Shop Act Registration in Haryana (2026): The 20-Worker Rule, Online Intimation, Fees and Working Hours

If you run a shop, office, showroom, clinic, coaching centre or restaurant in Gurugram, Faridabad, Panipat, Ambala, Rohtak, Hisar or anywhere else in Haryana, "shop act registration" means registration under the Punjab Shops and Commercial Establishments Act, 1958, which Haryana inherited in 1966 and now calls the Haryana Shops and Commercial Establishments Act, 1958. An amendment in force since November 2025 rewrote it: only establishments with twenty or more workers register, smaller ones file a simple online intimation, certificates no longer expire, the day is longer and penalties are higher. This guide is for owners, small employers and their accountants, and ends with a worked example for a Gurugram business.

Quick answer

Since 12 November 2025, shops and commercial establishments employing 20 or more workers must register online on the Labour Department portal within one month of starting business, and the certificate has no renewal. Establishments with fewer than 20 workers only file an online intimation under section 13A and get a Basic Information Performa (BIP) ID. Fees on the published schedule range from ₹100 to ₹5,000.

• 20+ workers: up to 10 hours a day, 48 a week, overtime capped at 156 hours in a quarter

• Intimate changes within 7 days and closure within 30 days

• Penalties of ₹3,000 to ₹10,000 for a first violation

• Registered units can trade 24x7 on conditions; OSH Code registrants can skip Shops Act registration

What the Haryana shop act covers

The Punjab Shops and Commercial Establishments Act, 1958 (Punjab Act 15 of 1958) continued in force in Haryana when the State was formed and has since been amended by Haryana under the title Haryana Shops and Commercial Establishments Act, 1958. It regulates shops and commercial establishments — offices, banks, insurers, IT and service firms, restaurants, hotels, cinemas and places of amusement — in the areas where it applies, which include the municipal towns and other areas the State has notified.

The Act deals with registration, working hours and rest intervals, opening and closing hours, a weekly closing day, leave and holidays, wages and the employment of children, young people and women. Section 28 lets the State exempt establishments from parts of the Act, a power it has used heavily in 2025–26.

Shop act registration is a labour-law document. It is not the municipal trade licence that urban local bodies issue under Haryana's municipal laws, and it is not GST or Udyam registration. Banks and payment gateways often ask for it; a small business that now only files an intimation can show its BIP ID together with GST or Udyam certificates.

The November 2025 amendment: the 20-worker rule

The Governor promulgated the Haryana Shops and Commercial Establishments (Amendment) Ordinance, 2025 (Haryana Ordinance No. 4 of 2025) in November 2025. The Assembly then took up Bill No. 39-HLA of 2025, published on 18 December 2025, to replace it. The resulting Haryana Shops and Commercial Establishments (Amendment) Act, 2025 was notified on 5 February 2026 and is deemed to have come into force on 12 November 2025. It repealed the ordinance and saved everything done under it.

A new threshold. A new section 1(5) says the provisions of the Act, except section 13A, apply to shops and establishments employing 20 or more workers, and only section 13A applies to those employing fewer than twenty workers. Before the amendment the Act applied to every shop regardless of size.

Registration for 20 or more. The substituted section 13 requires the employer of every establishment with twenty or more workers to apply online within one month of starting business, with the prescribed fee and documents. The application gives the employer and manager, the postal address with the establishment's GPS location, its name, the number of persons employed and the nature of the business. The Inspector verifies the application and issues an online certificate within the time notified under the Haryana Right to Service Act, 2014. The certificate stays valid until it is amended, cancelled on closure or revoked after verification — there is no renewal.

Intimation below 20. New section 13A requires every establishment with fewer than twenty workers to file an online intimation within one month of starting business. On filing, the employer receives a Basic Information Performa (BIP) ID number. There is no certificate to renew and, under the Act as amended, no fee is mentioned for the intimation.

Changes and closure. Under section 13(4) you must intimate any change in the registered particulars online within 7 days. For changes in the establishment's name, the employer, the manager or the workforce, you apply for an amended certificate and no fee is charged. Section 13(6) requires online intimation of closure within 30 days, after which the Inspector removes the establishment from the register.

New employer duties. Section 20A requires every employer to give each employee an appointment letter with the employee's photograph affixed and to obtain an acknowledgement. Section 20B requires an identity card for every worker.

Haryana shop act at a glance (2026)

20+

Workers that need registration

below 20: online intimation

one month

To register or intimate

from starting business

10 hours

Daily hours limit

48 a week

156 hours in a quarter

Overtime cap

was 50 hours

Haryana shop registration fees

The Labour Department's shops portal links to a published fee structure that sets the fee by the nature of the business rather than strictly by headcount.

