§1What this business is

Gherkins are small cucumbers grown under contract and picked young. At the unit they are washed, graded by size, filled into jars with brine, exhausted and capped, pasteurised and cooled. The model plant handles 120 tonnes a year, buying fresh gherkins at ₹50 a kg and selling the packed product at ₹140 a kg.

Capacity: 120 tonnes of processed gherkins a year, 300 days of 8–10 hours; 60% use in year 2, 70% in year 3, 80% in year 4 and 90% from year 5.

§2Is it right for you?

Who it is for

A processor in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu or Andhra Pradesh who can organise contract growers and has a buyer lined up.

Who it is not for

Someone hoping to sell mainly in local Indian retail, where demand for gherkins is small.

Advantages

  • India is a known supplier of pickled gherkins to overseas buyers
  • Contract farming gives growers a fixed price and the unit a steady supply
  • A short crop cycle allows more than one crop a year

Drawbacks

  • Sales depend on a few export or bulk buyers
  • Fruit must be processed the day it is picked
  • Packaging is costly — ₹50 a kg in the report

Skills you need

  • Running contract farming with small growers
  • Size grading and brine making
  • Pasteurising and sealing jars
  • Meeting export buyers' quality papers

Why difficulty 4/5: Needs contract farming, same-day processing and export-grade quality.

§3Market

Who buys

  • Export buyers and bulk importers
  • Hotels, restaurants and burger and sandwich chains
  • Supermarkets

How it sells

  • Supply against export orders
  • Sale through merchant exporters
  • Direct supply to food-service chains

Good to know

  • The report takes the selling price at ₹140 a kg.
  • Projected sales ₹92.40 L in year 2 rising to ₹151.20 L.

§4Raw material & machinery

ItemQtyCost
Weighing scale (0.5 HP)1₹1.00 lakh
Washer (5 HP)1₹2.00 lakh
Grader (5 HP)1₹2.00 lakh
Inspection conveyor (2 HP)1₹2.00 lakh
Overflow brine filler (5 HP)1₹2.00 lakh
Exhausting-cum-capping line (10 HP)1₹2.00 lakh
Pasteuriser (5 HP)1₹6.00 lakh
Boiler (5 HP)1₹3.00 lakh

From: NIFTEM-Thanjavur (IIFPT) PMFME model DPR — Gherkins

  • Fresh gherkins0.13 tonnes a day at 60% capacity, ₹50 a kg; grown under contract and delivered the same day
  • Salt, vinegar and brine ingredientsfor the covering liquid
  • Jars, caps and cartonspackaging at ₹50 per kg of product

From: NIFTEM-Thanjavur (IIFPT) PMFME model DPR — Gherkins

§5Licences & registration

  1. Udyam registration
  2. GST registration
  3. FSSAI licence
  4. Import Export Code (IEC) and APEDA registration for exports
  5. Consent from the State Pollution Control Board where it applies

We can do this registration for you

Start it in your state

Pick your state: today’s cost, central + state subsidy, raw material, land and help, on one page.

§6Schemes & subsidies

Written as a PMFME model; the report's finance plan is subsidy ₹10.00 L, own money ₹7.40 L and term loan ₹15.00 L. The project is within PMEGP's ₹50 L manufacturing ceiling.

§7Money

How the investment is worked out: Land and building ₹2.00 L + machinery ₹20.00 L + utilities ₹2.00 L + miscellaneous fixed assets ₹2.00 L + pre-operative ₹0.25 L + contingencies ₹2.00 L + working capital margin ₹4.06 L; the report prints the total as ₹32.40 L (rounded off).

Working capital: Working capital gap ₹16.25 L in the first working year (bank finance ₹12.19 L, margin ₹4.06 L).

Year not printed on the DPR (the PMFME scheme began in 2020) — check current machinery prices.

How to prepare a loan file

§8Export potential

Export council / board: APEDA

  • Gherkins are grown in India mainly for export, and APEDA lists them as a processed vegetable export product.
  • HS code not checked against the DGFT ITC-HS list here — confirm the code before you ship.

§9Risks — where people fail

  • Losing a main buyer
  • Rejection for pesticide residue or wrong size
  • Exchange rate and freight swings
  • Fruit quality falling in transit from the farm

§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 gherkin processing (pickled gherkins in brine) unit, ask 10 buyers about price and quantity, and get quotations from 3 suppliers.
  2. Days 31–60: Udyam and the licences you need (Udyam registration, GST 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

§12Watch

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

Want to start Gherkin Processing (Pickled Gherkins in Brine)?

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

Get a DPR / loan file made

Sources

  1. NIFTEM-Thanjavur (IIFPT) PMFME model DPR — Gherkins

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