§1What this business is
An apple orchard is a long-term hill farm. Apple needs 1,000–1,500 hours of winter chilling and grows at 1,500–2,700 m above sea level, mainly in Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Plants are set 4 m apart in pits dug in October–November and planted in January–February, with pollinator varieties mixed in. The trees start bearing in the eighth year and bear for more than 30 years. Until then the report plans off-season vegetables between the rows, costing ₹10,000 an acre and yielding about 5 tonnes. Fruit is graded by size and colour, packed in wooden boxes or cartons of 10 or 20 kg and sent by truck to wholesale markets.
Capacity: One acre with 250 plants at 4 m x 4 m. Bearing starts in year 8; yield rises from 3 tonnes to 6 tonnes an acre.
§2Is it right for you?
Who it is for
A hill farmer with own land at the right height who can wait eight years and live on vegetables or other income meanwhile.
Who it is not for
Anyone in the plains or warm valleys, or anyone who needs a return within two or three years.
Advantages
- Trees bear for more than 30 years once established
- Apples keep 4–8 months in cold storage, so sale can be spread out
- Vegetables between the rows bring income during the waiting years
- Steady demand across India for hill apples
Drawbacks
- No fruit income until the eighth year
- Possible only in cold hill areas with enough chilling hours
- Wholesale prices in growing areas fall to unremunerative levels in good crop years
- Hail, heavy snow and fog near harvest spoil the fruit
Skills you need
- Pruning and training of trees
- Choosing rootstock and pollinator varieties
- Spray schedule for scab, scale and aphids
- Grading and packing by size and colour
Why difficulty 4/5: Eight years without fruit income, and it works only at the right altitude.
§3Market
Who buys
- Wholesalers and commission agents at fruit mandis
- State procurement under the Market Intervention Scheme
- Juice, jelly and canning units
How it sells
- Truck loads to wholesale markets through commission agents
- Sale to traders at the orchard
- Cold storage and later sale
Good to know
- The model values apples at ₹11,000 a tonne.
- Apples are graded by hand into 6 size grades, and by colour and quality into three or more grades.
- Intermediaries control most of the trade, says the report.
§4Raw material & machinery
| Item | Qty | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Borewell | — | ₹25,000 |
| Drip irrigation system with fertigation equipment | for 1 acre | ₹20,000 |
| Pump set and electrical installation | — | ₹25,000 |
| Store and pump house | — | ₹20,000 |
| Labour room | — | ₹5,000 |
| Farm implements | — | ₹10,000 |
| Fencing | — | ₹20,000 |
From: National Horticulture Board model bankable project — Apple
- Planting material — grafted apple plants250 plants an acre at ₹10 a plant; buy only from registered nurseries
- Manures and fertilisersfirst-year provision in the model
- Insecticides and pesticidesfirst-year provision in the model
From: National Horticulture Board model bankable project — Apple
§5Licences & registration
- No licence is needed to grow fruit on your own or leased farm land
- Land ownership or registered lease papers (banks and subsidy offices ask for them)
- Permission for a new borewell where the state groundwater authority requires it
- For export: Import Export Code, APEDA registration and a phytosanitary certificate
Start it in your state
Pick your state: today’s cost, central + state subsidy, raw material, land and help, on one page.
§6Schemes & subsidies
The model assumes the farmer puts in ₹75,000, a capital subsidy of ₹30,000 and a bank term loan of ₹45,000 at 12% interest on the ₹1,50,000 cost. Today NHB's open-field scheme is for orchards above 2 hectares, leaves out land cost and needs a bank term loan; for a one-acre orchard ask the district horticulture office about state schemes.
§7Money
How the investment is worked out: One-acre model; the cost of land is not included. Cultivation expenses ₹21,000 (planting material ₹2,500, manures and fertilisers ₹7,700, insecticides and pesticides ₹3,000, land preparation ₹4,200, power ₹3,600) + irrigation ₹50,000 (borewell ₹25,000, pump set and electrical installation ₹25,000) + drip irrigation system ₹20,000 + infrastructure ₹35,000 (store and pump house ₹20,000, labour room ₹5,000, farm implements ₹10,000) + land development ₹24,000 (land levelling ₹4,000, fencing ₹20,000) = ₹1,50,000.
Working capital: Production cost over the first seven years adds up to ₹1,74,050 for the acre. From year 8 the yearly running cost is ₹22,000 to ₹25,300.
Year not printed on the report. It costs labour at ₹70 a man-day, so these are old prices — planting material, labour, borewell and drip costs are much higher now.
§8Export potential
Confirm the HS code in the DGFT ITC(HS) lookup before you export
Export council / board: APEDA
- Only around 1.6% of India's apple production was exported, says the report.
- In 2001-02 Bangladesh took 19,234.67 tonnes of the 19,296.01 tonnes exported.
§9Risks — where people fail
- Apple scab, collar rot and San Jose scale
- Hail, snow or a warm winter with too little chilling
- Price crash in a bumper year
- Fruit drop before harvest
§1030 / 60 / 90-day plan
A general plan that applies to any business. A plan for this business will be added after research.
- Days 1–30: Visit a working apple orchard unit, ask 10 buyers about price and quantity, and get quotations from 3 suppliers.
- Days 31–60: Udyam and the licences you need (No licence is needed to grow fruit on your own or leased farm land, Land ownership or registered lease papers (banks and subsidy offices ask for them)), a project report (DPR), and the scheme or loan file.
- Days 61–90: Space and machines, trial production, and first deliveries to 10 customers.
§11Who to connect with
§12Watch
There is no episode on this business yet. Shows are coming soon on the Podcast page.
Want to start Apple Orchard?
DPR, loan file or registration — ask us on WhatsApp.
¶Sources
Data review: 6 October 2026. Spotted a mistake? Report it. For information only — not legal or financial advice.