The world is not enough for Indian snacks as the humble samosa has gone global

• Indians have taken the humble samosa and paratha global.
• Indian snack company Bikano made ₹100 crore through exports last year and is confident about seeing a growth of over 25% this fiscal, on the back of its popular aloo bhujia, parathas, gulab jamun and samosas.
• For iD Fresh Food, its international market already contributes over 30% to its annual revenue and its founder Musthafa believes there’s still a huge demand unmet offshore.

There’s a growing appetite for Indian snacks and food across borders. India’s favourite tea-time snacks such as samosas, aloo bhujia and popular breakfast parathas have made their way to distant shores. The market for these snacks is beyond Indians living abroad.

For Indian snacks company Bikano, its international sales contribute about 8% of its total sales. The company is confident that demand for its frozen food and snacks would take up a bigger chunk of its turnover.

“Our best-selling markets for Indian snacks and frozen foods outside of India are the USA, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, the European nations, Hong Kong, Dubai, Qatar, Singapore, and Malaysia. In our last financial year, we made ₹100 crore through our exports alone and in the current fiscal, we are expecting a growth of over 25%,” Dawinder Pal, head of marketing at Bikano told Business Insider India.

Bikano tested the international waters by targeting the Indian diaspora and soon enough, foreigners also started growing fond of its Aloo bhujia, samosas and parathas.

“We have come to notice a change in consumer patterns – for a while now people of diverse origins are showing keen interest in purchasing and consuming Indian products. There is a lot of traction for our products in the Asian community. At present, our key consumers in the international market come from across the board, both of Indian and non-Indian origins,” shared Pal.

According to Pal, aloo bhujia, bikaneri bhujia, lajawab mixture, tasty khatta meetha, frozen samosa, tandoori naan and paratha are some of Bikano’s best-selling products abroad. Some of its read-to-cook desserts like gulab jamun and rasgulla have also found a way into international markets.

iD Fresh Food, the consumer brand known for idli and dosa batters, started its product distribution with the UAE market seven years ago. Now it has set up shop in Saudi Arabia, US and UK.

“The international business contributes nearly 30% to iD’s revenue today. In the next two years, our aim is to get the number to 50% and make iD a ₹1,000 crore company,” P.C. Musthafa, co-founder of iD Fresh Food told Business Insider.

Apart from its varieties of parathas, even Indian fresh food batter is gaining popularity offshores.

“I strongly believe that Indian fresh food will appeal to a global palate, as long as we make it accessible and aspirational. It has been a long-cherished dream that drives us at iD. People are gradually moving away from junk food, globally, which gives us an understanding that the definition of snack has undergone a massive change over the years,” said Musthafa.

After seeing a one-third of its revenue coming from the international market, Musthafa says there is still a huge demand unmet and the market is only growing stronger.

As per the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, India’s export of miscellaneous processed items such as Indian snacks, sauces, starch products, vegetable flours among others witnessed a growth of 36.4% in April-June 2022-23 than the previous quarter in the last fiscal. The share of the food processing industry in India’s total agricultural exports continues to swell up, which is driven by frozen food and snacks.

On the back of this demand, Indians have taken the humble samosas and parathas global and the world’s palate will never be the same.