Electrical Contractor Licences in India: Classes, States and What to Verify Before Award

In India an electrical contractor must hold a licence from the State Government before doing installation work for a consumer, under regulation 31 of the CEA safety regulations of 2023. Each state's licensing board defines the classes, usually by voltage and scope, and requires a certified supervisor and permit-holding wiremen on the contractor's payroll. Before award, verify the class, its validity, the named supervisor and, for an out-of-state contractor, the permission to work in your state.

What does the law require?

Regulation 31 of the Central Electricity Authority (Measures relating to Safety and Electric Supply) Regulations, 2023 says that installation work, including additions, alterations, repairs and adjustments, is carried out only by an electrical contractor licensed by the State Government, under the direct supervision of a person holding a certificate of competency, and by a person holding a permit issued or recognised by the State Government. Replacing lamps, fans, fuses, switches and domestic appliances up to 250 V without altering capacity is excluded. Work done in breach of this rule shall not be energised or connected to a supplier's works.

Two further points matter to an owner. For works executed for the Central Government, and for installations in mines, oil-fields and railways, a licence from any one state or union territory is enough and no further state licence is needed. And under regulation 33 the supplier tests a new installation itself or accepts test results duly signed by a licensed electrical contractor, so the contractor's licence appears on your connection paperwork.

What classes of licence exist?

The regulations leave classes to the states, and the states differ in names, voltage limits and conditions. The Rajasthan Electrical Inspectorate's licence form, issued under its 2016 rules, shows a typical structure:

Other states publish their own. The Puducherry licensing board describes a Grade A licence for low, medium and high voltage up to 33,000 volts and a Grade B licence for low and medium voltage, and says issue of new licences is withheld while its rules are revised. Karnataka's Electrical Inspectorate lists an Electrical Contractor Licence, including a Super Grade, under rules of 2012 with later amendments and a new set of rules in 2025. For Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, the states in which most of our readers work, we could not retrieve a current class table from a state government page, so read the board's own rules before you rely on a class name from another state.

Why does the supervisor matter more than the licence?

A licence belongs to a firm. The competence belongs to the supervisor. In Rajasthan the contractor must appoint a full-time supervisor holding a competency certificate, with a signed consent that the supervisor holds no contractor's licence and works under no other contractor; the supervisor undertakes to tell the board on leaving. Wiremen carry a similar declaration. If the named supervisor has left, or serves several firms, the licence is a letter-head.

Ask for the supervisor's certificate number and validity, the date of joining, and the permit numbers of the wiremen who will work on your site. These numbers usually appear in the approval file you give the Electrical Inspector; see CEIG approval for factories for how that file is built.

Boards also test the firm's standing. Rajasthan asks for a bank solvency certificate sized to the class, and Karnataka's circulars ask for a bank solvency certificate with new and renewal applications and for ESI and EPF challans with Super Grade renewals. Ask the contractor to show current ones. They tell you whether the firm has a real payroll behind the licence, or whether the licence is being lent to jobs it does not staff.

Can a contractor from another state work on your project?

Often yes, but through the state's route, not by assumption. Regulation 31 refers to a licence issued by the State Government, and the exemption quoted above covers central works only. Rajasthan's schedule provides a temporary contractor's work permit for contractors licensed in other states, for the equivalent class only, valid for the named work order and extendable while the order stands. Other states may handle this differently or not at all. If your project is in a state where the main contractor is not licensed, ask the Electrical Inspectorate in writing what is required, before the contract is signed, and put the licence as a condition precedent.

What should you verify before award?

Our guides to selecting an industrial electrical contractor and verifying contractor claims before award cover the commercial checks that sit beside these statutory ones.

How Secured Engineers helps

Secured Engineers designs electrical systems in-house and prepares and files CEIG and DISCOM applications in-house, so licence and supervisor details are lined up with the drawings the Inspector sees. MEPF and solar can be delivered under one contract. The company works from offices in Noida (Delhi NCR) and Ludhiana, with 535+ projects across 18+ states and 89.77% repeat clients. We do not sell audits; where a contractor file has gaps, we can help rectify the paperwork or review the design.

If you hold a contractor's licence copy, supervisor certificate and drawings for a job, send the file for a review through WhatsApp or call +91 70099 85817. Our electrical infrastructure service page describes the scope we cover, and you can ask for a free proposal.