Q.01

What is NPOP organic certification in India?

NPOP (the National Programme for Organic Production) is India's government organic certification scheme. It was launched in 2000, and the Department of Commerce has run it for exports under the Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Act, 1992 since 2001. For the domestic market, the FSSAI Food Safety and Standards (Organic Food) Regulations, 2017 recognise it [1]. Under NPOP, certification bodies accredited by a National Accreditation Body (NAB) check that products are produced, processed and packed to the NPOP standards. APEDA acts as the Secretariat [2].

Approach: I searched APEDA's NPOP notifications, announcements and register of accredited certification bodies, and the FSSAI Organic Food Regulations, 2017 with FSSAI's 2020 FAQ. I did not open the full NPOP standard text itself.

Legal basis and current edition

  • The 2017 FSSAI Regulations define NPOP as a Government of India programme that sets up the system for applying the National Standards for Organic Production. It uses third-party certification, as notified by the Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) under the 1992 Act [3].
  • The 7th edition was notified by the DGFT in 2014 [1]. The 8th edition was notified on 5 January 2025 and has been in force since July 2025 [2].

How certification works

  • Exports: a product can be exported as "organic" only if it travels with a Transaction Certificate from a certification body accredited by the NAB under NPOP. It must also have been produced, processed and packed to the NPOP standards (DGFT Public Notice No. 73 (RE-2013)/2009-2014, 18 November 2014) [4].
  • Shipment checks: the exporter gets a provisional Transaction Certificate through APEDA's Tracenet system before shipment, and Indian customs checks it [5].
  • Who is accredited: APEDA keeps a register of accredited certification bodies, the latest dated 13.10.2026. Entries carry NPOP/NAB numbers, validity dates and scopes such as crop production, processing and handling, livestock, and animal feed [6].
  • Enforcement: the NAB Sub-Committee suspends or terminates certification bodies and imposes money penalties. For example, the 3 October 2025 circular terminated one body's accreditation and suspended three others for one year, each with a Rs. 5 lakh penalty [7].

Selling organic food in India (FSSAI)

  • Organic food offered for sale must comply with NPOP, PGS-India (the Participatory Guarantee System run by the Ministry of Agriculture), or another system FSSAI notifies [8].
  • Exemption: small original producers or producer organisations selling directly to consumers do not need either system [8].
  • You need NPOP or PGS-India certification before you can get an FSSAI registration or licence for an organic food business [9].
  • Labelling under NPOP:
    • A single-ingredient product that meets all requirements can be labelled "Organic".
    • A multi-ingredient product with at least 95% certified ingredients can be labelled "Certified Organic" [10].
    • The label must show FSSAI's Jaivik Bharat logo and may also carry the India Organic logo [11].
  • Additives and processing aids: only those allowed in the National Standards for Organic Production or PGS-India may be used [12].
  • Imports: organic food from a country with an equivalence agreement based on NPOP does not need re-certification in India. It must come with a Transaction Certificate from a certification body covered by that agreement [13].

Beyond food

  • Taiwan: under the India–Taiwan mutual recognition agreement, exports follow NPOP plus Taiwan-specific measures, including residue testing for each lot and the India Organic logo [14].
  • Cosmetics: APEDA's 2020 organic cosmetics and personal care standard requires plant and animal ingredients certified under the NPOP appendices [15].
  • USDA NOP ingredients: in May 2026, APEDA asked for public comments on draft procedures for importing USDA NOP-certified ingredients, processing them in India and re-exporting to the USA [2].
Q.02

How do I get certified under it, and what does it cost?

How to get certified: NPOP does not certify you through APEDA directly. You apply to one of the certification bodies accredited under NPOP, either on your own or as a grower group. You sign a contract with that body, convert your land under the National Standards for Organic Production, pass at least one inspection a year, and receive an annual Scope Certificate on APEDA's Tracenet system.

Cost: NPOP does not set a fee for operators. Each certification body sets its own charges. It must file that tariff with APEDA every year and display it on its website and at its office. To get a figure, you need quotes from the bodies on APEDA's register.

Approach: I searched APEDA's NPOP notifications and announcements and the FSSAI Organic Food Regulations, 2017 with the 2020 FAQ. I then read the NPOP 8th Edition on APEDA's site. The detailed NPOP Procedures 2024 that the standard refers to were not read.

Steps (NPOP 8th Edition)

