SMPV(U) Rules 2016: licences, safety distances and fire protection for gas tanks

SMPV Rules 2016 at a glance

SMPV distances for cryogenic liquids and liquid CO2 (Tables 6 and 7)

How to get an SMPV licence for a gas storage tank

1. 1

   Choose the form

   LS-1A for a storage tank, LS-1B for an auto-LPG station, LS-1C for auto-LNG, LS-1D for liquefied hydrogen. The application for all four is Form AS-1, filed online (rule 11A).

2. 2

   Get the vessel and fabricator approved

   The tank must be built in a PESO-approved shop to an accepted code such as IS 2825 or ASME VIII, with a test and inspection certificate from a recognised Inspector (rules 4 and 13).

3. 3

   File plans for prior approval

   Submit plans showing the area within 100 m, or 500 m with a HAZOP and risk analysis for flammable or toxic installations above 50 t or 100 m3 a vessel, the P&ID and a registered land document, with the Rs 2,000 scrutiny fee (rule 46).

4. 4

   Build to the approved plan

   Keep the rule 22 distances, the enclosure wall and sump, the 2 m fence with 2 exits and the rule 26 fire water and extinguishers. No District Magistrate NOC is needed since 5 June 2026.

5. 5

   Get the certificate of safety

   A competent person or third party inspection agency recognised by the Chief Controller certifies the installation before any gas goes in (rule 33), and tests the relief valves (rule 18).

6. 6

   Apply for grant and endorsement

   Pay the Schedule I fee. The licence comes into force when the licensing authority endorses it after inspecting the premises (rule 49(4)); it lasts up to 10 years, to 30 September.

7. 7

   Renew before 30 September

   Apply on or before expiry and the licence continues until PESO decides. Up to 3 months late costs double; up to a year late costs a year's fee for each 3 months; after a year, start again (rule 55).

SMPV Rules amendments, 2016 to June 2026

Seven amendments have changed the 2016 rules. The 5 June 2026 notification lists the first six and adds the seventh.

1. 13 October 2015

   Draft rules published as G.S.R. 778(E) for 45 days of objections. 1SMPV(U) Rules 2016

2. 1 December 2016

   G.S.R. 1109(E) makes the SMPV(U) Rules, 2016, replacing the 1981 rules, in force on publication. 1SMPV(U) Rules 2016

3. 20 April 2018

   G.S.R. 388(E): auto-LNG stations, Form LS-1C and a new Schedule IV for LNG (drafted as G.S.R. 887(E) in July 2017). 20LegitQuestnews report

4. 13 November 2018

   Draft G.S.R. 1110(E) proposes freeing an auto-LPG station inside a licensed petrol pump from the rule 47 NOC. 11Draft G.S.R. 1110(E)

5. 25 February 2019

   G.S.R. 148(E) brings an LS-1B auto-LPG licence at a Form XIV petrol pump under rule 47(1), the District Authority NOC rule. 3G.S.R. 148(E), 2019

6. 31 August 2021

   G.S.R. 609(E): third party inspection agencies, ISO tank containers, a 2-month deemed NOC, and online licence copies. 12G.S.R. 609(E), 2021

7. 28 April 2025

   G.S.R. 283(E) adds a table C of inspection and certification fees to Schedule I, such as Rs 5,000 for the periodic test of a Horton sphere or a mounded vessel. Five weeks later G.S.R. 374(E) substituted the whole Schedule I with Parts A and B only, so table C is not in the text as it now reads. 4G.S.R. 283(E), 2025

8. 5 June 2025

   G.S.R. 374(E): new fees with MSE, startup and women rates, 10-year licences, online filing, Form LS-1D and Schedule V for liquefied hydrogen. 5G.S.R. 374(E), 2025

9. 25 June 2025

   G.S.R. 422(E): ASME VIII Division 3 and 4 ISO hydrogen standards for vessels. 13G.S.R. 422(E), 2025

10. 24 February 2026

    Draft G.S.R. 147(E) proposes omitting rule 47; copies public on 25 February 2026. 14Draft G.S.R. 147(E)

11. 5 June 2026

    G.S.R. 448(E) omits rule 47, lets ISO tanks serve as storage and allows 9 mounded vessels in a group. 2G.S.R. 448(E), 2026

What G.S.R. 448(E) did to the SMPV District Magistrate NOC

The 2026 amendment removed the District Authority's no-objection certificate in one sentence, in force from 5 June 2026.

