Mint grows easily across India's plains and foothills, so the hard part of premium mint is not growing it but selling it: clean, tender, unblemished spearmint (or peppermint in cooler areas) for restaurants, bars, juice shops and premium grocers, delivered fresh. It works best on a small area near a city where you already have two or three buyers, with a shade-free, well-drained plot and steady irrigation.

India's large mint acreage is a different business. It is menthol mint (Mentha arvensis) grown for oil in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana, and it is sold by the kilo of oil, not as fresh leaf. No published Indian farm-gate price series for premium fresh mint was found, so the figures below come from field crop studies and bulk mandi reports, and your own buyers' quotes decide the real income.

Which mint, and where it grows

TypeTraitsWhere it is grown
Spearmint (Mentha spicata), variety MSS-5Vigorous growth; reported 250 to 300 quintal per hectare fresh herb in commercial plantations; oil rich in carvone (about 65%), a caraway-like aromaPunjab and the foothills of Uttar Pradesh, on a small area
Spearmint, Punjab SpearmintErect, purple-green hairy stem; 0.57% oil with about 68% carvonePunjab
Peppermint (Mentha piperita), Black MitchamPrefers cool, sub-temperate climate; growth and yield are not high in the Uttar Pradesh taraiSmall scale in Punjab and parts of Himachal Pradesh
  • Variety details above come from the NIFTEM (Ministry of Food Processing Industries) mint manual and relate to oil-type crops. Fresh-leaf quality (leaf size, tenderness, aroma) should be checked in your own trial plot before you promise a buyer anything.
  • Climate and soil: mint prefers well-drained, deep, organic loam or sandy loam with pH about 6 to 8; clay soils, waterlogging and frost-prone sites are unsuitable. The sources give 20 to 40 degrees C as a suitable range and say shade is undesirable. Mint is a shallow feeder that needs regular irrigation.

Planting and care

  • Planting material: stolons (underground runners) or suckers; mint is propagated vegetatively. NIFTEM gives 250 kg per hectare of fresh stolons (about 100 kg per acre) for oil crops, cut into 8 to 10 cm pieces with 2 to 4 growing points, planted 1 to 2 cm deep and dipped in a fungicide solution for 2 minutes before planting.
  • Spacing: 40 x 10 cm in furrows in the NIFTEM description. Wider rows are easier to keep clean for fresh-cut bunches.
  • Season: in north India, stolon planting is from the first week of February to the second week of March in the oil-crop recommendation. Tell your KVK your location, since fresh mint can be grown in more months with irrigation.
  • Manure and fertiliser (oil-crop package): 25 to 30 t per hectare farmyard manure (10 to 12 t per acre) at land preparation, plus 40 kg N, 60 kg P2O5 and 40 kg K2O per hectare (16, 24 and 16 kg per acre) at planting. A further 80 kg N per hectare is given in two doses, the first 40 days after sprouting and the second after the first cut. Zinc deficiency is common in the Gangetic plains, and 20 kg zinc sulphate per hectare is advised. Follow your soil test and local KVK advice.
  • Water: 6 to 9 irrigations in the dry season and 2 to 3 after rains in the oil-crop calendar. Fresh-leaf crops that are cut often will need more frequent, light irrigation; drip irrigation or sprinklers keep the leaf clean and the plot weed-free.
  • Weeds: hand weeding or wheel hoes between rows. Herbicides are used in oil crops; for food-grade fresh leaf, do not use any product that is not labelled for it, and ask your KVK.
  • Pests and disease: no verified fresh-mint spray schedule was found. Buyers reject leaf with insects, spots or residues, so keep plant density open, drain the plot well, scout weekly, and use only labelled products with the stated waiting period (see pests).

Harvest and yield

  • Stolon-planted oil crops are first cut after 100 to 120 days, and further cuts follow 60 to 90 days later; the NHB figure is 20 to 25 t per hectare of green herb in three cuttings, which is 8 to 10 t per acre. The MSS-5 figure of 250 to 300 quintal per hectare is about 10 to 12 t per acre.
  • These are oil-crop numbers cut at flowering, with lower leaves starting to yellow. Fresh culinary mint is normally cut earlier and more often for tender leaf and stem, so expect a different pattern. No Indian yield trial data for premium fresh-cut mint was found.
  • Cut in the cool of the morning, in dry weather, keep the cut stems out of the sun, and pack quickly.
  • For short storage, the NIFTEM manual advises wrapping leaves in a damp paper towel inside a loosely closed bag so air can circulate; tight wrapping traps moisture and causes mould. Commercial supply needs a cool room or chilled van.

Cost and returns

  • Prices: reports based on Agmarknet data and compiled on price sites show bulk pudina varying widely between markets, roughly ₹19 per kg (Rajasthan average) to ₹70 per kg (Malout, Punjab, September 2024). Check mandi bhav for your area. No verified price premium for restaurant-grade mint is available.
  • Arithmetic (illustration only): at the NHB figure of about 8,000 kg per acre in three cuts and a bulk price of ₹19 to ₹70 per kg, gross is about ₹1.5 lakh to ₹5.6 lakh per acre. A premium buyer will take far smaller volumes, so work backwards: weekly kg each buyer will take x agreed price x weeks of supply.
  • Costs to list: stolons, farmyard manure and fertiliser, irrigation, hand weeding, labour for cutting, washing and bunching, crates, packaging, chilled transport and losses. No verified Indian cost figure for premium fresh mint was found, so ask your KVK and local growers.
  • Menthol mint for oil is a separate crop. India's menthol mint area is more than 2.5 lakh hectares in north India, and the industry turnover has been reported at ₹3,500 to ₹4,000 crore, but the farmer there sells oil at a price set by the oil trade.

Market and risks

  • Buyers: restaurants, cafes, bars and cocktail makers, juice and mojito shops, hotels, caterers and premium grocery or online delivery companies. Visit them, take samples, and ask what they pay and how much they use per week.
  • Mint grows fast and spreads, so one or two good buyers can soon be oversupplied. Fresh mint wilts within a day without a cool chain. In the monsoon, rain splash dirties the leaf and cuts quality.
  • Do not plant more than you can sell. If buyers fall through, the surplus goes to the ordinary mandi at bulk prices.
  • For a controlled, clean leaf all year, some growers use a polyhouse; see polyhouse subsidy for current support, and subsidy finder for other schemes.
💡 Tip: Start with 0.1 to 0.25 acre and get written weekly orders from buyers before expanding. Keep a record of what you spray and when, since hotels and grocers increasingly ask for it.

Sources