§1What this business is
Fresh cane (at least 19 °Brix) is crushed, the juice filtered and boiled in wide shallow iron pans while scum is skimmed off with bhindi juice or lime as clarifiant. The thick mass is poured into moulds of 1–12 kg and packed in gunny bags. About 10 kg of gur comes from 100 kg of cane.
Capacity: 1.35 t of jaggery a day, 202.5 t in a 150-day season.
§2Is it right for you?
Who it is for
A cane farmer or group of farmers in a sugarcane belt.
Who it is not for
Places far from sugarcane fields.
Advantages
- Simple process and cheap machinery (₹3.28 lakh)
- Gur is used in almost every Indian home
- Organic jaggery fetches a premium
- Good gross margin (about 26%)
Drawbacks
- Works only in the cane season (150 days in the report)
- Gur absorbs moisture and darkens in the monsoon
- Competes with sugar mills for cane
- Smoke from pan furnaces
Skills you need
- Juice clarification and boiling point
- Cane buying and season planning
- Grading by colour and hardness
- Storage in the monsoon
Why difficulty 2/5: Traditional process; success rides on the cane season.
§3Market
Who buys
- Households
- Restaurants, dhabas, hostels and caterers
- Sweet makers
How it sells
- Mandi traders and wholesalers
- Packed jaggery under own brand
Good to know
- Jaggery sells round the year though it is made only in the season, per the report.
- Organic jaggery uses only organic clarifiants and a little lime, so it is darker.
§4Raw material & machinery
| Item | Qty | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Double-roller sugarcane crusher with 2 HP motor | 2 | ₹1,00,000 |
| Plastic juice storage tanks, 3×2×1 m | 4 | ₹40,000 |
| Iron pan, 1.5 m, with 2–3 handles | 1 | ₹25,000 |
| Storage tank | 1 | ₹35,000 |
| Strong iron scrapers with long handles | 4 | ₹8,000 |
| Sealing, packing and filling machine | 1 | ₹5,000 |
| Weighing scale | 1 | ₹15,000 |
| Misc tools and equipment | 1 lot | ₹1,00,000 |
From: PMEGP sample project report — Jaggery (prepared by Udyami/Samadhan)
- Sugarcane (minimum 19 °Brix)2,000 t a season at ₹3,000 a tonne with 10% recovery = ₹60 L at full capacity
- Clarifiants: bhindi juice, lime, sodaavailable locally
- Gunny bagspacking material
From: PMEGP sample project report — Jaggery (prepared by Udyami/Samadhan)
Suppliers in Building Business Bazaar
Bhadrak Agro (Jaggery) Processing Cluster · Bhadrak →Hindol Date & Palmyrah Palm Gur Cluster · Dhenkanal →Narsinghpur Jaggery Cluster · Narsinghpur →Velampudur Jaggery And Value Added Products Cluster · Ranipet →ODOP CFC — Ayodhya Dham Jaggery Association →ODOP CFC — Jaivik Kisan Organic Farmers Producer Company Ltd. (FPO) →ODOP CFC — Badhai Agribusiness Producer Co. Ltd. (FPO) →National Sugar Institute, Kanpur · Kanpur →Gold Ornaments Cluster, Jaggayyapet · Jaggayyapet →Jaggery Processing Cluster, Jalalpur, Raibag, Belgavi · Belgavi →Jaggery Manufacturing Cluster, Terdal · Terdal →Jaggcry & Khandsari Cluster, Haridwar· · Haridwar· →
In our raw material database
§5Licences & registration
- FSSAI licence or registration
- Udyam registration
- GST registration
- Consent from the State Pollution Control Board
§6Schemes & subsidies
- PMEGPCentralActive15–35% subsidy
- PMFMECentralUnclear35% subsidy, up to ₹10 lakh
- MudraCentralActiveLoan up to ₹20 lakh, no collateral
- CGTMSECentralActiveNo collateral, up to ₹10 crore
Prepared for PMEGP; PMFME supports jaggery units; ₹12.77 L is within MUDRA.
§7Money
How the investment is worked out: Building & civil work ₹3.00 L + plant & machinery ₹3.28 L + furniture ₹0.74 L + working capital ₹5.75 L = ₹12.77 L. Term loan ₹6.32 L, working-capital finance ₹5.17 L, own ₹1.28 L.
Working capital: Working capital ₹5.75 L (bank ₹5.17 L): 15 days of cane and finished jaggery.
Year not printed in the report — check current machinery and raw-material prices.
§8Export potential
Confirm the HS code in the DGFT ITC(HS) lookup before you export
Export council / board: APEDA
- Jaggery is an APEDA-scheduled product.
§9Risks — where people fail
- Short or poor cane season
- Monsoon spoilage
- Cane price set above market reach
- Adulteration with chemicals by competitors
§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 jaggery (gur) making unit, ask 10 buyers about price and quantity, and get quotations from 3 suppliers.
- 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.
- 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 Jaggery (Gur) Making?
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.