§1What this business is
Clean coir fibre is fed by air suction and punched by a needle loom so the fibres lock together into a continuous sheet — no glue is used. Felt is made 10–20 mm thick at 500–1,500 g per sq m, in rolls 4 ft wide and 25 m long. The profile's product is 1,000 GSM felt.
Capacity: 800 sq m a day; 4,80,000 sq m a year (2 shifts, 300 days). Sale ₹32 a sq m; fibre ₹23,000 a ton.
§2Is it right for you?
Who it is for
Someone supplying mattress, garden-article or geotextile makers.
Who it is not for
Someone without industrial buyers lined up.
Advantages
- Base material for many coir products
- No bonding chemical used
- Small team of 8
- Good DSCR (4.37 average)
Drawbacks
- High break-even in year 1 (71%)
- Machinery is most of the cost
- Buyers are other factories — few and large
Skills you need
- Needle loom operation
- Fibre cleaning and blending
- GSM and thickness control
- Industrial selling
Why difficulty 3/5: One main machine and a small team, but sales are to a few industrial buyers.
§3Market
Who buys
- Rubberised coir mattress makers
- Coir garden-article and coco-lawn makers
- Geotextile, roofing-sheet and door-panel makers
How it sells
- Direct supply to factories
- Coir traders
Good to know
- The profile lists garden articles, door panels, roofing sheets, coco lawn, geotextiles and rubber mattresses as uses.
§4Raw material & machinery
| Item | Qty | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Fibre cleaning machine | 1 | — |
| Coir needle felt machine | 1 | — |
| Electrical works | — | — |
| Total machinery (as printed) | — | ₹19,91,000 |
From: PMEGP project profile — Coir Needle Felt Unit (prepared by Coir Board, Ministry of MSME) (2018)
- Decorticated coir fibre of good staple length₹23,000 a ton; 5% yield loss
From: PMEGP project profile — Coir Needle Felt Unit (prepared by Coir Board, Ministry of MSME) (2018)
§5Licences & registration
- Udyam registration
- GST registration
- Registration with the Coir Board (needed to export; also opens Coir Board schemes)
- State Pollution Control Board consent (check the category for your process)
- Factory licence if 10 or more workers use power
§6Schemes & subsidies
- PMEGPCentralActive15–35% subsidy
- MudraCentralActiveLoan up to ₹20 lakh, no collateral
- CGTMSECentralActiveNo collateral, up to ₹10 crore
- Stand-Up IndiaCentralClosed₹10 lakh – ₹1 crore loan
PMEGP (this profile was made for it), MUDRA loans up to ₹20 lakh and CGTMSE cover fit; Stand-Up India suits women and SC/ST founders.
§7Money
How the investment is worked out: Coir Board profile: work shed leased or owned + machinery ₹19.91 lakh + working capital ₹5.09 lakh = ₹25.00 lakh.
Working capital: Working capital ₹5.09 lakh (bank ₹4.84 lakh).
Prices from June 2018 — machinery costs will be higher now.
§8Export potential
Confirm the HS code in the DGFT ITC(HS) lookup before you export
Export council / board: Coir Board
- Coir exporters register with the Coir Board and take its registration-cum-membership certificate.
- Confirm the exact 8-digit code in the DGFT ITC-HS schedule before you ship.
§9Risks — where people fail
- Fibre supply and price
- Needle wear and downtime
- Dependence on a few buyers
- Fire risk in fibre store
§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 coir needle felt unit, ask 10 buyers about price and quantity, and get quotations from 3 suppliers.
- Days 31–60: Udyam and the licences you need (Udyam registration, GST registration), 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
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 Coir Needle Felt?
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.