Floriculture is a fast-growing industry that deals with the cultivation of ornamental crops. Development of new varieties, cultivation, marketing and value-added products are essential for the success of floriculture industry. The global floriculture business is growing at the rate of 6-10 % per annum. India ranks 18th in floriculture trade, and has only 0.61 percent share in global floriculture trade. During the last decade, export increased at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 4.33 percent. The domestic Indian market is growing at the rate of 25 per cent per year. As per National Horticulture Database published by National Horticulture Board, during 2015-16 the area under floriculture production in India was 249 thousand ha with a production of 1659 thousand tonnes loose flowers and 484 thousand tonnes cut flowers. Floriculture is now commercially cultivated in several states with Tamil Nadu (20%), Karnataka (13.5%) West Bengal (12.2%), having gone ahead of other producing states like Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Jharkhand, Haryana, Assam and Chhattisgarh. The strength of floriculture development in India lies with its wide altitudinal variations giving varied agro-climatic conditions that favour cultivation of a wide range of floricultural crops in the country. Availability of manpower for cultivation and large demand for floricultural products in metropolitan cities are the other advantages for India. Emphasis is now shifting from pot and garden flowers to cut flowers for export purposes. Important floricultural crops in the international cut flower trade are Rose, Carnation, Chrysanthemum, Gerbera, Gladiolus, Orchids, Anthurium, Tulip and Lilies.

CSIR has been in the forefront of developing floricultural crop varieties and has been a major developer of agro and post harvest processing technologies for several floriculture crops including Gladiolus, Canna, Carnation, Bougainvillea, Chrysanthemum, Gerbera, Lilium, Marigold, Rose, Tuberose, Strelitzia, Alstromeria and Hippeastrum. To enhance the export potential of the floriculture sector, domesticate the wild floral diversity of the country to popularize them as global ornamentals, create employment opportunities for urban and rural youth through this fast growing sector, and to provide enhanced income to the farmers, CSIR has decided to launch a floriculture mission.