§1What this business is

Base oils are heated with herbs in a boiling kettle with a stirrer, filtered, stored and filled into sealed bottles. The herbs are chosen to suit local preferences. The profile says good-quality, attractively packed hair oil sells very fast because everyone uses hair oil.

Capacity: 10,000 litres a year at ₹150 a litre (₹15.00 lakh) at full capacity.

§2Is it right for you?

Who it is for

Someone who can build a local brand and get it into shops through distributors.

Who it is not for

Someone without a sales plan — making the oil is easy, selling it is the work.

Advantages

  • Daily-use product with huge demand
  • Simple equipment
  • Herbal and regional blends can stand out
  • Good net surplus in the profile (₹4,72,500 at full capacity)

Drawbacks

  • Crowded market with big brands
  • Base-oil prices change often
  • Needs spending on packing and promotion
  • Cosmetic licence and labelling rules apply

Skills you need

  • Herbal oil formulation
  • Filtering and filling hygiene
  • Brand and label design
  • Distributor management

Why difficulty 2/5: Making is simple; brand-building against big names is the challenge.

§3Market

Who buys

  • Households, through local shops
  • Beauty parlours and salons
  • Hotels and institutions

How it sells

  • General, cosmetic and kirana stores through distributors
  • Private-label supply to other brands
  • Online sale under your own brand

Good to know

  • The profile says good-quality hair oils are in high demand and, if attractively packed, sell fast.

§4Raw material & machinery

ItemQtyCost
Boiling kettle with stirrer1—
Bottle cap sealing machine1—
Filtering unit1—
Storage tank1—
Equipment total in the profile1 set₹2,00,000

From: KVIC Project Profile — Manufacturing of Hair Oil (PMEGP)

  • Base oils (such as coconut, sesame or mustard oil)raw material ₹10,37,250 a year in the profile
  • Herbs and perfumechosen to suit local needs, as the profile advises
  • Bottles, caps and labels₹30,000 a year in the profile

From: KVIC Project Profile — Manufacturing of Hair Oil (PMEGP)

§5Licences & registration

  1. Cosmetic manufacturing licence from the State Licensing Authority (Cosmetics Rules, 2020)
  2. Udyam registration
  3. GST registration
  4. Legal Metrology packaged-commodity registration

We can do this registration for you

§6Schemes & subsidies

PMEGP fits; MUDRA and CGTMSE cover a loan of this size.

§7Money

How the investment is worked out: KVIC profile: land and building shed of 500 sq ft ₹1,50,000 + equipment ₹2,00,000 + working capital ₹3,75,000 = ₹7,25,000.

Working capital: Working capital ₹3,75,000 per cycle. Raw material ₹10,37,250 and labels/packing ₹30,000 a year.

Year not printed on the KVIC profile — check current machinery prices.

How to prepare a loan file

§8Export potential

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

3305.90Preparations for use on the hair — other

Export council / board: Basic Chemicals, Cosmetics & Dyes Export Promotion Council (CHEMEXCIL)

  • HS codes are from the WCO HS 2022 list; confirm the 8-digit ITC(HS) line with DGFT or your customs broker.
  • You need an Import Export Code (IEC) from DGFT before the first shipment.

§9Risks — where people fail

  • Price competition
  • Oil turning rancid in storage
  • Misleading-claim complaints on labels
  • Unsold stock with distributors

§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 herbal hair oil making unit, ask 10 buyers about price and quantity, and get quotations from 3 suppliers.
  2. Days 31–60: Udyam and the licences you need (Cosmetic manufacturing licence from the State Licensing Authority (Cosmetics Rules, 2020), 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 Herbal Hair Oil Making?

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

Get a DPR / loan file made

Sources

  1. KVIC Project Profile — Manufacturing of Hair Oil (PMEGP)

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