BACKGROUND: In India breast carcinoma is increasingly becoming a common medical problem for women. Hence early detection is important in distinguishing non neoplastic and neoplastic breast lesions prior to definitive management. AIM: To analyze the cytomorphological spectrum of palpable breast lump by FNAC and subsequently compare results with published studies in literature. METHODS: This is a cross sectional study conducted in the department of pathology, Shimoga institute of medical sciences, Shimoga, Karnataka from 1st October 2018 to 30th September 2019. It includes 130 patients presenting with palpable breast lump and they were subjected to FNAC. RESULTS: Among 130 cases of breast lump, 105 benign lesions and 25 malignant lesions were studied. Fibroadenoma was the most common benign lesion and infiltrating ductal carcinoma was the malignant lesion. CONCLUSION: FNAC is simple and rapid method in diagnosing and distinguishing neoplastic and non neoplastic breast lesions.