Rule 47 had asked every new applicant, except for non-toxic non-flammable gas and road tankers, to get a certificate from the District Magistrate or Police Commissioner, first within 4 months, from 2021 within 2 months or deemed issued, and from 2025 online through PESO's LSDA system. The same notification dropped the NOC from licence transfers (rule 54(2)(e)) and from Form LS-2. The Gas Cylinders Rules lost their NOC, rule 48, the same day; the Petroleum Rules' rule 144 NOC stands.

Which vessels and gases the SMPV Rules cover

The line is water capacity: a metal vessel for compressed gas holding over 1,000 litres is a pressure vessel; at or below it, a cylinder.

PPressure vessel

A closed metal container for storing or transporting compressed gas under pressure, with a water capacity over 1,000 litres, including its connecting parts to the first joint (rule 2(xxxvii)). 1SMPV(U) Rules 2016

GGas cylinder (not covered)

A container over 500 ml up to 1,000 litres; CNG, nitrogen or air cylinders up to 3,000 litres if no wider than 60 cm. These fall under the Gas Cylinders Rules (rule 2(xv)). 1SMPV(U) Rules 2016

CCryogenic pressure vessel

A tank for liquids boiling below minus 150 °C, including a permanently installed cryogenic tank of 1,000 litres or less (rule 2(xiv)). 1SMPV(U) Rules 2016

CCompressed gas

Any permanent, liquefiable or cryogenic gas at over 1 atmosphere gauge at its maximum working temperature, taken as 55 °C for an uninsulated vessel (rule 2(ix)). 1SMPV(U) Rules 2016

FFlammable compressed gas

A gas that forms a flammable mixture at 13% or less in air, or has a flammable range wider than 12% (rule 2(xxiv)). 1SMPV(U) Rules 2016

MMounded vessel

An above-ground tank fully covered by earth or inert material except its nozzles and manholes (rule 2(xxxiii)). 1SMPV(U) Rules 2016

PProcessing-plant exemption

Vessels inside a process plant are outside the rules if they hold no more than 16 hours of feed at the design flow (rule 3). 1SMPV(U) Rules 2016

NNot pressure vessels

Boilers and fired heaters, heat exchangers, evaporators, air receivers, digesters, sterilisers, autoclaves, reactors and calorifiers (rule 2(xxxvii)). 1SMPV(U) Rules 2016

GGas groups licensed

PESO lists 8: corrosive, toxic or permanent flammable; inert; liquefied flammable; LPG; auto-LPG; LNG; cryogenic liquids and N2O; liquid CO2. 6PESO SMPV SOP

SMPV licence forms LS-1A to LS-2B and who grants them

Every storage licence now runs up to 10 years and ends on 30 September; PESO's 2024 SOP says which office grants each.

• Head Office, Nagpur

  LS-1A, flammable, toxic or corrosive gas

  Storage of LPG, ammonia, hydrogen and other flammable, toxic or corrosive gases in tanks, including LPG for bottling. Granted at PESO's head office; endorsed and inspected by the circle office. 6PESO SMPV SOP

• Circle office

  LS-1A, inert, cryogenic or CO2

  Storage of nitrogen, oxygen, argon, liquid CO2 and other non-flammable gases. Granted by the circle office; endorsed by the sub-circle office. 6PESO SMPV SOP

