Factory approvals in Tamil Nadu: licences, NOCs and requirements for setting up a factory

What you need to set up a factory in Tamil Nadu depends on the project: where it is, how the land is classified, what you make and how, the capacity, the machinery, the chemicals and fuels you store, and the power, water and workforce you need. Most new factories deal with planning permission and a building permit, TNPCB consent, DISH plan approval and a factory licence, fire clearance, and a power connection with electrical safety approval where the installation needs it. Others, such as Environmental Clearance, PESO licences, a groundwater NOC or airport height clearance, apply only where the project triggers them.

Map the approvals before you commit to the site and the design. Many run in parallel, but several depend on one another: one authority may need another's approval first, and most need the same drawings and figures.

The same overview is available as a PDF to share with your project team.

Which approvals does a new factory need?

The table lists the approval areas most factory projects need to check. The "when" column is planning advice, not a statutory deadline. Where the law fixes the point, the section on deadlines says so. To search every industrial approval, not only those for a factory, use the Tamil Nadu Industrial Regulatory Explorer.

Is it mandatory, conditional or a planning check?

The approvals fall into three kinds, and treating one kind as another is a common cause of delay.

• Approvals most factories need. Planning permission, a building permit and a completion certificate for the building; TNPCB consent, or a White category intimation; DISH plan approval and a licence for premises that are a factory; fire clearance; and the connection and electrical approval for the supply.
• Conditional approvals. These apply only when the project meets their trigger: Environmental Clearance for a listed project, a PESO licence above the exemption limits, a groundwater NOC if you draw groundwater, AAI clearance near an airport, site appraisal for a hazardous process, a district NOC where the parent licence needs one, boiler registration if you have a boiler, and labour registrations as headcount grows.
• Planning checks. These are not approvals, but they decide the approvals: land classification and zoning, the water source and quantity, the class and quantity of stored chemicals and fuels, building and stack heights near an airport, and the workforce you expect to reach.

What each approval involves

Tamil Nadu Single Window clearance

Register on the Tamil Nadu Single Window Portal (TNSWP), file one Combined Application Form (CAF) for the unit, and apply from the portal for the State clearances it covers, such as planning permission, factory plan approval, TNPCB consent and fire and electrical approvals. Each approval is still decided by its own department under its own law. Each clearance's time limit runs from a complete application (Tamil Nadu Business Facilitation Rules 2017, rule 12), and deemed approval applies only to the clearances listed in rule 13. Central approvals, such as Environmental Clearance and PESO licences, have their own portals.

Establish early: one CAF per establishment, with the same project details you will give every department.

Land use, planning permission and building permit

First check that the land can be used for industry under its classification, the master plan and the zoning. If it cannot, reclassification is a separate planning process that has to come first. The planning authority (DTCP, CMDA or the local planning authority) then grants planning permission, and the local body issues the building permit, under the Tamil Nadu Combined Development and Building Rules, 2019 (TNCDBR). Small Green and White category industrial buildings may qualify for self-certification instead (G.O. Ms. No. 153, Housing and Urban Development, 7 October 2025).

A factory that will carry on a hazardous process may need a Site Appraisal Committee recommendation before its location is fixed (OSH Code 2020, s.83). Revenue records such as patta and chitta show title and land status; they are not planning permission.

Airport height clearance

Within 20 km of a civil airport, you need a height clearance NOC from the Airports Authority of India before construction starts (Height Restrictions Rules 2015, rule 4). This covers buildings, chimneys and stacks. Apply on NOCAS before you finalise the design, because the permitted height can change the layout. For airports with a colour-coded zoning map, such as Chennai, the local planning authority approves a building whose top is within the map's permissible elevation (rule 7(2)).

Water source and groundwater permission

Confirm the water source and quantity before you finalise the design and apply to TNPCB. The same withdrawal figure has to appear in the consent, any Environmental Clearance and the groundwater file.

Outside the Chennai Metropolitan Area, a new industry needs a no-objection from the Water Resources Department to draw and transport groundwater, and a water-based industry can get one only in a safe or semi-critical block (G.O. (Ms.) No. 142, Public Works (R2), 23 July 2014). Inside it, the Chennai Metropolitan Area Ground Water (Regulation) Act, 1987 applies. Not every Tamil Nadu project has to file on the CGWA portal; check the current block classification and any later State order on the day you file.

