§1What this business is
Dried henna leaves are ground into a fine powder, sieved and packed, or made into ready paste. The profile says beauty parlours spreading from cities to villages and the wedding season give mehandi an assured market, and school and college girls are big users.
Capacity: 18 tonnes of mehandi a year at ₹40 a kg (₹7.20 lakh) at full capacity.
§2Is it right for you?
Who it is for
Someone near henna-growing areas or with links to parlours and cosmetic wholesalers.
Who it is not for
Anyone tempted to add chemical dyes (PPD) for darker colour — it can cause severe skin allergy.
Advantages
- Assured demand in weddings and festivals
- Small investment
- Simple process
- Natural product
Drawbacks
- Seasonal peaks
- Henna leaf supply is concentrated in a few areas (such as Sojat, Rajasthan)
- Adulterated or chemical-mixed henna damages trust
- The profile's equipment list (boiling kettle, cap sealing) looks copied from the hair-oil profile — get a proper quotation for a pulveriser and sieve
Skills you need
- Leaf grading and fine grinding
- Dye-content and colour testing
- Cone and pouch packing
- Selling to parlours and wholesalers
Why difficulty 1/5: Easy to make and start; quality and seasonal selling decide success.
§3Market
Who buys
- Beauty parlours
- Brides' families and mehandi artists
- School and college girls and households
How it sells
- Cosmetic and general stores
- Wholesalers in wedding season
- Online sale
Good to know
- The profile says the wedding season brings the most demand and the market is assured.
§4Raw material & machinery
| Item | Qty | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Boiling kettle with stirrer (as listed) | 1 | — |
| Bottle cap sealing machine (as listed) | 1 | — |
| Filtering unit and storage tank (as listed) | 1 each | — |
| Equipment total in the profile | 1 set | ₹1,00,000 |
From: KVIC Project Profile — Manufacturing of Mehandi (PMEGP)
- Dried henna leaves or henna powderraw material ₹4,39,500 a year in the profile
- Pouches, cones and labels₹75,000 a year in the profile
From: KVIC Project Profile — Manufacturing of Mehandi (PMEGP)
§5Licences & registration
- Cosmetic manufacturing licence from the State Licensing Authority (Cosmetics Rules, 2020)
- Udyam registration
- GST registration
- Legal Metrology packaged-commodity registration
§6Schemes & subsidies
- PMEGPCentralActive15–35% subsidy
- MudraCentralActiveLoan up to ₹20 lakh, no collateral
- CGTMSECentralActiveNo collateral, up to ₹10 crore
PMEGP fits; MUDRA and CGTMSE cover a loan this small.
§7Money
How the investment is worked out: KVIC profile: land and building shed of 300 sq ft ₹90,000 + equipment ₹1,00,000 + working capital ₹1,80,000 = ₹3,70,000.
Working capital: Working capital ₹1,80,000 per cycle. Raw material ₹4,39,500 and labels/packing ₹75,000 a year.
Year not printed on the KVIC profile — check current machinery prices.
§8Export potential
Confirm the HS code in the DGFT ITC(HS) lookup before you export
- 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
- Leaf crop and price swings
- Quality complaints (weak colour)
- Off-season slump
- Competition from cheap local packers
§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 mehandi (henna) making unit, ask 10 buyers about price and quantity, and get quotations from 3 suppliers.
- 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.
- 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 Mehandi (Henna) 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.