Published registration fee by type of establishment

Type of establishment	Fee
Starred hotels, cinemas, banks, insurers, financial institutions, IT/ITeS and telecom with 10+ employees	₹5,000
Nursing homes, private schools and universities, petrol pumps	₹1,000
Workshops, service stations, computer and typing institutes, gyms, clinics, labs, restaurants, unstarred hotels, and any establishment with 10+ employees	₹500
Other shops and establishments with fewer than 10 employees	₹300
Owner-run, no employees	₹100

Starred hotels, cinemas, banks, insurers, financial institutions, IT/ITeS and telecom with 10+ employees

Fee

₹5,000

Nursing homes, private schools and universities, petrol pumps

Fee

₹1,000

Workshops, service stations, computer and typing institutes, gyms, clinics, labs, restaurants, unstarred hotels, and any establishment with 10+ employees

Fee

₹500

Other shops and establishments with fewer than 10 employees

Fee

₹300

Owner-run, no employees

Fee

₹100

Two cautions. First, the spreadsheet still describes these as the "registration fee for 3 years", a label from the time when certificates had to be renewed every three years. The 2025 amendment made certificates valid until closure, and we found no revised schedule, so treat the amounts as the current one-time fee unless the portal shows something different. Second, the lower rows matter mainly for establishments registering voluntarily or under the old rules, because since November 2025 an establishment with fewer than twenty workers files an intimation instead of registering. You pay online through e-GRAS by debit or credit card, or by treasury challan with a scanned copy uploaded.

How to register or intimate on hrylabour.gov.in

The Labour Department runs all shops services online at hrylabour.gov.in, and the same flow serves the Invest Haryana single-window system. Every user first creates a Basic Information Performa (BIP), a profile of the shop's address, workers, occupier and manager and nature of business, which is reused for every later service.

Shop act registration in Haryana, step by step

1. 1

   Create a login

   Register on hrylabour.gov.in with a working email ID and mobile number; login details are sent to both.

   Open shops services
2. 2

   Fill in the Basic Information Performa

   Address with GPS location, number of workers by category, occupier and manager details and nature of business. Fewer than 20 workers: submitting this intimation gives you a BIP ID.

3. 3

   Apply in Forms F and B (20+ workers)

   The system-generated forms reuse your BIP data. Upload proof of premises (lease, rent or sale deed, electricity or telephone bill) and a front photograph of the shop showing its surroundings, each under 2 MB.

4. 4

   Pay the fee and verify by OTP

   Pay through e-GRAS online or upload a treasury challan, then confirm with the OTP sent to your registered mobile.

5. 5

   Download the certificate

   The Inspector scrutinises the application. A provisional registration, not valid for KYC, issues automatically if it is not approved within 24 hours; the final certificate issues by the fifteenth day. It carries a 16-digit number that third parties can verify.

The department's published procedure explains what happens in between. The Inspector checks that the address exists, using maps or local knowledge, and may visit within five working days if a provisional registration has issued. Deficiencies are flagged online and you get no more than five working days to fix them. Only a fake address is a ground for rejection, and the Assistant Labour Commissioner must decide serious discrepancies within 48 hours.

Documents to keep ready

• PAN and identity proof of the proprietor, partners or directors
• Lease, rent or registration deed, or another proof of possession such as an electricity bill with an affidavit
• A front photograph of the shop showing the surroundings
• Partnership deed, LLP agreement or certificate of incorporation, where relevant
• List of workers, including contract staff, with designation and date of joining
• Appointment letters with photographs, now required by section 20A

Working hours, overtime and rest for 20 or more

For establishments with twenty or more workers, the amendment changed three limits. Section 7(1) now allows up to 10 hours of work in a day, up from nine, while the weekly limit stays at 48 hours. The overtime proviso in section 7(2) now caps overtime at 156 hours in a quarter, up from fifty. Section 8(1) allows up to 6 hours of continuous work before a rest interval, up from five. Overtime is paid at twice the ordinary rate, which is also the rate under the Code on Wages, in force since 21 November 2025.

A ten-hour day over five days adds up to fifty hours, two more than the weekly limit. Either plan a shorter week or record and pay the extra as overtime within the quarterly cap.

What about establishments under 20? Read literally, section 1(5) applies only section 13A to them, so the Act's own hours, holiday and leave sections no longer bind them. That does not leave their staff unprotected: the Code on Wages applies to every employer, covering minimum wages, timely payment and overtime at twice the rate, and the Labour Codes set other duties at their own thresholds.