Environmental Clearance

A project or activity listed in the EIA Notification, 2006 needs prior Environmental Clearance before construction or earthwork starts (EIA Notification 2006, para 2). Category A projects go to MoEFCC, and Category B projects to SEIAA Tamil Nadu. Environmental Clearance is separate from TNPCB consent. Check early whether your project is listed, including for an expansion or a change in product mix.

TNPCB Consent to Establish and Consent to Operate

Most factories need two consents from TNPCB: Consent to Establish (CTE) before you build or install the plant, and Consent to Operate (CTO) before production (Water Act 1974, s.25; Air Act 1981, s.21). Your category (Red, Orange, Green or White) decides the route, fee and timeline. An eligible White category activity needs no consent but must register an online intimation, and Tamil Nadu's White list is its own (G.O. (Ms) No. 91, 13 June 2025).

State the capacity, products, effluent and emissions correctly. The consent fixes what you may make and in what quantity, and an expansion or a new product usually needs a fresh CTE first.

Factory plan approval and factory licence

Premises are a factory, and need DISH approval, where 20 or more workers work with power, or 40 or more without (OSH Code 2020, s.2(1)(w)). Whether Tamil Nadu's earlier thresholds (10 with power, 20 without) still apply is unsettled, so take advice if you are between the two.

Apply for plan approval in Form No. 1 before you build or install machinery (Tamil Nadu Factories Rules 1950, rule 3). Build to the approved plans, send DISH a Certificate of Stability, and obtain registration and a licence on Form No. 2 before manufacturing starts. DISH still runs these approvals under the Tamil Nadu Factories Rules, 1950, which the OSH Code keeps in force for now (OSH Code, s.143(3)), although the Factories Act, 1948 itself was repealed from 21 November 2025 (s.143(1)). The OSH Code transition guide explains what carried over.

Your DISH drawings must match the drawings you give the planning authority, TNPCB and TNFRS.

Fire NOC and Fire Licence

Fire safety is a design input. The building rules require fire-protection provisions for all categories of industries and warehouses, whatever their height (TNCDBR 2019, rule 64(3)). Where the procedure requires it, take the planning-stage NOC from Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Services before planning permission or building-plan approval. The District Officer deals with buildings under 18.3 m, and the Director with multi-storeyed buildings.

After construction, install the approved systems and obtain the Fire Licence before occupation or operation (Tamil Nadu Fire Service Act 1985, s.13). Industrial buildings approved under the self-certification scheme are exempt from the NOC, but still need a Fire Licence before occupancy (G.O. Ms. No. 153, 2025).

Labour registrations

Some registrations follow your headcount rather than the build. EPF coverage generally applies once an establishment employs 20 people, and ESI once it employs 10 (Code on Social Security 2020, First Schedule). If you engage contract labour, check that each contractor holds the licence the OSH Code requires, and keep the principal employer's records (OSH Code 2020, Chapter XI). Track permanent and contract workers together as you hire, because several thresholds count both.

Power connection and electrical safety

Your distribution licensee, usually Tamil Nadu Power Distribution Corporation Limited (TNPDCL), approves the load and gives the connection. An installation that needs inspection must have its drawings approved by the Chief Electrical Inspector to Government before the work, and written approval before it is energised, under the Central Electricity Authority (Measures relating to Safety and Electric Supply) Regulations, 2023. Which installations need inspection does not follow from voltage alone, so check the current Tamil Nadu notification for your installation class. Do not energise for a trial on an application receipt.

District NOCs

There is no general District Collector no-objection for a factory. A district, police or revenue NOC arises only where the parent licence or rule calls for it. For example, petroleum storage that needs a PESO licence in Form XIV, XV or XVI needs the District Authority's certificate first (Petroleum Rules 2002, rule 144), but not every PESO licence does. The plan the District Authority endorses must be the plan you send to PESO.

Petroleum, gas and explosives licences

Factories that store petroleum products, solvents, compressed or liquefied gases, explosives or ammonium nitrate may need PESO approval, even outside the oil and gas sector. Quantities within the exemption limits need no licence. Check the class and quantity of everything you store at the design stage, because storage affects the layout and separation distances, and have any licence in place before storage or use.

