Spices Board India in Kochi: What It Does, and What You Can Buy There

Spices Board India, the Commerce Ministry body that promotes and regulates India's spice trade, has its headquarters at Sugandha Bhavan on the NH Bypass at Palarivattom in Kochi. It was set up on 26 February 1987, covers 52 scheduled spices and runs the cardamom e-auctions that set prices for Kerala's growers. India exported 17.34 lakh tonnes of spices worth Rs 39,140.11 crore in 2025-26, by the Board's figures. If you live in Kochi, the part you can actually use is a retail spice shop at the headquarters.

• What is the function of the Spices Board of India?
• Where is the headquarters of the Spices Board of India?
• Where are the cardamom auctions held?
• How much spice does India export?
• Can the public buy spices from the Spices Board?

What is the function of the Spices Board of India?

The Board was formed under the Spices Board Act, 1986 by merging the Cardamom Board, set up in 1968, with the Spices Export Promotion Council of 1960. It is one of five commodity boards under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Its brief covers the 52 spices on its schedule, and cardamom gets special treatment. Its main jobs:

• Research, development and domestic marketing regulation for cardamom.
• Better post-harvest handling for all spices.
• Promoting organic production.
• Quality evaluation, through its own testing laboratories.
• Export promotion and building the Indian spice brand abroad, including the World Spice Congress it organises.

Where is the headquarters of the Spices Board of India?

In Kochi, at Sugandha Bhavan on the NH Bypass, Palarivattom PO, Cochin 682025. It is a fitting address. Kochi was built on the spice trade, and the warehouses of Jew Town in Mattancherry still handle ginger, cloves, cardamom, turmeric and pepper, drying, sorting and packing them on site. Our pieces on Kochi's medieval spice trade and the Mattancherry heritage walk cover that older story; the Board is its modern, paperwork-heavy descendant. If you live nearby, our Palarivattom neighbourhood guide has the rest of the area.

Where are the cardamom auctions held?

At Puttady in Idukki and at Bodinayakanur in Tamil Nadu. The Board replaced open-outcry auctions at both centres with electronic ones, and since 2021 they run as cloud-based live auctions held at both centres at the same time. Only licensed dealers can bid, and the real-time bidding makes price discovery transparent. That matters well beyond the auction hall: those prices reach every cardamom grower in the hills and, eventually, the price on the packet in your kitchen.

How much spice does India export?

The Board's figures for the last two financial years:

Year	Volume	Value
2024-25	17.99 lakh tonnes	Rs 39,994.48 crore (US$4,722.65 million)
2025-26	17.34 lakh tonnes	Rs 39,140.11 crore (US$4,430.90 million)

So 2025-26 was a step back: down 4% in volume, 2% in rupee terms and 6% in dollar terms. By value, chilli led with 27% of exports, followed by cumin and by spice oils and oleoresins at 12% each, small cardamom at 9% and mint products at 8%. The United States was the biggest buyer at 14%, ahead of China at 12% and the UAE at 9%. Kerala's signature spices are a smaller slice of the national pie than most Malayalis would guess; chilli carries the export numbers.

Can the public buy spices from the Spices Board?

Yes, indirectly. Flavourit Spices Trading, an initiative under the auspices of the Board, runs a retail shop at Sugandha Bhavan in Palarivattom and also sells online. It is a sensible stop if you want packaged spices from a known source to take abroad, though for the atmosphere of the trade you are still better off in the lanes of Mattancherry. For more on the institutions behind Kochi's economy, see Business and the Kochi Business Directory.