Working-time rules before and after 12 November 2025 (20+ workers)

Rule	Before	From 12 November 2025
Who the Act covers	Every shop	20+ workers (13A intimation below)
Daily hours	9	10 hours
Weekly hours	48	48 (unchanged)
Work before rest	5 hours	6 hours
Overtime cap per quarter	50 hours	156 hours in a quarter
Renewal	Every three years	None

Who the Act covers

Before

Every shop

From 12 November 2025

20+ workers (13A intimation below)

Daily hours

Before

9

From 12 November 2025

10 hours

Weekly hours

Before

48

From 12 November 2025

48 (unchanged)

Work before rest

Before

5 hours

From 12 November 2025

6 hours

Overtime cap per quarter

Before

50 hours

From 12 November 2025

156 hours in a quarter

Renewal

Before

Every three years

From 12 November 2025

None

24x7 trading and women at night

On 30 March 2026 the State issued a section 28 notification exempting establishments registered online on the Labour Department's site — including those registered in auto mode on self-certification — from section 9 (opening and closing hours) and section 10 (the weekly closing day). An exempted establishment can stay open round the clock and every day of the week, on conditions: no employee works more than 48 hours a week or 10 hours a day, the working day including rest does not exceed 12 hours, there is a rest interval of at least 30 minutes after six hours, overtime is paid at twice the normal rate, and a copy of the notification is displayed at the employees' entrance or exit. The exemption does not relax wage, social-security, safety or welfare laws, or any police orders.

Employing women between 8 pm and 6 am needs a separate section 28 exemption. It is also granted in auto mode on self-certification, subject to the conditions in an earlier notification of 13 October 2025, which typically cover consent, safe transport, security and POSH Act compliance. Check the conditions in your exemption before the first night shift.

OSH Code single registration

The OSH Code, in force since 21 November 2025, requires establishments with 10 or more workers to register under its section 3. To avoid two registrations, the Labour Department issued notification No. 02/26/2026-2Lab on 4 May 2026. It exempts establishments registered under section 3 of the OSH Code from registration or intimation under sections 13 and 13A of the Shops Act. The exemption covers only registration and intimation: the rest of the Shops Act still applies where it is consistent with the OSH Code.

Compliance publishers read the notification as applying to OSH registrations made after the Haryana rules under the Code are finalised. We could not confirm, as of October 2026, that Haryana's OSH rules have been finalised. Until the portal offers OSH registration, register or intimate under the Shops Act as usual.

Worked example: a Gurugram design studio

Kapoor Interiors opens in Sector 44, Gurugram on 1 November with sixteen designers and sales staff, an office assistant and three agency housekeeping and security staff, twenty workers in all.

Registration. Counting the agency staff, the studio has twenty workers, so section 13 applies. The owner logs in to hrylabour.gov.in, creates the BIP with the office's GPS location, applies in Forms F and B by 1 December, and pays the ₹500 fee shown for an establishment with ten or more employees. A provisional certificate issues within a day and the final one with its 16-digit number within fifteen days. Had she counted only her seventeen employees, she would have filed a mere intimation and been on the wrong side of the law.

Hours and overtime. Before a project deadline a junior designer works 54 hours in one week with his consent. On Haryana's unskilled minimum of ₹15,220.71 a month (about ₹585.41 a day), and an eight-hour base, his ordinary rate is about ₹73 an hour; six overtime hours at twice the rate cost about ₹880. The six hours count towards the 156 hours in a quarter cap. Actual design salaries are far higher, so calculate on real pay and check the Haryana minimum wages page.

Other compliance. With twenty workers she also needs ESIC, an Internal Committee under the POSH Act at 10 or more workers, and EPF registration at 20 or more employees. Appointment letters with photographs go to every employee under section 20A.

Penalties

The amendment replaced old fines and several criminal provisions with monetary penalties that a competent authority imposes.

Failing to keep the required records attracts up to ₹500 a day for every day the failure continues under section 20(5). The statement of objects and reasons describes the change as decriminalising minor offences while raising the financial deterrent.

Common mistakes and how to fix them

Counting only payroll staff. The threshold is twenty workers. Fix: include agency guards, housekeeping and other contract staff, and register if the total is twenty or more.

Paying for "renewal". Certificates issued under the amended section 13 stay valid until closure. Fix: ignore renewal reminders that do not come from the portal itself.

Skipping the intimation. Small shops are not exempt from everything; section 13A needs an online intimation within a month. Fix: file the BIP and keep the BIP ID.

Trading 24x7 without the conditions. The March 2026 exemption only covers registered establishments that meet its conditions. Fix: keep hours records, display the notification and obtain the separate exemption before rostering women at night.