Boilers, pressure plant and lifting equipment

A boiler must be registered and hold a valid certificate from the Directorate of Boilers before it is used (Boilers Act 2025, ss.11 and 12). The 2025 Act has been in force since 1 May 2025 and replaced the Boilers Act, 1923. Boilers sit under that Act, not under the OSH Code. Pressure plant, hoists, lifts and lifting machines in the factory also need examination by a competent person at the intervals the factory rules set.

Completion certificate

Rule 20(1) of the TNCDBR requires a completion certificate for all types of industrial buildings. Submit the completion report in Form 5, with Forms 6, 7 and 8 in Annexure XIV, to the authority that issued the planning permit. Service providers give power, water and sewerage connections only after the completion certificate is produced, so apply before you plan to connect. Separately, send DISH a Certificate of Stability from a competent person before manufacturing starts in a new or extended building (Tamil Nadu Factories Rules 1950, rule 12B).

Health and sanitary certificate

Check whether your unit needs a sanitary certificate from the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine. Under the simplified procedure you apply online with a self-declaration, and the certificate is normally valid for one year (G.O. (Ms) No. 276, Health and Family Welfare, 23 September 2024). A separate public health no-objection for a building plan and installation is offered on the Single Window Portal, but it applies only where a parent rule or licence calls for it.

How do the approvals depend on each other?

Factory approvals are not one fixed checklist taken in order. Many run in parallel, some apply only to certain projects, and several need another approval, or the same figures, first. These links most often decide a project's timetable:

• Land suitability comes before planning permission. If the land is not usable for industry, reclassification has to be settled first. A hazardous-process site appraisal and an airport height limit also shape what you can apply for.
• Environmental Clearance and TNPCB consent. Where the project is listed, the clearance comes first, and TNPCB's consent has to be consistent with it. Neither replaces the other.
• Factory plan approval and building design. DISH approves the site, building and machinery layout. The same layout goes to the planning authority, TNPCB and TNFRS, so fix it once and keep every submission on it.
• Fire planning, then the Fire Licence. Fire provisions are designed in before the plans are submitted. The NOC, where required, comes at the planning stage; the Fire Licence comes after installation, before occupation.
• PESO storage and district NOCs. The class and quantity you store decide whether PESO applies, and whether a District Authority certificate must come before the PESO licence.
• Electrical safety before energisation. CEIG drawing approval comes before the electrical work, and written approval before energisation. The power service connection also waits for the building's completion certificate.
• Before operations. Before production you need CTO (or the White category intimation), the factory licence, the Fire Licence, approval to energise, a valid boiler certificate if you have a boiler, and a PESO licence for any storage that needs one.

Statutory deadlines and planning stages

The stages in the table are when it is sensible to start each approval, so that one authority's answer is in hand before another needs it. The law itself fixes only some points:

• CTE before you establish the plant (Water Act, s.25; Air Act, s.21)
• Prior Environmental Clearance before construction, for a listed project (EIA Notification 2006, para 2)
• AAI height clearance before construction, within its zone (Height Restrictions Rules 2015, rule 4)
• DISH plan approval before you build or install machinery (Tamil Nadu Factories Rules 1950, rule 3)
• A boiler certificate before use (Boilers Act 2025, s.11)
• A completion certificate before service connections (TNCDBR 2019, rule 20(1))

Common mistakes

• Treating a portal acknowledgement as an approval. A Single Window or departmental acknowledgement does not let you build or operate.
• Giving different authorities different figures. Capacity, water, layout and storage quantities that differ between applications hold up all of them.
• Assuming a small unit needs nothing from TNPCB. An eligible White category activity still has to register its intimation.
• Building or energising ahead of the approval. Start construction only on CTE and plan approval, and energise only on written electrical approval.
• Asking for a NOC no rule requires. Start from the parent licence, and get only the district or other NOCs it names.

Official references

• Tamil Nadu Single Window Portal
• Tamil Nadu Business Facilitation Rules, 2017, consolidated as on 10 February 2025
• DISH: Online Services, plan approval, registration and licensing
• Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 (Gazette text)
• TNPCB Online Consent Management and Monitoring System (OCMMS)
• G.O. (Ms) No. 91, 13 June 2025: Tamil Nadu White category list
• AAI NOCAS portal
• PESO: guidelines for licences under the Petroleum Rules, 2002

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