Commercial Establishments Act, 1958.
4. Enter the BRN and the establishment details: name, full address, district, owner's name and father's or husband's name, manager's name, category of establishment, nature of business and the date the establishment started.
5. Enter the total number of employees and whether family members work in the business. Download, fill in and upload the employee Excel sheet with names and wage rates.
6. Select the place and the weekly off day, and upload the employee-wise weekly holiday sheet.
7. Upload the mandatory attachments: photographs, ID, address proof, rent or ownership document, affidavit and Form No. 1.
8. Check every field and submit. Give a working mobile number and email address, because all communication on the application goes there.
9. Pay the fee online through the payment link on LDMS.
10. Respond to clarifications. If the Labour Department needs anything more, the query appears against your application on LDMS. You upload the document or reply there.
11. Download the certificate once the application is approved.

After registration: display, changes and closure

• Display the certificate. Section 4(2) requires the registration certificate to be prominently displayed at the establishment. Put it where an inspector would see it on entering, near the counter or reception, not in a file.
• Notify changes within seven days. Under Section 5, any change in the information in your statement must be notified to the Inspector within seven days. Examples are a new manager, a change in name, a change in the nature of business, or a significant change in headcount. A move to a new address in practice usually means updating or re-registering, so ask the Labour Office which applies to you.
• Close it when you close the business. If the establishment shuts, notify the department and surrender the registration rather than leaving it open on the record.
• Keep the registers. The Act requires records of employees, wages, hours and leave. These, not the certificate, are what an inspection usually looks at.

How it fits with your other registrations

Shop act registration is a state labour registration. It does not replace any of the following, and none of them replaces it:

• GST registration, if you cross the turnover threshold or are otherwise liable. See how to apply for GST registration online.
• Udyam registration, which is free and worth doing for any MSME. See how to apply for Udyam registration.
• FSSAI registration or licence, for anyone handling food, including restaurants, cloud kitchens and grocery stores. See how to apply for FSSAI registration online.
• Municipal trade licence, where your local body requires one for the trade.

If you are still choosing the business structure, see how to register a partnership firm in India. The registration is in the name of the establishment and its employer, whatever the structure.

For a business in Jaipur or elsewhere in Rajasthan that has crossed ten employees, or wants the certificate anyway, our shop and establishment registration service prepares the LDMS application and handles any clarification raised.

Timeline at a glance

What if it goes wrong?

• You crossed ten employees months ago and never registered. Apply now. A late application is far better than an inspection that finds no registration. Failing to register is an offence under the Act. Correcting it before an inspection is the cleanest outcome.
• An inspector visits and you are not registered. Section 33 makes a contravention of Section 4, along with many other provisions of the Act, punishable with a fine on conviction, and a higher fine for a repeat offence. The bigger practical risk is that the inspection also covers wage, hours and leave records. A missing registration tends to lead to a wider look at compliance.
• A clarification is raised on LDMS. Reply on the portal with the specific document asked for. Mismatched names between the BRN, the ID and the rent agreement, and an unsigned affidavit, are the common causes.
• The application is rejected. Read the reason, correct it, and apply again. Approach the Labour Office for the district if the reason is unclear.
• The certificate has a wrong name or address. Notify the change through LDMS. Use the Section 5 change process rather than a fresh application, unless the department tells you otherwise.
• You rely on S.O. 20 to stay open all week and breach a condition. For example, an employee works without a weekly rest day, or there is no appointment letter on file. The notification treats the exemption as automatically revoked, which exposes you to action under Sections 11 and 12 as well as the condition itself.
• You are exempt but a bank or gateway asks for a certificate. Explain the exemption and show the notification. If they insist, ask the Labour Office whether a voluntary registration can be made for your establishment.
• You hold an old certificate with an expiry date. Under the 2019 amendment, existing certificates stay valid to expiry and can be made permanent by paying the one-time fee. Check the certificate's status on LDMS rather than assuming it has lapsed.