The Nut and Dried Fruit Council of India (NDFC-I) has begun getting high-yield walnut and cashew seedlings from other nations to grow them in the country and become self-reliant in these products’ production, council president Gunjan Jain said.
“ Last year, we started these small projects of getting the plantation done in India. We got the government to agree to let us import high-quality planting material with quarantine norms, because India doesn’t have high-quality planting material. So we’re looking at increasing walnut plantations in India (along with cashew),” he told businessline in an online interaction.
For example, the global walnut production has increased three times since 2010. The production of other such crops has also increased by 2-3 times. Unfortunately, India has not done anything on the crop front other than in raisins (grapes),” said Jain.
China and India used to have the same crop size in the 1980s. China grows in a similar Himalayan region as India, but its crop today is 1.2 million tonnes, whereas India’s production is 25,000 tonnes coming entirely from Kashmir.
One of the council’s goals is to increase the production of nuts and dry fruits in India. Topographically, India has the climate to grow these nuts and dried fruits.
“So, we are getting high-yielding seedlings from other countries now subject to quarantine. We started with walnuts. We got permission from the government and did a small plantation drive in Uttarakhand,” said Jain.
Similar drive is taking place in cashew now. “We have distributed a few plants last year and are trying to get more into the country to make India self-reliant,” he said.
NDFC-I was set up two years ago, roping in all stakeholders in nuts and dried fruits. The body was set up since there was no such association earlier to approach the government or work with it on various platforms, including international projects.
Jain said the nuts and dried fruits industry is growing at a CAGR of 15 per cent, as consumption in the country is soaring. The industry is almost ₹60,000 crore at the retail level and ₹35,000-odd crore at the factory-gate level. The industry pays nearly ₹8,000 crore as GST and customs duty.
Stating that the sector began to grow post-Covid, he said it is a sunrise sector with everyone now being aware of the health benefits of nuts. “To put the numbers in perspective, walnut consumption in the country has increased from 18,000 tonnes to 90,000 tonnes,” the NDFC-I president said.
Similarly, pistachio consumption has gone up to 38,000 tonnes from 9,000 tonnes. “Consumption of almonds is increasing steadily. India is the largest almond consumer. We consume about 280,000 tonnes of almonds. We are the largest consumers of cashew nuts – about 400,000 tonnes. Other than that, India consumes about 200,000-250,000 tonnes of raisins a year. India is a very large consumer when it comes to these traditional products,” he said.
The consumption of nuts and seeds, seen as super foods, is also increasing rapidly. The consumption of pumpkin seeds has increased to 7,000 tonnes from 400 tonnes. “We are witnessing a similar kind of growth in chia seeds,” said Jain.
India has small crops of these, barring raisins, which are derived when people want to discard grapes. Walnuts are grown only in Kashmir, and the production has dropped to 25,000 tonnes from 35,000 tonnes. “Again in cashew, the domestic crop meets one lakh tonnes of the four lakh tonnes of demand, with imports making up the rest,” he said.
NDFC-I has begun organising MEWA event to attract the nuts and dry fruits trade. This year, it was held in February and attracted 9,000-10,000 visitors and 330 exhibitors.
“The event featured foreign participation of about 1,200 delegates and presentations from 30 countries. MEWA is an industry-specific event aimed at trade professionals, with knowledge sessions on worldwide consumption, production, and business formalisation. Close to $50 million in business transactions took place during the event,” said the NDFC-I president, adding that MEWA has made people going to Gulf Food turn to India.
On production of nuts declining in the country, he said it was due to a longer gestation period. An almond tree yields fruit only in the sixth year and then continues to provide the fruits the following 40 years. Even for walnut, it is the same, he said. .
Stating that the nuts and dried fruit sector is still unorganised, Jain said the council has now begun to focus on promoting makhana (fox nuts or lotus seeds). “Its consumption has increased tremendously because of its health benefits, and its prices have increased from ₹400 a kg to ₹1,200 at the farm level. This year, we will see a huge surge in makhana production because everybody is getting into it,” he said.
The makhana sector is getting organised, and many are growing it as they are incentivised with high prices. It has also gone international with the Indian diaspora playing a big role, the NDFC-I president said.
“People are understanding makhana’s health benefits and are using it as a healthy snack,” he said, adding that its cultivation has now begin in western Uttar Pradesh and the crop size could be 1.5-1.8 times than the usual.
Published on May 7, 2025
The Nut and Dried Fruit Council of India (NDFC-I) has begun getting high-yield walnut and cashew seedlings from other nations to grow them in the country and become self-reliant in these products’ production, council president Gunjan Jain said.
