§1What this business is

Crisp bulbs of ripe jackfruit are taken out by hand, filled into 425 g cans with sugar syrup and a little citric acid (jackfruit has a high pH), exhausted, double-seamed and processed. The unit runs 6–8 months on jackfruit and can can pineapple or guava in the rest of the year.

Capacity: 1,00,000 cans (425 g) a year valued ₹65 L, on double shift and 250 days at 70% utilisation; the plant is rated 1.5 lakh cans.

§2Is it right for you?

Who it is for

An established food processor in a jackfruit-growing area (West Coast, Assam, West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar).

Who it is not for

A first-time founder with no buyers for canned goods.

Advantages

  • Turns a perishable, wasted fruit into a year-round product
  • Export scope, especially the Middle East, says the profile
  • Same line can can pineapple or guava
  • Technology available from CFTRI, Mysore

Drawbacks

  • Large investment (₹47 lakh at 2011 prices)
  • Break-even above 50%
  • Needs a boiler and canning skills
  • Canned fruit has a small domestic market

Skills you need

  • Thermal processing and can seaming
  • Boiler operation
  • Quality testing
  • Export and institutional selling

Why difficulty 4/5: Canning, a boiler, a big investment and a break-even above 50%.

§3Market

Who buys

  • Domestic grocery and modern retail
  • Importers in the Middle East
  • Hotels and caterers

How it sells

  • Distributors and exporters
  • Supply under buyers' brands

Good to know

  • The profile counts about 20–25 unorganised units making jack chips and preserves.
  • It recommends setting up in jackfruit-growing areas to use surplus fruit.

§4Raw material & machinery

ItemQtyCost
Open steam kettle4₹1.40 lakh
SS washing table4₹1.00 lakh
Coal-fired boiler, 100 kg steam an hour1₹1.70 lakh
Platform weighing scale, 1–100 kg1₹0.60 lakh
Canning unit: semi-automatic can reformer, flanger, exhaust box and double seamer1 set₹3.30 lakh
Accessories (spoons, knives) and testing equipment1 lot₹0.95 lakh
Electrification of installation (10%)1₹0.85 lakh

From: PMEGP sample project report — Jackfruit Products (MSME-DI Goa project profile: Canned Jackfruit) (2011)

  • Ripe jackfruit20,000 kg a month at ₹10 a kg; bulb yield 20–30%
  • Sugar1,500 kg a month at ₹30 a kg
  • Citric acid and antioxidants1,000 kg citric acid at ₹30 and 100 kg antioxidants at ₹40 a month, as printed
  • Metal cans, labels and cartons9,500 cans at ₹10 and 400 cartons at ₹12 a month; raw material ₹3.80 L a month

From: PMEGP sample project report — Jackfruit Products (MSME-DI Goa project profile: Canned Jackfruit) (2011)

§5Licences & registration

  1. FSSAI licence or registration
  2. Udyam registration
  3. GST registration
  4. Boiler registration under the Boilers Act if your boiler is covered
  5. Consent from the State Pollution Control Board

We can do this registration for you

§6Schemes & subsidies

The project is within PMEGP's ₹50 L ceiling for manufacturing; PMFME and CGTMSE also fit.

§7Money

How the investment is worked out: Fixed capital ₹31.50 L (land 600 sq m at ₹800 = ₹4.80 L, land development ₹0.30 L, building 400 sq m at ₹4,000 = ₹16.00 L, machinery & equipment ₹9.80 L, pre-operative ₹0.60 L) + three months' working capital ₹15.93 L = total capital investment ₹47.43 L. (The PMEGP list shows ₹22.17 L for this file.)

Working capital: Working capital ₹5.31 L a month; three months (₹15.93 L) is built into the investment.

Profile from March 2011 — machinery, land and building costs will be much higher now.

How to prepare a loan file

§8Export potential

Confirm the HS code in the DGFT ITC(HS) lookup before you export

2008Fruit otherwise prepared or preserved, with or without added sugar

Export council / board: APEDA

  • Canned fruit is an APEDA-scheduled processed food.

§9Risks — where people fail

  • Faulty seams causing spoilage
  • Fruit supply in a short season
  • Tin-can price rise
  • Slow-moving stock

§1030 / 60 / 90-day plan

A general plan that applies to any business. A plan for this business will be added after research.

  1. Days 1–30: Visit a working canned jackfruit unit, ask 10 buyers about price and quantity, and get quotations from 3 suppliers.
  2. Days 31–60: Udyam and the licences you need (FSSAI licence or registration, Udyam registration), a project report (DPR), and the scheme or loan file.
  3. Days 61–90: Space and machines, trial production, and first deliveries to 10 customers.

§11Who to connect with

Not verified yet

Associations, clusters and training institutes — the directory is being built. Connect

§12Watch

There is no episode on this business yet. Shows are coming soon on the Podcast page.

Want to start Canned Jackfruit?

DPR, loan file or registration — ask us on WhatsApp.

Get a DPR / loan file made

Sources

  1. PMEGP sample project report — Jackfruit Products (MSME-DI Goa project profile: Canned Jackfruit) (2011)

Data review: 6 October 2026. Spotted a mistake? Report it. For information only — not legal or financial advice.