Red sanders (Pterocarpus santalinus) can be grown on private land in India, but it is a 20 to 25 year crop whose value depends entirely on being able to fell, transport and sell the wood legally. Growing the tree is the easy part; the permits, the thin list of legal buyers and a state-wise export quota decide whether a grower is ever paid.

The tree is native to the southern Eastern Ghats, mainly Andhra Pradesh, with some occurrence in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. It is listed in CITES Appendix II (since 1995), and raw wood exports were prohibited from 2004 until export of cultivated wood from private land was allowed under conditions. Check the current rules with your state forest department before buying a single sapling.

Legal position before you plant

  • Export (central rule): DGFT Notification 47/2025-26 (4 November 2025) allows export of red sanders logs and roots only if they are of cultivation origin from private land (including patta land), and only under a Restricted Export Authorisation. The application needs a Certificate of Origin from the state Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF), giving the date of procurement from legal sources and quantity, plus a PCCF-nominated officer's physical verification certificate of stocks.
  • Annual export quota (April to March, artificially propagated wood): Andhra Pradesh 280 tonnes, Tamil Nadu 900 tonnes, Karnataka 10 tonnes, Gujarat 100 tonnes, a total of 1,290 tonnes for the whole country. The notification fixes a zero quota for wild red sanders and says quotas are reviewed on the basis of a National Detrimental Findings study. The quota is issued against export authorisations, so a grower still needs a buyer who holds an authorisation.
  • Felling and transport: a 2018 report found that farmers needed felling and transport permits that were difficult to get, and some growers with mature trees could not find a legal buyer. State procedures differ and have been revised since, so ask your DFO (Divisional Forest Officer) in writing what registration, felling permission and transit pass apply on your land before planting.
  • Theft and smuggling pressure: the wood is among the most smuggled in India. Expect to protect a plantation for decades, keep land and planting records, and register the trees where your state requires it. Trees without paperwork are hard to sell legally.

Where it grows and what it needs

  • A research plantation at ICFRE Institute of Forest Biodiversity, Hyderabad (542 m elevation, spacing 5 x 4 m) was assessed at 12 years: 80 per cent of the 500 planted accessions survived, mean height was 9.04 m (range 5.5 to 11.8 m), and girth at breast height averaged 45 cm (range 26 to 78 cm).
  • Heartwood is the valuable part, and it forms slowly. In that 12-year trial, 18.5 per cent of accessions had formed heartwood in under 12 years, against about 15 years as the usual timeline. Girth and heartwood length were positively correlated (r = 0.44), so thicker trees tended to have more heartwood, but the relationship was only moderate.
  • TNAU gives a rotation of 20 to 25 years. Heartwood contains about 16 per cent santalin, a natural dye.
  • Soil and rainfall limits were not stated in the sources reviewed. The natural range is dry, rocky, red soil country in the Eastern Ghats; ask your KVK or the forest research institute at Hyderabad whether your site suits it.

Planting material and spacing

  • Seed: seed stays viable for up to a year (TNAU). Sow in nursery beds of about 1.2 x 1.2 m, mixed with sand, covered with soil and paddy straw mulch.
  • Planting: plough to fine tilth, dig pits of 45 x 45 x 45 cm, and plant 12-month-old seedlings with the soil ball intact.
  • Spacing: 4 x 4 m (TNAU), which is 625 trees per hectare (about 253 per acre). Buy seedlings from a forest department or institute nursery that keeps records of seed source, since poor-quality stock affects heartwood.
  • Care: irrigate, weed and prune up to the third year (TNAU). Fence against grazing and fire.

Harvest and yield

  • Harvest is by felling the whole tree, after permission, at the end of the rotation (20 to 25 years). Only the heartwood is valuable; sapwood is not.
  • No verified Indian figure for heartwood weight per tree or per hectare at harvest was found, so a per-acre income cannot be responsibly calculated. Ask the Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding (IFGTB, Coimbatore) or the forest research institute at Hyderabad for measured data.

Cost and returns

  • Price: a 2018 report quoted red sanders at ₹50 lakh to ₹1 crore per tonne in the international market, and said Indian domestic prices were less than half of the international rate because of low domestic demand. Those are export-grade figures, not what a grower is paid, and they are from 2018.
  • Government auctions of seized wood have shown very high prices for top grades, but that is seized stock sold by the state and not a price a farmer can count on.
  • Costs over 20 to 25 years (seedlings, fencing, watchmen, irrigation for the first three years, weeding and pruning, permit and transport costs) have no published Indian budget. Compare any promoter's "crore per acre" claim with the heartwood yield and the legal route to sell, and ask for both in writing.
💡 Tip: Before paying for plants or a "buy-back" contract, ask the forest department for the written felling, transit and sale procedure for red sanders on private land in your state, and ask the buyer for their export authorisation or licence number.

Market and risks

  • Legal buyers are few: authorised exporters and licensed processors working through the state forest department's rules. Domestic demand is low, according to the 2018 report.
  • Rules, quotas and permit steps can change at the next review; a quota set today is reviewed annually.
  • Be careful of sellers who advertise "crore-a-year" red sanders farming, buy-back promises, or "no permit needed" claims. Selling wood without papers is an offence and can lead to seizure.
  • For loans see KCC and for group support FPO; for state support use the subsidy finder.

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