“ Last year, we started these small projects of getting the plantation done in India. We got the government to agree to let us import high-quality planting material with quarantine norms, because India doesn’t have high-quality planting material. So we’re looking at increasing walnut plantations in India (along with cashew),” he told businessline in an online interaction.
For example, the global walnut production has increased three times since 2010. The production of other such crops has also increased by 2-3 times. Unfortunately, India has not done anything on the crop front other than in raisins (grapes),” said Jain.
China and India used to have the same crop size in the 1980s. China grows in a similar Himalayan region as India, but its crop today is 1.2 million tonnes, whereas India’s production is 25,000 tonnes coming entirely from Kashmir.
One of the council’s goals is to increase the production of nuts and dry fruits in India. Topographically, India has the climate to grow these nuts and dried fruits.
“So, we are getting high-yielding seedlings from other countries now subject to quarantine. We started with walnuts. We got permission from the government and did a small plantation drive in Uttarakhand,” said Jain.
Similar drive is taking place in cashew now. “We have distributed a few plants last year and are trying to get more into the country to make India self-reliant,” he said.
NDFC-I was set up two years ago, roping in all stakeholders in nuts and dried fruits. The body was set up since there was no such association earlier to approach the government or work with it on various platforms, including international projects.
Jain said the nuts and dried fruits industry is growing at a CAGR of 15 per cent, as consumption in the country is soaring. The industry is almost ₹60,000 crore at the retail level and ₹35,000-odd crore at the factory-gate level. The industry pays nearly ₹8,000 crore as GST and customs duty.
Stating that the sector began to grow post-Covid, he said it is a sunrise sector with everyone now being aware of the health benefits of nuts. “To put the numbers in perspective, walnut consumption in the country has increased from 18,000 tonnes to 90,000 tonnes,” the NDFC-I president said.
Similarly, pistachio consumption has gone up to 38,000 tonnes from 9,000 tonnes. “Consumption of almonds is increasing steadily. India is the largest almond consumer. We consume about 280,000 tonnes of almonds. We are the largest consumers of cashew nuts – about 400,000 tonnes. Other than that, India consumes about 200,000-250,000 tonnes of raisins a year. India is a very large consumer when it comes to these traditional products,” he said.
The consumption of nuts and seeds, seen as super foods, is also increasing rapidly. The consumption of pumpkin seeds has increased to 7,000 tonnes from 400 tonnes. “We are witnessing a similar kind of growth in chia seeds,” said Jain.
India has small crops of these, barring raisins, which are derived when people want to discard grapes. Walnuts are grown only in Kashmir, and the production has dropped to 25,000 tonnes from 35,000 tonnes. “Again in cashew, the domestic crop meets one lakh tonnes of the four lakh tonnes of demand, with imports making up the rest,” he said.
NDFC-I has begun organising MEWA event to attract the nuts and dry fruits trade. This year, it was held in February and attracted 9,000-10,000 visitors and 330 exhibitors.
“The event featured foreign participation of about 1,200 delegates and presentations from 30 countries. MEWA is an industry-specific event aimed at trade professionals, with knowledge sessions on worldwide consumption, production, and business formalisation. Close to $50 million in business transactions took place during the event,” said the NDFC-I president, adding that MEWA has made people going to Gulf Food turn to India.
On production of nuts declining in the country, he said it was due to a longer gestation period. An almond tree yields fruit only in the sixth year and then continues to provide the fruits the following 40 years. Even for walnut, it is the same, he said. .
Stating that the nuts and dried fruit sector is still unorganised, Jain said the council has now begun to focus on promoting makhana (fox nuts or lotus seeds). “Its consumption has increased tremendously because of its health benefits, and its prices have increased from ₹400 a kg to ₹1,200 at the farm level. This year, we will see a huge surge in makhana production because everybody is getting into it,” he said.
The makhana sector is getting organised, and many are growing it as they are incentivised with high prices. It has also gone international with the Indian diaspora playing a big role, the NDFC-I president said.
“People are understanding makhana’s health benefits and are using it as a healthy snack,” he said, adding that its cultivation has now begin in western Uttar Pradesh and the crop size could be 1.5-1.8 times than the usual.
Published on May 7, 2025
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It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for ‘lorem ipsum’ will uncover many web sites still in their infancy.
The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making
The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for ‘lorem ipsum’ will uncover many web sites still in their infancy.
It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution
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