  1. Pick a route.
    • An individual farmer gets a crop-production Scope Certificate in their own name (§4.4.2.1).
    • Farmers can instead certify together as a grower group (Chapter 5). The group must be a registered legal entity: a society, an FPO/FPC under the Companies Act 2013, or a co-operative. It needs 25 to 500 farmers (minimum 10 for aquaculture), within a radius of about 50 km, and it must sell as one entity (§5.2).
    • You may hold only one NPOP certification per scope (§4.4.2.3).
  2. Apply and sign a contract. The certification body must give you the current standards and its procedures for inspection, certification and appeals. You agree to follow NPOP, accept inspections, give accurate information and report any changes in real time (§4.4.2, §4.4.3.1, §4.4.5.1).
  3. Write a production plan. It covers crops, inputs, where seed comes from, how you prevent contamination, and record-keeping (§3.1.1).
  4. Conversion period. It can be counted from the certification body's first inspection (§3.1.2).
    • Annual and biennial crops: at least 2 years before sowing.
    • Perennials: at least 3 years before the first organic harvest (§3.1.3).
    • The period can be reduced if the land has had 3 years of PGS-India certification, or is in a notified "natural" hilly area of the Himalayan states/UTs (J&K, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand) or the North East. You need documents and the body checks the land physically (§3.1.4).
  5. Inspection and testing.
    • At least one announced inspection a year.
    • The body also does extra and unannounced inspections based on risk (minimum 10% each).
    • It tests samples from at least 5% of its operators, plus at least 2% of farmers in each grower group (§4.4.1).
  6. Certificates.
    • A different person from the inspector makes the certification decision (§4.4.2.4).
    • The Scope Certificate is issued every year on Tracenet.
    • Every sale needs a Transaction Certificate, issued within 5 working days (producer to trader/processor), 3 working days (domestic trade) or 7 working days (export) once your documents are complete (§4.4.4).
    • Exports also need a provisional Transaction Certificate that customs checks [5].
  7. Appeals and sanctions.
    • You can appeal to the body within 30 days, then to the NAB Sub-Committee (§4.9.3).
    • If your certification is terminated, you can reapply only after 2 years and must go through full conversion again. Being terminated twice bars you for 5 years (§4.4.2.5).
  8. Extra checks for organic cotton. APEDA now requires unannounced inspections of the standing crop, testing of samples taken by a third party, mass-balance checks, and monthly reports to the NPOP Secretariat [16].

Selling in India (FSSAI)

  • You must have NPOP or PGS-India certification before you can get an FSSAI registration or licence for organic food [9].
  • If you already hold an FSSAI registration or licence, you have it endorsed for organic food online through FLRS [17].
  • Products still in conversion are treated as non-organic [18].
  • Producers with annual turnover up to Rs 12 lakh who sell directly to consumers do not need certification [19].

What NPOP says about cost

  • Your certification fees: set by the certification body. The tariff is filed with APEDA every year and must be displayed publicly (§4.3.5(ii)). APEDA's register lists the accredited bodies and their scopes [6].
  • Testing: the certification body pays for the mandatory 5% residue testing (§4.4.1.3(iv)). Any other testing is not covered by that rule.
  • APEDA's fee circulars apply to certification bodies, not to you. APEDA has published processing fees for bodies seeking accreditation, surveillance, renewal or extra scopes [20][21]. The 2019 circular is a scanned PDF I could not read, so I can't give its amounts.
  • An older one-off charge: two DGFT trade notices from December 2009 charged Rs 25 per MT of contracted quantity, payable to APEDA, to register export contracts [22][23]. Going by their file names, they concern organic wheat and non-basmati rice. This was not a general certification fee.
Q.03

Which certification bodies are accredited?

APEDA's register of NPOP certification bodies (dated 13.10.2026) has 42 entries. 5 are suspended, so 37 are listed without suspension. The full table is in the panel document, with accreditation numbers, validity dates, scopes and restrictions for each body [6].

Approach: I read every page of APEDA's current register of NPOP-accredited certification bodies.

Suspended bodies (cannot certify):

  • Natural Organic Certification Agro (NOCA), NPOP/NAB/0026, from 01.10.2025 [24]
  • Sikkim State Organic Certification Agency, NPOP/NAB/0031, from 01.10.2024 [25]
  • Global Certification Society, NPOP/NAB/0032, from 01.10.2025 [26]
  • Reliable Organic Certification Organization, NPOP/NAB/0036, from 30.11.2023 [27]
  • Krushi Certification, NPOP/NAB/0044, from 01.10.2025 [28]

Points to check when picking a body:

  • Broadest scopes:
    • OneCert International covers crop, processing, livestock, apiculture, aquaculture, mushroom, greenhouse, seaweed and animal feed [29].
    • Control Union (CU Inspections) covers crop, processing, livestock, aquaculture, seaweed and greenhouse [30].
    • ECOCERT covers crop, processing, livestock and animal feed, plus overseas certification for the EU [6].
  • Overseas certification:
    • ECOCERT: EU.
    • FoodChain ID: EU, China, Japan, USA, Canada, ASEAN and other East and South Asian nations [31].
    • Aditi: Middle East, NW Asia and Africa [32].
  • Not eligible for EU Category A&F: several bodies are marked this way from 01.01.2022, including ECOCERT, INDOCERT, Lacon, OneCert, Control Union and FairCert [33][24].
  • Cotton excluded: SGS, TQ Cert, FairCert, Baltic Testing and GSCI [34].
  • Restricted to a state or zone:
    • Uttarakhand (USOCA) and Rajasthan (RSOCA) are limited to their own states; for RSOCA the limit applies to new registrations [30].
    • Many newer and state bodies may operate only in a named zone (North, South, West, Central, or East and North East).
  • Not taking new registrations: SGS India has been restricted for new registrations under NPOP since 09.02.2024 [29].
  • Validity running out: many accreditations have been extended to dates in the next few weeks: SGS, RSOCA and Aditi to 30.10.2026, IMO Control and GreenCert to 09.11.2026, FairCert to 12.11.2026, GOPCA to 16.11.2026, Control Union to 26.11.2026.
  • Bihar (BSSOCA): still listed, but its extended validity date of 30.05.2026 has already passed [27].
  • Newest body: Imperial Biosolutions (NPOP/NAB/0053), crop production in the North Zone from 02.06.2026 [35].
Q.04