The present invention discloses a battery operated self-propelled electric reaper (e-reaper) for harvesting cereal crops. the developed working model comprises a header unit, a propelling unit, two dc motors, motor controllers and rechargeable lead-acid batteries. the header unit consists of a cutting unit and a conveying unit. the cutting unit has a reciprocating cutting knife of stroke length 76.2 mm and cutting width 600 mm, ledger guards and a slider crank arrangement to convert the rotary motion of the motor to reciprocating motion of knife. conveying unit consists of star wheels, crop dividers and lugged conveyer chains. the header unit is driven by a dc motor (48 v and 800 w) through chain and sprocket arrangement. the dc motor is powered by four 12 v, 18 ah batteries connected in series. to regulate the speed of the motor a dc motor controller of 48±2 v and 45±1 a is used for the header unit. a separate dc motor (24 v and 350 w) is used for propelling the machine. in propelling unit, power is transmitted from motor shaft to the shaft of pneumatic wheels (of size 4.00-8 4pr) through belt and pulley arrangement followed by worm gear. the propelling dc motor is powered by two 12 v, 12ah batteries connected in series. the speed of the motor in the propelling unit is controlled with a motor controller. the size of motors and battery units are decided based on the torque and speed required for cutting, conveying and propelling unit. the developed reaper is used for harvesting wheat and paddy crop and the field capacity has been found to be 0.06 ha/h with a cutting efficiency of 98%. this reaper cuts nearer to the ground surface with a stubble height of 60 mm. the developed electric reaper is small and compact in size and has better maneuverability in small fields. the weight of the developed e-reaper is 132 kg, which is lighter compared to other cereal harvesting machines available. it develops less hand vibrations and noise during harvesting operation. hence, the developed machine is women friendly. the cost of the developed e- reaper is rs 80,000. the cost of harvesting using electric reaper is rs 2029/ha, which is about four times lesser than cost of manual harvesting. e-reaper is economically viable harvesting machine for the socio- economically backward farmers, as it has low initial and operating cost.