The floriculture industry has grown into a high-performing sector, earning status as a “sunrise industry” with a 100 per cent export orientation, The Economic Survey 2024-25 said.
Driven by a growing global demand for flowers, floriculture has evolved into a key commercial venture within agriculture. Commercial floriculture is particularly lucrative, offering higher returns per unit area than many traditional field crops, it observed.
Profitable avenues in commercial floriculture include production of cut-flowers, loose-flower production, dry flowers, cut greens, pot plants, flower seeds, perfumes and essential oils.
- Also read: Economic Survey 2025 Highlights
Further, intercropping flowers are more profitable compared to the options of cereals, pulses, vegetables and oilseeds. With subsidy support and crop loan financing, it is a promising venture for marginal and small landholdings, which constitute more than 96 per cent of the total landholdings and 63 per cent of the area of cultivation under floriculture.
The shift from cultivating traditional flowers to export-focused cut flowers highlights the industry’s transformation, the survey said. Entrepreneurs across states like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra have capitalized on this opportunity, establishing sophisticated export-oriented floriculture units.
In FY24, approximately 297,000 hectares were dedicated to floriculture, yielding an estimated 22,84,000 tonnes of loose flowers and 947,000 tonnes of cut flowers.
During the same period, India exported 19,678 metric tonnes of floriculture products, earning ₹717.83 crore ($86.63 million). Key export destinations included the USA, Netherlands, UAE, UK, Canada, and Malaysia. With its high growth trajectory and promising export potential, India’s floriculture industry is blooming as a vital player in the global flower trade, the Survey observed.