• Circle office

  LS-1B, auto-LPG dispensing station

  Storage and sale of auto-LPG to vehicles; since 2025, the premises may be part of a Form XIV petrol pump only (condition 1a). 5G.S.R. 374(E), 2025

• Head Office, Nagpur

  LS-1C, auto-LNG or LCNG station

  Added in 2018 for LNG dispensing; may share a Form XIV petrol pump that holds no other PESO licence (condition 1a, 2025). 5G.S.R. 374(E), 2025

• Added 2025

  LS-1D, liquefied hydrogen station

  Storage and dispensing of liquefied hydrogen, or its storage for a compressed hydrogen station; same fee as LS-1A. 5G.S.R. 374(E), 2025

• Circle or sub-circle

  LS-2, road tanker

  Transport of compressed gas in a pressure vessel by road; up to 10 years from grant since June 2025. Railways need no licence (rule 48). 5G.S.R. 374(E), 2025

• Head Office, Nagpur

  LS-2B, ISO tank container

  Since 5 June 2026, one permission to import and/or transport an ISO tank of compressed gas, valid up to 10 years; Form LS-2A was omitted. 2G.S.R. 448(E), 2026

SMPV licence fees under Schedule I since 5 June 2025

G.S.R. 374(E) kept the standard fees and added lower rates for micro and small enterprises, startups and women entrepreneurs.

SMPV safety distances by gas and tank size (Tables 1 to 3)

Rule 22 sets the gap from each tank to the nearest building or the line of adjoining property, by gas and water capacity. Read off the 2016 Gazette page images.

Between tanks: 1 to 2 m by size; above-ground liquefied flammable tanks over 40,000 litres need 2 m or a quarter of the sum of the two diameters, whichever is greater, and mounded or buried tanks 1 m. An installation of 40,000 litres in all keeps 30 m (15 m mounded or inert). A group holds at most 6 above-ground tanks, or 9 mounded since 5 June 2026, each group on its own licence. Distances run from the nearest point of the tank, and the Chief Controller may relax them for extra safety measures. PESO's 2024 SOP cites "Table 5A" and "5B", so a later amendment may have renumbered the bottling and auto-LPG tables.

SMPV licence and the state fire NOC for a gas installation

The SMPV licence is PESO's; the fire NOC comes from the state fire law. A bulk gas site usually needs both, and the 2026 change removed only the District Magistrate's certificate.

Auto-LPG dispensing stations under the SMPV Rules

Schedule II and Table 5 set an auto-LPG station's layout, from the tank to the dispenser and the petrol pump beside it.

Mounded and underground LPG tanks under SMPV Schedule III

Schedule III sorts mounded tanks into 3 categories by size and sets the cover, clearances and fire kit for each.

• 100 KL

  Upper limit of Category 1 mounded tanks: 3 m clear around the mound, 0.5 m of earth, 1 hydrant or monitor at 15 m 1SMPV(U) Rules 2016

• 500 KL

  Upper limit of Category 2: 3.5 m clear, 0.7 m of earth, 9 m to pump rooms, 2 hydrants or monitors 1SMPV(U) Rules 2016

• 15 m

  Pump room or vaporiser distance from a Category 3 tank over 500 KL, whose hydrants follow OISD-150 1SMPV(U) Rules 2016

• 2

  Extinguishers of 75 kg each at a mounded installation, beside gas leak detection, sprinklers and hydrants 1SMPV(U) Rules 2016

• 30 seconds

  Maximum closing time of the fire-safe remote operated valves on the liquid lines 1SMPV(U) Rules 2016

• 10 years

  Between hydraulic tests of a mounded or buried tank; internal inspection with NDT every 5 years 1SMPV(U) Rules 2016

• 500 mm

  Minimum soil cover over a buried tank, set in a pit with 1 m clearance all round 1SMPV(U) Rules 2016

• 9

  Mounded tanks allowed in one group since 5 June 2026, against 6 above-ground tanks 2G.S.R. 448(E), 2026

SMPV fire protection: water spray, hydrants, detectors and extinguishers

Rule 26 and the schedules set the fire fighting for flammable gas tanks; the size of the plant sets how much water.

