Starch is a known carbohydrate in which, regardless of its origin, two polysaccharides are found namely amylose and amylopectin. By insertion of a cationic moiety to the backbone of starch, a modified cationic starch can be developed which can be used as flocculant. Various grades of cationic starches were developed to optimize the best performing flocculant. The base polysaccharide, starch and the best performing cationic starch i.e., Cat SO (which have been confirmed from flocculation characteristics and intrinsic viscosity measurement) have been characterized by various characterization techniques such as determination of molecular weight, elemental analysis, FTIR spectroscopy, intrinsic viscosity measurement, thermal analysis, etc. From the characterization, it could be concluded that there was a substantial incorporation of cationic moiety onto the backbone of starch. The flocculation efficacy of these cationized starches was compared with each other and with some of the commercial flocculants available in national and international market in manganese ore suspensions. (c) 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.