§1What this business is

Dry fruits and nuts are bought in bulk from wholesalers, sorted and cleaned, roasted in a commercial roaster or on large flat pans, flavoured with salt, spices or sugar if wanted, cooled and packed. The profile lists roasted walnuts, almonds, apricot kernels, chestnuts and mixed dry fruit. Buyers are retailers, gift buyers at festivals and weddings, and health-conscious snackers.

Capacity: Sales of ₹36.00 L a year of roasted dry fruits and nuts (the profile gives no tonnage).

§2Is it right for you?

Who it is for

Someone near a dry-fruit market or a hill tourist town who can sell through shops, gift orders and online.

Who it is not for

Someone who cannot judge nut quality and price — one bad lot of rancid nuts wipes out the margin.

Advantages

  • Very small start — ₹2.96 L in the profile
  • Dry fruit is a fixed gift at festivals and weddings
  • Simple process: sort, roast, flavour, pack
  • Walnuts and apricots grow in the hills, so a local source is possible

Drawbacks

  • Raw nuts are costly — 60% of sales goes on raw material
  • Prices of almonds and walnuts swing with crops and imports
  • Many big brands already sell roasted nuts
  • Demand peaks at festivals and slows in between

Skills you need

  • Judging grade and freshness of nuts
  • Roasting to the right time and temperature
  • Packaging and labelling for shelf life
  • Selling to shops and taking festival gift orders

Why difficulty 2/5: Low cost and a simple process; the skill is in buying good nuts at the right price.

§3Market

Who buys

  • Retail and dry-fruit shops
  • Festival and wedding gift buyers
  • Health-conscious consumers and gyms
  • Tourists in hill towns

How it sells

  • Wholesale to retailers
  • Gift-box orders before festivals
  • Own shop and online marketplaces

Good to know

  • The profile says gifting dry fruits at festivals, weddings and events gives seasonal peaks in demand.
  • Retailers are widening their range of roasted dry fruits as snacking habits shift to healthier food.

§4Raw material & machinery

ItemQtyCost
Tools and equipment (mixing tools, heating pan, sorting, cleaning and packing tools)LS₹0.20 L
Furniture and set-up (lighting, kitchen platform, chairs, work tables, packing area)LS₹0.80 L
Storage racks and shelvesLS₹0.50 L
Computer1₹0.50 L

From: Uttarakhand DUY project profile — Roasted Dry Nuts

  • Dry fruits and nuts (walnuts, almonds, apricot kernels, chestnuts)bought in bulk from wholesale dry-fruit dealers; ₹21.60 L a year in the profile
  • Salt, spices and sugar for flavouringoptional coating during or after roasting
  • Packing material₹0.54 L a year in the profile

From: Uttarakhand DUY project profile — Roasted Dry Nuts

§5Licences & registration

  1. FSSAI registration or licence
  2. Udyam registration
  3. GST registration
  4. Trade licence from the local body
  5. Labelling as per FSSAI packaging and labelling rules

We can do this registration for you

§6Schemes & subsidies

PMFME (micro food processing), CM-YUVA (₹2.96 L is under its ₹5 L limit, UP only), MUDRA, PMEGP and CGTMSE all fit a unit this size.

§7Money

How the investment is worked out: DUY profile: equipment and furniture ₹2.00 L (no separate plant and machinery line), misc. fixed assets ₹0.02 L, pre-operative ₹0.10 L, working capital ₹0.84 L = ₹2.96 L. Premises rented. Finance: own ₹1.18 L, bank ₹1.78 L (60%).

Working capital: Working capital is only ₹0.84 L, yet raw material costs ₹21.60 L a year — stock of nuts must turn over fast or you will need more cash.

Year not printed on the DUY profile — check current machinery and material prices.

How to prepare a loan file

§8Export potential

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

2008Fruit, nuts and other edible parts of plants, otherwise prepared or preserved

Export council / board: APEDA

  • Get an Import Export Code (IEC) from DGFT before the first shipment.
  • Roasted nuts need FSSAI-compliant labels and the importing country's food rules.

§9Risks — where people fail

  • Rancid or insect-hit stock
  • Price jumps in almonds and walnuts
  • Over-roasting or burning a batch
  • Gift demand falls outside the festival season

§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 roasted dry nuts unit, ask 10 buyers about price and quantity, and get quotations from 3 suppliers.
  2. Days 31–60: Udyam and the licences you need (FSSAI registration or licence, 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 Roasted Dry Nuts?

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

Get a DPR / loan file made

Sources

  1. Uttarakhand DUY project profile — Roasted Dry Nuts

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