SMPV periodic testing: which test and how often

Rule 19 and Schedule III set the test interval by gas and installation; a recognised competent person or inspection agency issues the certificate online.

1. If An ordinary tank for flammable or inert gas

   Hydraulic test at the marked pressure at least every 5 years, with internal inspection and residual thickness measurement (rule 19(1)(a)). 1SMPV(U) Rules 2016

2. If A tank for corrosive or toxic gas, such as chlorine or ammonia

   The same test every 2 years (rule 19(1)(a)). 1SMPV(U) Rules 2016

3. If A flammable, corrosive or toxic gas tank over 100 KL

   Non-destructive testing of the welds on top of the hydraulic test (rule 19(1)(b)). 1SMPV(U) Rules 2016

4. If A cryogenic tank, or a stainless steel liquid CO2 tank

   Pneumatic test at 1.1 times the maximum allowable working pressure; carbon steel CO2 tanks are tested hydraulically (rule 19(3)). 1SMPV(U) Rules 2016

5. If A mounded or underground tank

   Internal inspection with NDT every 5 years and a hydraulic test every 10 years (Schedule III). 1SMPV(U) Rules 2016

6. If An ammonia Horton sphere

   First inspection after 2 years, the second 3 years later, then NDT and hydro test every 5 years (rule 19(5)). 1SMPV(U) Rules 2016

7. If Relief valves, excess flow and remote valves

   Relief valves tested once a year; excess flow and remote valves at each periodic test, and yearly on road tankers (rule 18). 1SMPV(U) Rules 2016

8. If A hydrogen tank

   Fitness for service assessed to API 579 as well (rule 19, proviso added 25 June 2025). 13G.S.R. 422(E), 2025

Filling and unloading a tank under the SMPV Rules: dos and don'ts

Rules 27 and 28 and the licence conditions govern every transfer; most are checks before the first valve opens.

Penalties for breaking the SMPV Rules under the Explosives Act

The rules carry the Explosives Act's penalties; the amounts are the 1983 figures, and PESO can also suspend or cancel the licence.

Form AS-2 makes the applicant sign that a breach is punishable with up to 2 years or Rs 3,000. Flamekite found no Jan Vishwas Act amending the Explosives Act by 25 October 2026. Appeals go to the Chief Controller or the Central Government within 60 days (rule 59).

SMPV licence worked examples: 6 installations

Flamekite's reading of the rules for six sites. PESO's approved plan decides.

1. Case 1

   An LPG tank at a ceramics factory

   One above-ground LPG bullet of 20,000 litres feeding kilns

   What applies LS-1A from PESO's head office; 15 m to the nearest building or boundary under Table 3, 2 x 9 kg DCP at each access, sprinklers at 10 lpm/m2 and hydro tests every 5 years. Fee Rs 42,500: Rs 5,000 plus 15 x Rs 2,500. 5G.S.R. 374(E), 2025

2. Case 2

   A hospital's liquid oxygen tank

   A 10,000-litre cryogenic oxygen tank in the hospital yard

   What applies Over 1,000 litres, so LS-1A from the circle office: 3 m to buildings and 5 m from naked flames or electrics (Table 6), tanker stand 4.5 m from the boundary and a pneumatic test at 1.1 times working pressure. 1SMPV(U) Rules 2016

3. Case 3

   A small nitrogen tank

   A 900-litre tank installed permanently for liquid nitrogen

   What applies Still covered: a permanently installed cryogenic tank of 1,000 litres or less is a cryogenic pressure vessel. Table 6 needs 2 m to the boundary. 1SMPV(U) Rules 2016

4. Case 4

   An auto-LPG station at a petrol pump

   One underground 20 m3 tank and 2 dispensers at a Form XIV outlet

   What applies LS-1B; 3 m from tank to fill point, 9 m from tank to the petrol dispensers, 2 large DCP units for the buried tank. No District Magistrate NOC for the LS-1B since 5 June 2026. 2G.S.R. 448(E), 2026

