Exhaustive cultivation of vegetables, flowers and fruits is called horticulture. Indian mangoes and bananas are now in huge demand outside the country. India is a producer of tropical fruits like coconuts, jackfruits, cashew nuts, pineapples, bananas and oranges. Of temperate fruits, apples, plums, peaches, almonds, apricots and grapes are grown in abundance. While Jammu & Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh lead in the fruit production of the temperate region, others are grown in various parts of peninsular India and Northern Plains. India brings in foreign exchange by exporting cashew nuts. Part of the raw cashew nuts is imported and treated here, before they are re-exported.

In 1960-61 nearly 4,300 tonnes of cashew-kernels were exported, bringing in 40 million U.S. dollars. By 1997-98 the quantity of exports rose to 76,000 tonnes and foreign exchange earnings touched a one-time high of 372 million U.S. dollars.

India now leads the world in fruit production and ranks 2nd in production of vegetables. In 1995-96 the total production of fruits was 41 million tonnes and that of vegetable over 70 million tonnes.