If you run a packaged drinking water or mineral water plant in Uttar Pradesh, there is a deadline you need to plan around: **31 March 2027**. The state's Food Safety and Drug Administration (FSDA) has made BIS certification compulsory again for packaged water units, and units that miss the date risk having their licence suspended and production stopped.

What has the UP FSDA ordered?

According to news reports from mid-October 2026, FSDA Commissioner Dr. Roshan Jacob issued an order that took effect immediately across Uttar Pradesh. In plain terms:

• **New units** will get a food safety licence or registration only after they hold BIS certification.
• **Existing units** must obtain BIS certification by 31 March 2027.
• **Units that miss the deadline** face suspension of their licence or registration, and production stays halted until certification is in place.
• The order covers packaged drinking water and packaged mineral water manufacturers, including units operating under central licences.

Please treat this as a news summary. If you are making a business decision, ask for the order copy from FSDA or your district food safety office, and read it yourself.

Why did the state bring this back?

Until October 2024, BIS certification was a requirement for packaged water makers under the FSSAI framework. FSSAI then discontinued that requirement, and the state has now reinstated it at its own level. The trigger, as reported, was inspection data: over the last year FSDA inspected 811 units and collected 660 samples. Of these, 176 samples were unsafe and 337 were substandard, and the department suspended licences or registrations of 152 units and recommended suspension for 55 centrally licensed units. Contaminants found included E. coli and coliform bacteria, and many units lacked proper purification such as ozonisation or UV treatment.

Does this affect your plant?

It does if you manufacture packaged drinking water or packaged natural mineral water in Uttar Pradesh, whether you sell under your own brand or supply to others. It also applies if you are about to start a new plant. If you are outside UP, this order does not apply to you, but other states may follow, so it is worth keeping an eye on.

What does BIS certification for a water plant involve?

Packaged drinking water falls under the BIS product certification scheme (the ISI Mark), with IS 14543 as the standard for packaged drinking water and IS 13428 for packaged natural mineral water. The process, in broad terms, runs like this:

1. **Check your plant against the standard.** Treatment process, in-house lab, testing equipment and hygiene conditions are assessed against what BIS requires.
2. **Set up or fix the in-house laboratory.** BIS expects a working quality control lab with calibrated equipment, and this is where many plants lose time.
3. **Apply to BIS online** with the plant, process and equipment details.
4. **Factory inspection.** A BIS officer visits the plant, checks the process and draws samples.
5. **Sample testing** at a BIS-recognised laboratory.
6. **Licence grant** once the inspection and test results are satisfactory, followed by use of the ISI mark on your bottles and jars.

Our guide to ISI certification for domestic manufacturers explains the general process, and the water plant version follows the same pattern with product-specific tests.

How long does it take, and is there still time?

A realistic timeline is a few months, and it depends heavily on the state of your lab and your plant. A unit that already has a calibrated lab and a clean treatment line can move faster, while one that needs equipment, civil changes or a new treatment stage needs more time. With the deadline around five months away from the date of the reports, a plant that has not started should begin now, not in February.

What a typical plant's journey looks like (illustrative example)

*This is an illustrative example built from situations we commonly see with small water plants. It is not a specific client's story, and your timeline will differ.*

Picture a small plant in a UP district that fills 20-litre jars and 1-litre bottles. It has an FSSAI licence, a working RO line and a few regular dealers, but no proper in-house lab. The owner reads about the FSDA order and asks one question: "How much of this can I do by myself?"

The honest answer after a first visit is usually this. The treatment line is fine. The weak spots are the lab, where the testing instruments have no calibration certificates and nobody keeps daily test records, and the paperwork, where the plant layout and process flow were never written down. Those two things decide how fast the BIS application moves, much more than the machinery does.

So the plan looks like this: fix the lab and records first, then file the application, then prepare the plant for the inspection visit, and only after that deal with sample testing and the licence. Plants that do it in this order tend to avoid the usual loop of inspection, objections, re-inspection. Plants that file first and fix later tend to lose weeks in that loop, which matters when you are working against 31 March 2027.

What else does a water plant need?

BIS is only one of the approvals a packaged water unit usually needs. Depending on your location and capacity, you will also be asked for an FSSAI licence, groundwater extraction permission from the relevant authority, pollution control board consent, and a fire safety certificate. It is much easier to plan these together than one after another, because several of them ask for the same plant details.

Common mistakes plants make

• Waiting for the deadline to come close and then finding that the lab setup takes longer than the application.
• Using test equipment without valid calibration certificates.
• Assuming an old FSSAI or ISI licence covers the new requirement without checking its validity.
• Applying for one product (packaged drinking water) when the plant also makes mineral water or flavoured water, which need separate handling.

Frequently asked questions

**Is BIS certification mandatory for packaged drinking water plants in UP?** According to the FSDA order reported in October 2026, yes. New units need it before getting a food safety licence, and existing units must have it by 31 March 2027.

**What happens if my plant does not get BIS certification by the deadline?** As reported, licences or registrations are suspended and production stays halted until certification is obtained.

**Which BIS standards apply to packaged water?** IS 14543 for packaged drinking water and IS 13428 for packaged natural mineral water.

**Does the order apply to plants outside Uttar Pradesh?** No, it is a state-level order. Plants in other states should follow their own state's rules.

**Can Chanakya QMS help with BIS certification for a water plant?** Yes. We help with the application, documentation, lab and testing guidance, inspection coordination and post-certification support. You can reach us on 9354483325 or at sales@chanakyaqms.com.