How Much Does It Cost to Open a Cafe in India? By Format, City and Drink Stock

How much does it cost to open a cafe in India? Every guide says a small cafe costs Rs 8 to 15 lakh.

Then the cafe opens, and before a rupee of sales, the reserve covers about a month.

We supply the beans and the powder, so we see the bill the guides stop at. Every line below has a source and a date. The last one is ours.

How much does it cost to open a cafe in India?

It depends on the format more than the city. Restaurant India's August 2026 guide gives these bands.

The same outlet gave Rs 20 to 50 lakh for a mid-size cafe in May 2026. So read the mid-size row as a wide band, not a quote.

If your space is 400 to 600 sq ft, expect the upper side of the small cafe band. A Petpooja guide (June 2026) puts a 500 sq ft cafe with 30 seats at Rs 12 to 25 lakh in a tier-2 city like Indore, and Rs 8 to 18 lakh in a tier-3 city. Petpooja sells restaurant software, and its own case studies do not add up to their stated totals. Treat its numbers as a rough band.

A chai stall owner knows this problem without a spreadsheet. The stall, the stove and the glasses are bought once. The milk, sugar and gas are bought every morning, and they decide whether the month works. A cafe is the same, with a bigger stall.

Where does the money go?

Restaurant India (8 May 2026) lists the ranges for a standard cafe. Each line below is Rs lakh unless stated.

• Rent deposit: 2 to 10. Landlords ask for two to six months of rent.
• Interiors and furniture: 5 to 25 (the August guide says 1.5 to 5 for a very small cafe).
• Coffee machines and grinders: 2 to 15. A commercial espresso machine alone runs Rs 80,000 to over Rs 5 lakh.
• Kitchen setup: 1 to 5.
• Licences and approvals: 0.5 to 2.
• Branding and launch marketing: 1 to 5.
• POS and billing software: 0.3 to 1.
• Initial inventory: 0.5 to 2.
• Working capital reserve: 3 to 10.

In the Rs 12 lakh sample, equipment is the biggest line at Rs 3 lakh. Rent with deposit is Rs 2.2 lakh and interiors Rs 2 lakh. Those three are 60 percent of the budget.

Look at what is small. First stock is Rs 0.8 lakh. Working capital is Rs 1.5 lakh, though the same guide says to keep three to six months of running costs. Hold that thought.

What do the licences cost?

Licences are a small line. Here is what we found, with dates.

• FSSAI basic registration is Rs 100 a year. The state licence is Rs 2,000 to 5,000 a year (Tally Solutions, updated 20 Oct 2026). One 2026 guide says the turnover limits were raised from April 2026. Check the limit on the FoSCoS portal before you apply.
• GST: restaurants charge 5 percent without input tax credit. Registration starts at Rs 20 lakh of turnover, or Rs 10 lakh in special category states (calcguru, 28 Aug 2026).
• Shop and establishment, trade licence and fire NOC: the fee depends on your city and building, and we found no reliable figure. A small Indore cafe paid Rs 35,000 for the Shop Act, fire NOC and GST together (Petpooja case study, Nov 2025).
• Budget Rs 35,000 to 1.5 lakh for all licences and registrations (Restaurant India, 4 Aug 2026), and ask your landlord early if the building has a fire NOC.

What does rent cost in each city?

Rent decides which city band you land in. These are prime high street rents. They are the top of the market, not what a lane shop pays.

Rents for Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune, Hyderabad and Chennai are from The Realty Today, "India Real Estate Horizons: Retail", updated 23 September 2026. Khan Market is Cushman and Wakefield's figure for October to December 2025, reported by Daily Pioneer. Connaught Place was Rs 1,150 to 1,250 in January to March 2025 (Cushman and Wakefield, via Indian Retailer). The whole cafe column is Petpooja's tier band (June 2026): metros are Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru, tier-1 includes Pune, and Indore is tier-2. The Indore cafe row is one case study from Petpooja (November 2025): Rs 15,750 a month for 450 sq ft.

