The present study was undertaken to analyze the cost and returns of ajwain cultivation and its competing cropsin Hyderabad-Karnataka region. In this region, Raichur district was selected for the study as it was the major ajwaincultivating district. Cotton and bengal gram were the major competing crops for ajwain in the study area and thus, they wereconsidered for analyzing the comparative economics. The study was based on the primary data collected from 80 samplerespondents among which 40 were ajwain growers and 40 were non-ajwain growers, using a purposive sampling procedure.A descriptive statistical analysis was carried out to work out the cost and returns of ajwain and its competing crops. Thevariable cost per acre of ajwain, bengal gram and cotton were found to be ` 21162, ` 15484 and ` 33839, respectively. Thefixed cost per acre was ` 4466 in ajwain, ` 3448 for bengal gram and ` 6218 for cotton. The total cost of cultivation per acreof ajwain was ` 25628 and it was higher than bengal gram (` 18933) and lower than cotton (` 40057). The average yield peracre of ajwain, bengal gram and cotton were found to be 3.97 q, 6.23 q and 11.18 q, respectively. The gross returns realizedper acre by the cultivators amounted to ` 49288, ` 26166 and ` 54782 in the same order. The average price of ajwain was` 12415 per quintal. Among all the three crops, highest net returns per acre was realized in ajwain (` 23659), followedby cotton (`14725) and bengal gram (` 7233). The net returns realized per quintal of ajwain, bengal gram and cotton were` 5959, ` 1161 and ` 1317, respectively. The returns per rupee spent i.e., BC ratio was also highest in ajwain (1.86)followed by bengal gram (1.38) and cotton (1.36). Thus, cultivation of ajwain was found to be profitable when comparedto its competing crops in the study area.