Start on leased land or even a rooftop with plants that sell fast in your area (ornamentals and indoor plants in a city, fruit and vegetable saplings near farms) and source healthy mother plants from a nursery rated by the National Horticulture Board. Some states require nurseries selling fruit plants to register with the horticulture department, so check with yours. The NHB runs a Nursery Rating System that star-rates nurseries and publishes the list, which institutional buyers and government plantation drives look for, and its schemes support commercial horticulture. Sell three ways: walk-in customers, landscapers and builders, and online through Instagram, Amazon or your own site with careful packing. Register free on Udyam, and add GST if you sell taxable products like pots and fertiliser past the threshold. What kills most nurseries is plant loss and the season: a summer with no shade or a monsoon flood can wipe out stock, so invest in shade net and drainage before you scale.
The board that runs horticulture subsidy schemes, including commercial horticulture and cold storage, and the Nursery Rating System that star-rates plant nurseries.
The four MUDRA loan bands for a micro business, given through banks and NBFCs: Shishu up to Rs 50,000, Kishore up to Rs 5 lakh, Tarun up to Rs 10 lakh and Tarun Plus up to Rs 20 lakh.
The NHB's public list of plant nurseries rated under its Nursery Rating System, which shows what a recognised nursery looks like in your state and who you will compete with.
The government's only portal for registering a micro, small or medium enterprise. It states registration is free and lists the revised limits: a micro enterprise has investment up to ₹2.5 crore and turnover up to ₹10 crore, a small one up to ₹25 crore and ₹100 crore.
Amazon's own page for registering as a seller in India, with its fee calculator, Fulfillment by Amazon and the seller university. Useful to see what selling on a marketplace costs before you build your own store.
