Indian Fruit Export Season Calendar: When Each Fruit Is Available (Month by Month)

India's fresh-fruit export seasons run almost year-round when you line up the crops: grapes ship from January, mangoes peak through spring, cherries fill a short summer window, apples arrive in autumn, and pomegranates are available nearly every month. For B2B importers, knowing the exact window for each fruit is the difference between locking supply at peak quality and chasing fruit that's already gone. This calendar maps when each major Indian export fruit is available, when it peaks, and where it comes from.

Peak export months are marked P; in-season months are marked ●. Windows are typical and shift by a week or two each year with weather.

Pomegranate is grown across staggered flowering cycles, so it's available almost year-round, with the best export-grade fruit and peak volumes from October to February. Apples are harvested August–November but ship year-round from controlled-atmosphere (CA) cold storage.

At-a-glance summary of key regions, windows, and export cultivars:

Indian table grapes are the first major export fruit of the calendar year. The crop is concentrated in Nashik, Maharashtra — the country's grape capital — where harvesting runs from roughly early February to early April, with early shipments beginning as soon as December–January. The peak export window is February–March.

Thompson Seedless dominates the trade, alongside Sonaka and Sharad Seedless, shipped mainly to the EU (the Netherlands is the main gateway), the UK, and the Gulf. For ocean freight, grapes need immediate pre-cooling and SO₂ pads to hold quality, which is why buyers favour exporters with cold-chain discipline. If you're stocking grapes for a spring programme, contract in December–January before peak volumes commit.

Mango is India's flagship export fruit, and its season rolls across regions rather than arriving all at once. The commercial export season runs from late March through July, with the most intense window from mid-April to late May.

Alphonso (Hapus) from Maharashtra's Konkan belt — Ratnagiri and Devgad — leads the early season and peaks April–May. Kesar from Gujarat extends supply from May into July. Banganapalli from Andhra Pradesh provides mid-season bulk through April–June. Because the premium Alphonso window is short and demand is high, slots fill early; serious buyers book before the season opens. Mangoes for distant markets like the USA require hot-water or vapour-heat treatment and irradiation at an APEDA-approved facility, plus a phytosanitary certificate.

Cherry has the shortest and most time-sensitive window of any Indian export fruit. Kashmir produces the overwhelming majority of India's cherries, and the harvest runs from mid-May to the first week of July, peaking in June. Some newer Italian varieties stretch the tail of the season, but the core window is roughly six to eight weeks.

The marquee variety is the intensely sweet Mishri, alongside Makhmali and Double. Cherry is highly perishable and often air-freighted to protect quality, so importers planning a cherry programme should confirm supply and logistics in spring — by the time the fruit is on the tree, it's nearly too late to arrange. This is the fruit where being ready ahead of the window matters most.

India's apple harvest arrives in autumn. Himachal Pradesh starts in late July, while Jammu & Kashmir — the largest producing state — runs from August through November, with the peak in September–October. Uttarakhand contributes from August.

Kashmiri Red Delicious and Himachal Royal Delicious are the export mainstays. The important detail for buyers: while the fresh harvest is autumn, controlled-atmosphere (CA) cold storage means Indian apples can be supplied year-round, not just at harvest. So apple sourcing is less about a narrow window and more about specifying grade, count size and storage condition (For buyers comparing options, see our guides on Indian apple exports and imported apple supply).

Pomegranate is the exception that breaks the calendar: India can supply it almost every month. Growers in Maharashtra — which accounts for the majority of national production — use staggered flowering cycles (the bahar system) to spread harvests across the year. That said, the best export-grade fruit and the highest volumes come from roughly October to February, which aligns neatly with low local supply in Europe and festive demand in the Gulf.

Bhagwa is the export standard, prized for its deep-red rind, soft arils and a shelf life that survives ocean freight. For year-round programmes, pomegranate is the most flexible fruit to anchor a contract around.

The practical takeaway for importers: stagger your contracts to the windows rather than the calendar year. Grapes anchor Q1, mango carries spring, cherry fills the short early-summer gap, apple and pomegranate cover autumn and winter, and pomegranate bridges the rest. Two rules apply across all of them — book ahead of the peak (slots for Alphonso and cherry in particular commit early), and weight your supplier choice toward cold-chain capability, because every one of these fruits lives or dies on temperature control in transit.