What Is SMPV Licensing
The SMPV(U) Rules, 2016 apply to static and mobile unfired pressure vessels and to the storage of compressed and liquefied gases in them. “Unfired” distinguishes these from boilers, which sit under a separate regime administered by a different authority — a distinction that causes regular confusion.
The rules cover both the vessel and its installation. A vessel that is itself correctly manufactured and certified can still sit in a non-compliant installation, and it is the installation that the licence addresses.
Two frequent misunderstandings. First, that a vendor’s test certificate is the same as a licence — it is not; the certificate supports an application. Second, that SMPV and boiler requirements are interchangeable — they are separate frameworks with separate authorities.
Under these rules, storage of compressed gases other than non-flammable, non-toxic gases requires a no-objection certificate from the District Authority. That NOC frequently sets the real schedule for an application, since its lead time sits outside the licensing process.
Who Needs SMPV Approval
Common installations
- Bulk nitrogen, oxygen and hydrogen storage
- LPG bullets and storage vessels
- Cryogenic storage tanks
- Ammonia and chlorine storage vessels
- Air receivers and process vessels within scope
- Mobile pressure vessels and road tankers
Sectors affected
- Chemical and intermediate manufacturing
- Pharmaceutical and API plants
- Industrial and medical gas businesses
- Engineering and metal processing
- Food processing and cold chain
- Textile processing units
Whether a particular vessel falls within scope depends on its specification, its contents and its service. Capacity and design pressure both matter, and a vessel outside scope for one gas may be within it for another. This is a vessel-by-vessel assessment rather than a site-level answer.
Documents Required
SMPV applications are vessel-document heavy. The paperwork that arrives with the vessel is usually the foundation, and gaps in it are difficult to close afterwards.
- Vessel design drawings and design calculations
- Manufacturer’s certificate and fabrication records
- Material test certificates for the vessel and its fittings
- Hydrostatic and other test certificates
- Safety fitting details — relief valves, gauges, level indication
- Site plan and installation layout drawing showing distances
- Foundation and support details
- Piping and instrumentation arrangements
- NOC from the District Authority, where the gas requires one
- Company constitution documents, ownership or lease papers
- Existing licence with approved drawing, for renewal or amendment
Collect the vessel documentation at purchase. Chasing design calculations and material certificates from a fabricator two years after commissioning is the single most common reason an SMPV application stalls. Make the document pack a condition of the purchase order.
Pressure Vessel Site Requirements
The installation is assessed as a whole. What the department examines:
- Distances. From the vessel to protected works, to the boundary, and to other vessels — determined by the gas, capacity and configuration.
- Foundation and supports. Design appropriate to the vessel and its service.
- Safety fittings. Relief devices, isolation, level and pressure indication, matched to the specification.
- Fire protection. Provisions appropriate to the gas, including water spray or deluge arrangements where required.
- Electrical area classification. Where the gas is flammable, equipment approval requirements follow.
- Access. For operation, maintenance, testing and emergency response.
- Tanker loading and unloading. Where the vessel is filled on site, the bay and its arrangements form part of the assessment.
Requirements vary by gas and configuration and are established case by case against the rules. This is design-stage work; retrofitting distances around an installed vessel is rarely straightforward.
Inspection & Compliance
PESO has moved to a paperless process, with applications routed through the National Single Window System. PESO’s published document on disposal timelines states that online applications are auto-inwarded four times a day and are to be processed within 21 days. Read that figure for what it is — a departmental processing timeline, not a promise of when your licence arrives. Elapsed time is governed almost entirely by how often the file goes back for clarification.
Where inspection applies, the installation is checked against the submitted drawings and the vessel documentation. Recurring findings:
- A tank or vessel relocated during construction, never reflected in the approved drawing
- Stored quantities that have crept above the licensed figure
- Safety fittings replaced with a different make or specification
- Electrical equipment in a classified area whose approval status nobody has checked
- Distances on the drawing that do not survive a tape measure
- A site team that has never seen the drawing filed on their behalf
Add to that list two SMPV-specific issues: test certificates that have lapsed since the application was prepared, and safety fittings replaced during maintenance with a different specification from the one certified.