Khan Market is India's priciest high street. No source we found gave Kolkata or Ahmedabad.

Nobody opens a 500 sq ft cafe on Rs 15 lakh a month of rent. A real small cafe pays far less. The Indore cafe paid Rs 35 a sq ft. A 650 sq ft espresso cafe in Bandra paid about Rs 200 a sq ft, Rs 1.3 lakh a month, with Rs 13 lakh of deposit (same Petpooja source).

So the city question is mostly a street question. Ask what the street charges, not what the city charges.

The cost nobody budgets: the drink line

Most people miss this: the first stock order is small, and the stock bill is not.

In the Rs 12 lakh sample, first stock is Rs 0.8 lakh. That is one line, paid once. A cafe pays it every week.

Take 50 double shots a day. That is our example, not a count of any cafe. One shot uses about 18 g of coffee, so 50 shots use 900 g a day, about 6.3 kg a week.

At our prices of 24 October 2026, an 18 g shot of House Blend costs Rs 17.82 in beans (Rs 990 a kg). An 80/20 Premium Blend shot costs Rs 23.40 (Rs 1,300 a kg). A single origin shot costs Rs 37.80 (Rs 2,100 a kg).

Over a year, 50 shots a day come to about 328 kg. At House Blend that is Rs 3.25 lakh. At 80/20 it is Rs 4.27 lakh. At single origin it is Rs 6.90 lakh.

Add hot chocolate. Our brands article works out our powder at about Rs 35 a cup (Rs 700 for 20 cups). At 30 cups a day that is Rs 3.83 lakh a year.

So the drink stock for a year is four to nine times the stock line in the budget. Our read: the budget shows the stock you buy to open, not the stock you buy to stay open.

This is also why the beans choice is a money choice. Our beans article shows the same shot arithmetic at the cup. Our location article says which blend fits where you open. And our pricing article shows what each cup keeps you.

What do the first 90 days cost?

Add the monthly costs that start on day one. Sales come in too, but not on day one.

Take rent of Rs 20,000 to 50,000, the tier-2 range from Restaurant India. Take three staff: a barista, a helper and a cashier, at the lowest and highest pay in the same guide (Rs 45,000 to 73,000 together). Add the drink stock from above, Rs 58,230 a month. That is Rs 1.23 to 1.81 lakh a month, before milk, food, power and GST.

Over 90 days that is Rs 3.7 to 5.4 lakh. The sample budget keeps Rs 1.5 lakh for working capital.

Our read: Rs 1.5 lakh pays for about one month of these costs. Sales have to carry the other two. How fast they will, no guide can tell you. That is why the guides say three to six months of reserve, and then show a sample with one.

How to budget the drink line

1. Pick the drinks you will open with. Fewer is cheaper: two blends beat five.
2. Write the grams per cup for each. 18 g for a shot is our rule of thumb. Ask your supplier for the hot chocolate dose.
3. Multiply by the shots or cups you hope to sell in a day, then by 7. That is your weekly order.
4. Order the first weeks small and often. Beans stay fresh and cash stays in the bank.
5. Add the weekly order to the 90 day calendar before you sign the lease.

The setup is the headline

The setup cost is a number you pay once and can see. The drink stock is a number you pay every week and cannot see until the month ends.

The setup is the headline. The weekly order is what follows.

If you are still choosing between blends, our coffee samplers let you taste before you buy a kilo. To compare a supply price for your cafe, see our B2B page.

What to do next

1. Write down the format and size you want: kiosk, small cafe or mid-size. Match it to the band above.
2. Ask two landlords for the actual rent per sq ft on your street, and the deposit in months.
3. Check the FSSAI limit on FoSCoS and ask your landlord about the fire NOC.
4. Work out your weekly drink order and add it to a 90 day sheet.
5. Order a coffee sampler or contact us on /b2b-partnership for a supply quote.

The beansHow to Choose Coffee Beans and a Supplier for Your Cafe6 min read →

The priceWhat Indian Cafes Charge for Hot Chocolate, and What You Keep at Each Price5 min read →