Abstract: The study was undertaken on osmotic dehydration of banana varieties viz., Poovan (AAB) and Dwarf Cavendish (AAA) to investigate the effect of temperature, sample thickness and osmotic time on the rate of osmosis. The results revealed that the maximum water loss and solid gain after osmosis were 57.9 and 15.5 per cent in Poovan and 53.1 and 11.8 per cent in Dwarf Cavendish. The moisture content of Poovan slices reduced from 2.03 kg H₂O kg^-1 dry matter (DM) to as low as 0.31kg H₂O kg^-1 DM when osmosed in 60 ºB syrup at 75 ºC. In case of Dwarf Cavendish, the moisture content reduced from 2.84 to 0.38 kg H₂O kg^-1 DM under similar conditions. Subsequent air dehydration resulted in further loss of moisture and the moisture content was reduced to a range of 0.03 to 0.18 kg H₂O kg^-1 DM after 4 to 8 h of drying.