Forgetting appointment letters. Section 20A is new and carries the general penalty. Fix: issue letters with photographs and keep signed acknowledgements.

Official links

• Labour Department Haryana — shops servicesRegister, intimate, amend, close
• Shops fee structure (XLSX)Published by the Labour Department
• Labour Department HaryanaNotifications and draft Labour Code rules
• Amendment Bill No. 39-HLA of 2025 (PDF, PRS)Text of the 2025 amendments

What to do next

Count everyone who works at your premises, including agency staff. At twenty or more, register on hrylabour.gov.in within a month of starting and keep the certificate details current; below twenty, file the section 13A intimation and keep your BIP ID. Issue appointment letters with photographs, set up an hours and overtime register for the ten-hour day, and check pay against the Haryana minimum wages. Our salary slip generator itemises overtime and the hourly rate calculator works out the double rate. Check whether your municipal body needs a trade licence, and if you also have an office in Delhi, see the Delhi shop act guide.

This is general information, not legal or tax advice — confirm on the official source or with a professional.

Frequently asked questions

Is shop act registration mandatory in Haryana?

Only for shops and commercial establishments employing 20 or more workers. Since 12 November 2025, they must apply online within one month of starting business. Smaller establishments do not register; they file a one-time online intimation within the same period under section 13A and receive a Basic Information Performa (BIP) ID number.

What is the shop act registration fee in Haryana?

The Labour Department's published fee structure goes by type of business: ₹100 for an owner-run shop with no employees, ₹300 for other shops under ten employees, ₹500 for restaurants, clinics, workshops and all units with ten or more, ₹1,000 for nursing homes, private schools and petrol pumps, and ₹5,000 for banks, starred hotels, cinemas and IT firms with ten or more. Confirm on the portal.

Does a Haryana shop registration need renewal?

Not since the 2025 amendment. The new section 13(3) says a registration certificate stays valid until it is amended, cancelled on closure, or revoked after verification. You must intimate changes online within 7 days and closure within 30 days. No fee is charged for an amended certificate after a change of name, employer, manager or workforce.

What are the working hours under the Haryana Shops Act?

For establishments with 20 or more workers, up to 10 hours a day and 48 hours a week, with a rest interval before an employee has worked more than 6 hours. Overtime is capped at 156 hours in a quarter, up from 50, and is paid at twice the ordinary rate.

Can shops in Haryana open 24x7?

Registered establishments can, under a section 28 notification of 30 March 2026 exempting them from fixed opening and closing hours and the weekly closing day. Conditions apply: 48 hours a week, 10 a day, a 12-hour spread-over, a half-hour break after six hours, double-rate overtime and display of the notification. Women at night need a separate exemption.

What is the penalty for not registering a shop in Haryana?

Under the substituted section 13(7), failing to register or intimate attracts a penalty of ₹3,000 to ₹10,000 for a first violation and ₹5,000 to ₹25,000 for a second, with ₹500 a day for continuing violations. The 2025 amendment replaced several criminal provisions with these monetary penalties.

Sources & verification

Figures on this page were checked against the sources below when it was last reviewed on 13 October 2026. Each rate and limit is stored once with its own official source and review date, and official update channels are monitored daily so changes are picked up. How we verify

1. 1.Haryana Government Gazette Extraordinary, 18 December 2025 — Haryana Shops and Commercial Establishments (Amendment) Bill, 2025 (Bill No. 39-HLA of 2025) — Haryana Vidhan Sabha (gazette copy via PRS Legislative Research) · accessed 13 October 2026
2. 2.Labour Department Haryana — Shops and Commercial Establishments Act services: terms, procedure and timelines — Labour Department, Government of Haryana · accessed 13 October 2026
3. 3.Labour Department Haryana — Shops fee structure — Labour Department, Government of Haryana · accessed 13 October 2026
4. 4.Haryana promulgates ordinance to amend S&E law — Khaitan & Co · accessed 13 October 2026
5. 5.Digital Compliance & Stricter Penalties: Inside Haryana Shops and Commercial Establishments (Amendment) Act, 2025 — SCC Online · accessed 13 October 2026
6. 6.Haryana Government Grants Exemptions from Fixed Working Hours under the Shops and Establishments Act — SCC Online · accessed 13 October 2026
7. 7.Haryana Labour Department — exemption from registration under Shops Act for OSH Code registrants — TeamLease RegTech · accessed 13 October 2026
8. 8.Haryana Govt allows single registration of businesses under the OSH Code, 2020 — SCC Online · accessed 13 October 2026