Do you want to start a candle-making business from home or as a small-scale manufacturing unit? Read this business project guide to start your own candle manufacturing unit in India.
People lighten candles not only for religious purposes but also as decor items. Apart from the traditional long white candle, there is also a very potential market for scented and decorative candles. Before we start detailing, let us inform you of the main elements needed to manufacture candles. They are wax, wicks, stearic acid, dyes, production machines, and packaging.
Check: 10 Best Scented Candles in India
Let us walk you through the steps of starting a candle manufacturing business with very less capital
Is Candle Making Business Profitable?
Candle making is one of the most popular businesses for beginners, as it is straightforward to start. Broadly this is because of the following reasons.
Firstly, the investment required to start this business is much less.
Secondly, the process of manufacturing the item is simple. You do not require much machinery to manufacture candles. You need only wax and wick to start this business which is readily available in the market.
Thirdly, The demand for candles is there throughout the year.
The traditional candle demand comes from religious needs. Candles are a must for any religious ceremony.
Presently, the demand for aromatic and decorative candles is on the rise. These candles are being used by many households, restaurants, and event parties in brightening up their interior.
Mainly two types of candles that you may plan to produce. One is a white color simple long candle with different heights and sizes.
Another category is decorative candles like colorful, scented, spiral, birthday type, tapered, spiral, fluted, LED, and pillar candles.
10 Steps to Start Candle Manufacturing Business
1. Do Market Research
It is advised to go for market research and collect information related to the demand and competition in the local market. This information will help you to create a business plan document that will explore the gaps and execute accordingly.
Read: Market Research: How It Is Done, Process, Objectives
2. Create a Candle Making Business Project Plan
The first part of starting a candle-making business is to create a business project document. Based on the information collected, create a business plan. If you are looking for funding, consider taking help from professional plan writers.
3. Investment Required to Start Candle Manufacturing Business
The investment will largely depend on the scale of operation. For example, if you want to start at home or on a limited budget, an investment in the range of Rs. 25,000 to 2.5 Lacs will be enough.
However, for a larger commercial operation, the investment required will be to the tune of Rs. 10 Lacs. The cost includes automatic candle-making machinery that will deliver 500 kg/day candle output.
4. License & Registrations Required for Candle Making Business
If you are planning to run a candle making business, a trade license from the local authority will be enough to start with.
However, if are planning to start commercial candle manufacturing, there are some legal requirements to consider.
You must register your business. You can form a sole proprietorship, OPC, LLP, or Pvt Ltd. company as per your requirement.
Apply for your business Pan Card. Obtain Trade License from your local authority.
In addition, open a current Bank Account. You can also apply for a loan for machinery and working capital. You can register your business as SSI Unit also. One must apply for GST registration to start a candle manufacturing business in India.
You can also protect your brand name by registering Trade Mark.
5. Raw Materials For Candle Making
The major two raw materials required in making candles are paraffin wax and wick.
You also need to have yarn, different colors, molds, decorative items, and fragrances. Pay special attention to packaging for the gift or decorative candles.
Other than raw materials you will need to have some equipment for candle making. These are a melting pot, thermometer, pour pot, weighing scale, hammer, and an oven to melt the wax.
6. Candle Making Machine Price & Types
Several different varieties of candle making machines are available in the market. Selecting the right machinery is an important issue in initiating the business properly. The wrong selection of machines can lead the project to less profit or loss-making.
Broadly candle making machines can be segregated into 3 different types. These are Manual, Semi-Automatic, and Fully-Automatic candle making machines. All machines are different in their production capacity, production quality, and costs.
a) Manual Candle Making Machines
Various handy, operator-friendly, candle-making machines and molds are available. According to your production output criteria, you will need to choose the right one. These machines work efficiently by solidifying the melted wax in available cavities with Wick Pre-inserted in the center of the cavity.
From these machines, you need to collect the finished candles one by one by hand. Different production outputs such as 300, 550, 950, 1200, and 1800 pieces per hour are available in manual machines.
These machines can make simple common daily lighting candles, and extruded cylindrical candles.
The price of a good quality manual candle making machine price starts from Rs. 20000 in India.
b) Semi-Automatic Candle Making Machines
Various semi-automatic candle making machines that are easy to operate, adjustable settings, and speedy cooling systems with water circulation are available on the market.
These machines are more user-friendly. In addition, these are more technically advanced than a manual machine. Here you can find more accurate dimensions from these machines.
These machines provide a water circulation system for quick cooling.
The price of a semi-automatic candle making machine price will come around Rs. 40000 if you purchase from India.
c) Fully-Automatic Candle Making Machines
Fully-automatic candle-making machines are normally designed using the finest quality mild steel, brass pipes, and CRC pipes to get a longer and hassle-free operational life.
Plain, square, round, spiral, colorful, scented birthday-type, tea light candles can be made from these machines with very high production output. You will get 240 pieces of production output per minute. These are also length adjustable and have a water circulation system.
Apart from these three types of machines, you will find a different designer molds for creative decor candles. You can produce various types of decorative candles such as designer birthday candles, T candles, soy candles, and numeric candles with these molds.
The price of an automatic candle-making machine of good quality starts from Rs 60000 in India.
7. Evaluate the Cost & Investment to Start a Candle Manufacturing Business
The cost of starting a candle-making business on a small scale will largely depend on the amount of production output. The cost of the machine will increase as per the scale of operation and the type of machine you buy.
You can start a home-based candle-making business with a nominal investment by buying a manual candle manufacturing machine.
However, an investment of 5 Lac to 10 Lac will be required to start a small-scale candle manufacturing unit in India.
8. Candle Making Manufacturing Process
The manufacturing process is very simple. However, the operating procedure of various candle-making machines may differ very little. Normally you have to put the thread in the indicated places.
Then you need to pour the melted paraffin wax on it. If you are using average-quality wax, then add stearic acid. However, for better quality, you might not need to add.
Within a few minutes, the wax will be coagulated. The final step is the packaging. For scented, colorful, decorative candles you will need to mix the color and fragrance accordingly.
9. Candle Making Safety Guide
Never melt wax on or in anything that does not have some form of temperature control because wax does have a flashpoint and will burst into flames without warning once it reaches that point. Depending on the wax the flashpoint may vary between 290 – 380 degrees. Always be safe when you make candles.
10. Where to Sell Candles
There are mainly two ways of selling candles. One is physically distributing candles to your local retailers and distributors. The other one is selling online.
For physical distribution, you must contact retailers and local dealers and ask them to promote your brand of candles. Your pricing strategy will play a key role in providing them with an interest in selling products.
You can go through our detailed article on low-cost marketing ideas for startups to learn more.
Finally, if you are starting small with less capital investment, it is always advised to start with less manpower. You need to shoulder as much responsibility as you can take. As you grow your candle business and profits start rolling in, think of adding a quality workforce.
Editorial Staff at NextWhatBusiness is a team of Business Consultants having years of experience in small and medium scale businesses.