A method and system for minimizing battery power consumption of user equipment (UE) during inter-frequency cell discovery in heterogeneous network is disclosed. UE receives background scan configuration for specified frequency from the network and performs the background scan for detecting inter-frequency cell. The UE detects an inter-frequency cell on the frequency indicated in the background scan configuration, during the inactive time of DRX cycle. Further, UE indicates the physical cell identity of the detected cell to the network. Then the UE activates the normal measurement gap provided previously or the network configures normal measurement gap to the UE if not provided previously. Further, UE performs Reference signal Received Power (RSRP) and Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ) measurements of the detected cell. Then the UE reports these measurements to the network when the measurement report event condition is satisfied and the network handovers the UE to the detected cell.