PRODUCT 01 · BOTANICAL · KNOWLEDGE BASE
An evidence-led Indian reference covering crop identity, varieties, oil chemistry, production, distillation, standards, trade and export-use implications.
This is not a list of generic aromatherapy claims. The working evidence base starts with named Indian varieties, published oil-yield or composition figures, documented field enterprises, international standards and customs trade data. A commercial SKU is not treated as qualified until its botanical identity, process, analytical profile and batch documentation can be demonstrated.
Essential oils are concentrated aromatic fractions obtained from plant material by processes such as steam distillation, hydrodistillation, expression or other extraction techniques. Their commercial identity is determined by the plant species, plant part, origin, cultivar or chemotype, harvest conditions and processing. Hydrosols are the aqueous aromatic fraction associated with distillation and must be treated as a separate product: they are dilute, water-based, microbiologically sensitive and have a different analytical and commercial profile from the corresponding oil.
| Oil / crop | Indian variety or reference | Published fact | What it means commercially |
|---|---|---|---|
| Palmarosa | Cymbopogon martinii · CIM-Harsh | CSIR-CIMAP lists high geraniol content of about 94%. | Geraniol-rich material can be positioned by analytical composition rather than simply by the common name. |
| Palmarosa / Jamarosa | North Gujarat field enterprise | ICAR reports net returns around ₹1.50 lakh/ha/year for Palmarosa and ₹1.59 lakh/ha/year for Jamarosa in the documented farmer case. | Shows a real Indian cultivation-to-distillation enterprise rather than a theoretical crop model. |
| Lemongrass | Cymbopogon flexuosus · Krishna | CSIR-CIMAP lists citral at 75–80%. | Citral concentration is a central commercial specification for this oil. |
| Lemongrass | Pragati / LS48 enterprise | ICAR reports 0.4% oil recovery (4 kg/tonne fresh biomass) and 74–78% citral using a 500-L direct-steam unit. | Provides a published benchmark linking field biomass, distillation and analytical quality. |
| Citronella | Cymbopogon winterianus · Manjari | CSIR-CIMAP lists citronellal at about 45%. | A named variety plus a chemical marker gives a much stronger buyer specification than “citronella oil.” |
| Citronella | CIAP-Bio 13 | CSIR-CIMAP lists citronellal at 35–38% and notes high tiller-regeneration potential. | Useful as a distinct raw-material profile; do not merge it with Manjari data. |
| Vetiver / Khus | Chrysopogon zizanioides · KS-1 | CSIR-CIMAP lists a one-year cultivation period and oil-yield potential of 20–25 kg/ha. | Root-derived oil has a different production cycle and handling economics from grass-leaf oils. |
| Geranium | Pelargonium graveolens · CIM-Bio 171 | CSIR-CIMAP lists oil yield of 40–50 kg/ha and geranoil content around 21%. | Yield and chemical profile should both be captured in supplier qualification. |
| Geranium | CIM-Pawan | CSIR-CIMAP lists oil yield around 50 kg/ha and geranoil content around 21%. | Provides a named Indian variety benchmark for comparison with CIM-Bio 171. |
| Peppermint | Mentha × piperita · CIM-Madhuras | CSIR-CIMAP lists oil yield of 120–125 kg/ha. | A high-yielding Indian variety; buyer qualification still requires batch GC/GC-MS. |
| Peppermint | Kukrail | CSIR-CIMAP lists menthol content of 34.5%. | Menthol percentage is a meaningful analytical discriminator within peppermint material. |
| Rose | Rosa damascena · Noorjahan | CSIR-CIMAP lists citronellol 20.8% and geraniol 25.3% for the variety. | Rose material should be sold by botanical identity and analytical profile, not only by fragrance description. |
For steam-distilled grasses and leaves, published Indian field systems demonstrate that equipment scale and biomass handling materially affect the commercial result. ICAR's documented Lemongrass Oil Enterprise uses a 500-litre direct-steam distillation unit, a 3.5–4 hour batch cycle and 0.4% oil recovery. That corresponds to approximately 4 kg of oil per tonne of fresh biomass in that particular enterprise; it should not be treated as a universal recovery rate.
CSIR-CIMAP has also documented mobile/field distillation technology for aromatic crops including mint, lemongrass, palmarosa, citronella, basil, patchouli and vetiver. Older published technology economics put one mobile unit in the approximate ₹7.5–8 lakh investment range. Because that figure is historical technology-economics data, a current procurement quotation is required before using it in a business case.
ISO does not publish one universal specification for “essential oil.” Standards are generally oil-specific. ISO 856:2006 covers peppermint oil and explicitly considers India among the origins of the oil. ISO 4718:2004 covers oil of Cymbopogon flexuosus and was reviewed and confirmed as current in 2023. ISO 3217:1974 covers Cymbopogon citratus lemongrass oil and remains current after confirmation in 2021.
For C. citratus, ISO 3217 specifies, among other characteristics, relative density at 20/20 °C of 0.872–0.897, refractive index at 20 °C of 1.4830–1.4890, optical rotation from −3 to +1 and carbonyl compounds expressed as citral at a minimum of 75%. These figures belong to that specific ISO standard and species; they must not be transplanted to C. flexuosus without checking the applicable specification.
ISO 7609 provides a capillary-column gas-chromatographic method for essential oils. GC/GC-MS is therefore a central analytical tool, but a chromatogram is meaningful only when the botanical identity and applicable reference specification are known.
Indian essential oils are classified within HS heading 3301, with separate lines for products such as peppermint and other mint oils. HS 330129 covers “essential oils (including concretes and absolutes)” outside the separately specified lines.
| India exports, HS 330129 | Value | Quantity |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | US$132.78 million | 3,394.88 tonnes |
| 2023 | US$128.97 million | 2,395.97 tonnes |
| 2022 | US$124.23 million | 2,604.45 tonnes |
For 2024, WITS/UN Comtrade records the United States at US$30.16m, France at US$29.50m, Spain at US$7.66m, the United Kingdom at US$6.31m and Germany at US$6.14m within this HS line. These figures are gross trade statistics for the HS code, not a market-size estimate for any one oil.
APEDA's NPOP 2024–25 data records Indian organic exports of essential oils at 280.82 MT, valued at ₹100.00 crore / US$12.35 million. This is a certified-organic export segment and is therefore not equivalent to India's total essential-oil trade.
A hydrosol is not simply “essential oil diluted in water.” It is a water-based distillation product with its own chemistry and microbiological behaviour. The commercial dossier for a hydrosol should therefore record: botanical species and plant part; water source; distillation process; collection method; batch date; appearance and odour; pH; microbiological specification; preservation status; filtration; packaging; storage conditions; shelf-life evidence; and intended regulatory use.
Food, cosmetic, therapeutic and household applications can impose different requirements. Sabhya will not make a hydrosol suitability claim without evidence for the intended market and use.
The database now moves from category description into individual product records. Each monograph will contain actual Indian crop/variety evidence, chemistry, production geography, process data, applicable standards, trade classification and export-use notes. Unsupported market claims will be left blank rather than invented.