Spice processing and packaging are considered as a profitable business in India. Any individual can start spice business as small, medium and large scale basis as per his or her investment capacity. Even a home based spice business is also profitable in India. You can start with one or two variety of spice. As your business grow, you can shift to a full-fledged spice processing company.
Here in this article, we intend to explore how to start a home based spice business in India with relevant information. Spices play an important role in enhancing the flavour and taste of the processed foods. They are also used in medicine because of their carminative stimulating and digestive properties.
HOME BASED SPICE BUSINESS MARKET OPPORTUNITY
India produces almost all the known spices. The country is the largest exporter of this commodity. As the spice is a mass consumption item mostly used in culinary preparation or seasoning of food products, its internal demand is increasing quite steadily.
With changing of lifestyle and especially with changes in food habits and the increase of income level, the use of powdered spices has increased. Of late, the market for ready-to-mix of spices has grown significantly.
Spices are fast moving consumable items and have large potential. There has to be a wide-spread network of dealers or retailers backed up by advertisements in local media The export market for Indian spices is also growing. Spices from India are going places, with exports on course to top $3 billion by 2016-17.
The Indian spices market is pegged at ₹40,000 crore annually, of which the branded segment makes up 15 per cent. According to Technopak, the branded space is dominated by national brands such as Catch, Everest, Ramdev, among others.
Increasing urbanisation paired with a rise in the number of working women has reduced the time of cooking. Consequently, home-makers have started demanding readymade spice mixes such as sabzi masala, garam masala, chicken masala etc. This has augmented industry revenues. The spice mixes and branded spices entail greater profit margins, as compared to straight and unbranded spices. We can conclude, initiating a small scale home based spice business is a profitable investment opportunity for new entrepreneurs in India.
HOME BASED SPICE BUSINESS – DIFFERENT PRODUCTS
Powdered spices are convenient to use and also saves time and energy for preparing different delicious dishes. Besides their everyday use in households, spices are used in significant quantities in processed foods and commercial food service businesses such as hotel, restaurant etc. Some of the popular and widely used spices are Turmeric, Chilli, Cumin, Coriander, Black Peeper, Cardamom, Cloves. Apart from these straight segments, Curry masala, Sabji masala, Sambar masala, Chana masala, Garam masala, Chicken masala, Meat masala are the popular blends in India.
REGISTRATION & LICENSE FOR HOME BASED SPICE BUSINESS
Regardless you start a small scale or large scale spice business, you have to obtain these registrations and licenses.
● Registration with ROC. For a micro or tiny scale operation, you can go with One Person Company registration.
● Trade License from local Municipal authority.
● Udyog Aadhar MSME Registration. It is optional. However, obtaining the registration will help you in getting subsidy and grants from Govt.
● Food Operator License.
● Compliance with FPO regulation is a must.
● BIS certification. The following ISI specifications are available for ground spices.
● 1. Black whole and ground ISI-1798-1961
● 2. Chilli powder ISI-2445-1963
● 3. Coriander powder ISI-2444-1963
● 4. Curry powder ISI-1909-1961
● 5. Turmeric powder ISI-2446-1963
● 6. Methods of sampling and test of Spices and condiment ISI-1997-1961
● CFTRI, Mysore, has successfully developed the technical know-how. It is advisable to obtain AGMARK certification.
HOME BASED SPICE BUSINESS MACHINERY & RAW MATERIAL
Land measuring around 150 sq.mtrs. is adequate with a built-up area of about 75 sq.mtrs. consisting of the main production area, packing section and go down. Spice grinding and processing generally demand simple machinery and equipment. You will need to install disintegrator, spice grinder, pouch sealing machine and weighing scale. In a fully-automatic operation, the entire system is interconnected with bucket elevator and conveyor belt. Power requirement would be 10 HP whereas water is required in small quantity to clean ungrounded spices and for potable purposes.
The major raw materials shall be unground turmeric, black pepper red chilies, cumin, coriander etc. The pouch is the main required packaging consumables. You must procure corrugated cartoon for bulk packaging.
HOME BASED SPICE BUSINESS – MANUFACTURING PROCESS
The process of manufacture involves cleaning, drying, pulverizing, sieving and packaging of spices such as chilli, pepper, turmeric, coriander, etc. either individually or in combination with other spices. The manufacturing process is very well established and does not involve technicalities.
Unground spices are cleaned manually to remove impurities like mud and stones and are then washed in water. After drying them in sunlight, they are graded and ground with the help of grinding machine to convert them in powder form.
There are various formulations for curry powder, but the ingredients like red chilli, black pepper, cloves, coriander seed, cumin seed, fenugreek seed, ginger, and turmeric are typically common. The proportion and the inclusion of spices in a particular mix depend on individual manufacturers.
Disintegrator is used in case of solid material like turmeric to obtain uniform mesh size. Spices in powder form are then weighed as per the contemplated packing quantities and packed in printed polyethene bags and then these bags are sealed on an automatic sealing machine.