5. Case 5

   A chlorine store at a water works

   Two 30,000-litre chlorine tanks

   What applies Table 1 sets 20 m to buildings and 2 m between tanks; a hydraulic test every 2 years as a toxic gas. 1SMPV(U) Rules 2016

6. Case 6

   A women-led MSE storing CO2

   One 12,000-litre liquid CO2 tank

   What applies LS-1A at the women-entrepreneur rate: Rs 1,000 plus 7 x Rs 500, so Rs 4,500; 2 m to buildings under Table 7. 5G.S.R. 374(E), 2025

SMPV changes PESO announced in 2026

From news reports, not yet an official source.

SMPV licence myths, checked against the rules

• You may have read

  An SMPV storage licence is valid for 5 years.

  Myth

  What the sources say

  It was. Since G.S.R. 374(E) of 5 June 2025, rule 51 allows up to 10 years, still ending on 30 September; PESO's own 2024 FAQ predates the change. 5G.S.R. 374(E), 2025

• You may have read

  A new LPG tank still needs the District Magistrate's NOC.

  Myth

  What the sources say

  Rule 47 was omitted on 5 June 2026 by G.S.R. 448(E). A petrol pump's rule 144 NOC under the Petroleum Rules is a different rule and stands. 2G.S.R. 448(E), 2026

• You may have read

  Small cryogenic tanks under 1,000 litres are outside the rules.

  Myth

  What the sources say

  A permanently installed cryogenic tank of 1,000 litres or less is defined as a cryogenic pressure vessel (rule 2(xiv)). 1SMPV(U) Rules 2016

• You may have read

  An air receiver or reactor needs an SMPV licence.

  Myth

  What the sources say

  Rule 2(xxxvii) excludes air receivers, reactors, autoclaves and heat exchangers; process vessels under 16 hours of feed are exempt by rule 3. 1SMPV(U) Rules 2016

• You may have read

  Holding a PESO licence means the fire service has approved the site.

  Myth

  What the sources say

  PESO licenses the tank. Rule 26 still points to the fire regulations of the area, and the state fire NOC follows the state's fire law. 1SMPV(U) Rules 2016

Where to read the SMPV Rules and apply for an SMPV licence

The official texts, the licensing portal and the offices that decide.

• Rules

  PESO: SMPV (U) Rules 2016

  The 143-page bilingual Gazette text of 2016, with pages for the 2021, 2025 and 2026 amendments. 16PESO rules page

  peso.gov.in/web/en/smpv-u-rules-2016 ↗

• 2026 amendment

  eGazette of India

  G.S.R. 448(E) of 5 June 2026, which omitted rule 47, as gazetted. 2G.S.R. 448(E), 2026

  egazette.gov.in/WriteReadData/2026/273192.pdf ↗

• Apply

  PESO Online

  Applications, fees, renewals and licence copies for LS-1A to LS-2B (login). 17PESO Online

  online.peso.gov.in/PesoOnline ↗

• Apply

  National Single Window System

  PESO approvals filed through the national single window. 18NSWS

  www.nsws.gov.in/portal/peso ↗

• Documents

  PESO SOP for the SMPV Rules

  The 16-page list of documents for each transaction and which office grants each form. 6PESO SMPV SOP

  peso.gov.in/web/sites/default/files/2024-12/SOP%20for%20SMPV%28U%29%20Rules%2C%202016-Final%20-%2002.12.2024.pdf ↗

• Offices

  PESO contact page

  Head office at Nagpur and the circle and sub-circle offices that grant and endorse licences. 19PESO contacts

  peso.gov.in/web/index.php/en/contact-us ↗

What Flamekite could not confirm about the SMPV Rules

Gaps a reader would expect us to fill, and what to do until they are filled.