This Tiny J&K Town Is Quietly Producing Crorepati Entrepreneurs Through Lavender Farming

Young entrepreneurs in the small town of Bhaderwah in Jammu & Kashmir are earning an average of ₹65 lakhs a year through lavender farming and related products, Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh proudly shared at the inauguration of the Lavender Festival 2025. The two-day event, organised by CSIR–IIIM Jammu, has turned the spotlight on this hill town that has become a national example for rural entrepreneurship.
“Bhaderwah, once a quiet hilly town, is now a beacon of India's rural startup revolution. Lavender has not just added fragrance to these mountains—it has added identity, income, and inspiration,” said Dr Singh.

He said that lavender farming has transformed Bhaderwah and given it a national identity. “Lavender has given the small J&K town of Bhaderwah a national identity and also a national role in India's economic growth,” he noted.

Dr Singh praised the success of the agri-startup model, saying it had rewritten the story of entrepreneurship in remote and hilly areas. “This single mission has answered multiple challenges,” he said. “It busted the myth that startups are limited to IT or require foreign degrees. Our youth in Jammu & Kashmir, in collaboration with CSIR-IIIM, have shown that passion, perseverance, and learning can build sustainable ventures rooted in agriculture.”

The Minister said that many young people are leaving regular jobs to take up farming, seeing it now as a profitable and respected business. “It is motivating many others to leave conventional jobs and pursue farming as a lucrative business opportunity,” he said.

He credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi for giving national visibility to the lavender mission. “When the Prime Minister dedicated nearly ten minutes in his ‘Mann Ki Baat’ to talk about this Lavender mission in detail, it gave the best possible global introduction to Bhaderwah—one that we couldn’t have imagined,” he added.

Dr Singh also said that Bhaderwah now has 50 lavender distillation units, and the products are being sent to markets in Maharashtra and other states. The success of this model has caught the attention of states like Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and several North-Eastern states, whose representatives attended the festival to learn from Bhaderwah’s journey.


Challenging the belief that only the young can start new ventures, Dr Singh announced, “A special exhibition featuring 60+ age group entrepreneurs will be showcased in the next edition of the festival.” He said this was proof that age is not a barrier to starting something new.

Speaking about the larger picture, Dr Singh said, “India has moved from the 5th largest to the 4th largest economy, and sectors like lavender cultivation will further fuel our rise. These unexplored areas, when empowered, will become pillars of value addition and employment generation.”

Despite recent challenges, including defence operations like Sindoor, he said, “India’s economy has not only remained buoyant but also grown. That is a fitting reply to skeptics.”


He concluded by thanking Dr Zabeer and the CSIR-IIIM team for putting together the festival, and invited people to visit Bhaderwah in the next couple of weeks to see the lavender fields in full bloom and meet the local entrepreneurs. - TWL Bureau