Introduction: Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology (FNAC) is an important tool for the pre–operative diagnosis of breast lesions. Materials and methods: A retrospective hospital based study was done in which a total of 110 cases of palpable breast lump were included. All cases are categorized according to risk for cancer into unsatisfactory sample, benign proliferative breast disease without atypia, Benign proliferative disease with atypia, Inflammatory breast disease, suspicious for malignancy and malignant lesions. Results: Out of 110 cases, 60 cases were benign, 35 malignant, 5 suspicious, 7 inflammatory  and 3 were unsatisfactory lesions. Cytological and histopathological correlation found in 54.5% of cases.  Most common benign breast lesion was  fibroadenoma while the commonest malignant lesion was invasive ductal carcinoma. Conclusion: We conclude that FNAC is a simple, safe, minimally invasive and reliable technique for preoperative evaluation of palpable breast lumps.