§1What this business is

Jowar grain is winnowed, graded on screens, washed and soaked, dried in a tray dryer and ground in a pulveriser, then packed and coded. The flour is used like rice flour or made into sweet and savoury products. The model unit makes 150 tonnes a year, or 500 kg a day.

Capacity: 150 tonnes a year (500 kg of flour a day) at 300 days; 55% use in year 2, 65% in year 3, 75% in year 4 and 90% from year 5. Needs 504.16 kg of grain a day at 55% and 825 kg a day at 90% (75% recovery).

§2Is it right for you?

Who it is for

A grain processor or FPO in a jowar-growing district.

Who it is not for

Someone far from jowar farms or without a quick-moving retail outlet.

Advantages

  • Simple process with ₹8.07 L of machinery
  • Jowar flour is a daily food in many states
  • Gluten-free flour has a growing city market

Drawbacks

  • Jowar flour turns bitter quickly, so stock cannot sit long
  • Local chakkis grind jowar cheaply
  • The DPR's sale price of ₹140/kg is high for plain flour

Skills you need

  • Grain cleaning and grading
  • Drying to safe moisture
  • Running a pulveriser
  • Packing and retail selling

Why difficulty 2/5: Easy milling work; the limit is shelf life and price competition.

§3Market

Who buys

  • Households that eat jowar roti
  • Bakeries and snack makers
  • Health-food shoppers

How it sells

  • Kirana and departmental stores
  • Supermarkets and malls
  • Wholesalers of flour

Good to know

  • The DPR sets the sale price at ₹140 a kg.
  • It suggests well-packed, branded packs for urban organised stores.

§4Raw material & machinery

ItemQtyCost
Winnowing machine1₹0.60 lakh
Size screens5₹0.15 lakh
Washing tank, 500 litre1₹0.40 lakh
Soaking drums, 200 litre6₹0.09 lakh
Mesh trays10₹0.60 lakh
Tray dryer, 500 kg per batch1₹4.50 lakh
Pulveriser1₹0.80 lakh
Continuous sealing machine1₹0.25 lakh
Batch coding machine1₹0.12 lakh
Weighing balance1₹0.06 lakh
Accessories1₹0.50 lakh

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

  • Sorghum (jowar) graincosted at ₹30 a kg; 75% comes out as flour
  • Packing materialprinted pouches

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

§5Licences & registration

  1. Udyam registration
  2. GST registration
  3. FSSAI licence or registration
  4. Trade licence from the local body
  5. Legal Metrology registration for packed goods

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

The DPR is written for the PMFME scheme and assumes its 35% credit-linked subsidy (up to ₹10 lakh) with a bank term loan. At this size the project is also within PMEGP's ₹50 lakh manufacturing ceiling; MUDRA and CGTMSE can support the loan.

§7Money

How the investment is worked out: Total project cost ₹22.65 L = building ₹5.18 L + machinery ₹8.07 L + utilities ₹0.80 L + other fixed assets ₹0.90 L + pre-operative ₹0.90 L + contingencies ₹1.20 L + working capital margin ₹5.60 L.

Working capital: Working capital margin ₹5.60 L in the project cost; bank working capital finance ₹16.80 L in year 2, ₹19.85 L in year 3 and ₹27.07 L in year 4.

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

  • The DPR prints no HS code or export figure — confirm the ITC-HS code on the DGFT site before you quote to a foreign buyer.

§9Risks — where people fail

  • Short shelf life of the flour
  • Grain price swings between seasons
  • Insects in stored grain

§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 sorghum (jowar) flour unit 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 Sorghum (Jowar) Flour Unit?

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

Get a DPR / loan file made

Sources

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

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