What a consultant can and cannot do. We prepare the file, brief your site team and draft replies to departmental observations. We have no role in how an inspection is conducted and no influence over its outcome. A One Consultant is a private consultancy — not a government body, and not appointed or authorised by one. Our practice does not extend to GPCB, CPCB or Drug Department matters.
Renewal/Amendment
Renewal timing varies by rule set, and misinformation circulates freely here. A documented example: under the SMPV(U) Rules, licences are granted or renewed for a maximum of three years ending 31st March, and the last date for receipt of a renewal application at the renewing office is 2nd March of the expiry year. Other rule sets carry their own validity periods and cut-off dates — check yours against your licence document rather than assuming the SMPV position applies.
Because the SMPV cut-off falls in early March for a licence expiring on 31st March, the practical planning point is the preceding December — earlier if a District Authority NOC has to be refreshed or vessel testing is due.
Transfers. Under the SMPV(U) Rules a licence cannot be transferred from one person or company to another. Where the occupier changes, the new occupier applies for a fresh licence. If you are acquiring a Gujarat site with pressure vessel installations, treat this as a due diligence item rather than an assumption.
Amendment applies when a vessel is added, removed or replaced, the stored gas changes, the installation is modified, or the site layout around the vessel changes.
Industries & Gujarat Locations
SMPV work in Gujarat spreads more widely than chemical licensing, because bulk gas storage follows manufacturing generally rather than any one sector.
Chemical and pharma belt
Ankleshwar, Panoli, Jhagadia, Nandesari, Vadodara and Vapi — nitrogen and hydrogen installations alongside process vessels, usually assessed together with solvent tankage under a different rule set.
General manufacturing
Surat, Sachin GIDC, Hazira, Ahmedabad and Sanand — engineering, textile processing and food operations where a single bulk gas installation is often the only PESO touchpoint on the site.
Our office is at GIDC Char Rasta in Vapi and we attend installations across the South Gujarat belt. For Gujarat applicants the PESO field office is the Vadodara Circle Office.
SMPV FAQs
What does SMPV stand for?
Static and Mobile Pressure Vessels (Unfired). The governing rules are the Static and Mobile Pressure Vessels (Unfired) Rules, 2016, which cover pressure vessels and the storage of compressed and liquefied gases in them.
Does every pressure vessel need an SMPV licence?
No. Whether a vessel falls within scope depends on its specification, contents and service. Capacity and design pressure both matter, and a vessel outside scope for one gas may be within it for another. It is a vessel-by-vessel assessment.
Is our vendor’s test certificate the same as a licence?
No. A manufacturer’s or test certificate is a document that supports a licence application; it is not itself an approval to install and operate. This is one of the most common misunderstandings in this area.
Do we need an NOC for gas storage?
Under the SMPV(U) Rules, storage of compressed gases other than non-flammable, non-toxic gases requires a no-objection certificate from the District Authority. Its lead time sits outside the licensing process, so it should be started first.
When is an SMPV renewal due?
Licences are granted or renewed for a maximum of three years ending 31st March, and the last date for receipt of a renewal application at the renewing office is 2nd March of the expiry year. Practically, plan from the preceding December.
Can an SMPV licence be transferred when a site is sold?
No. Under the SMPV(U) Rules a licence cannot be transferred from one person or company to another — the new occupier must apply for a fresh licence. This belongs in due diligence rather than in post-completion administration.
Is SMPV the same as boiler approval?
No. SMPV covers unfired pressure vessels; boilers fall under a separate regime administered by a different authority. The two are not interchangeable and holding one says nothing about the other.
We are installing a nitrogen tank next quarter. When should we start?
At the design stage, before the order is placed. Distances, foundations and fire protection are far easier to resolve on a drawing than around an installed vessel, and the vendor document pack is much easier to obtain as a purchase order condition than afterwards.