Anuga Select India 2025 in Mumbai was a smaller affair than last year, but it still had plenty to offer. Despite the red alerts and traffic chaos, there were fantastic new products, interesting insights, and a few surprises.

No one thinks of chocolate and cheese as Indian foods, but that’s exactly the point, I think. We saw some fantastic examples of homegrown brands taking uniquely Indian foods and giving them a modern makeover while staying true to their roots.

But we also saw Indian companies working on products once thought of as “foreign indulgences” and giving them an Indian identity.

Bon Fiction is crafting tree-to-bar chocolate from single-origin cacao grown in the Godavari region. Every step, from fermentation to roasting, happens on their estate, resulting in 100% natural chocolate with bold, creative flavor twists.

Eleftheria is proving that European-style cheese can be made, and even perfected, in India. The brand is introducing Indian consumers to authentic burrata, ricotta, and artisanal aged cheeses, makes these cheeses using local cow’s milk and vegetarian rennet. They even incorporate a lot of other local ingredients and styles to the cheeses. Their cheddars and brunost have even beaten European competitors on the global stage.

We talked a bunch of other homegrown brands doing fantastic things. Check out the conversations here:

Health and wellness continues to get a lot of air time, especially since the pandemic. Gut health is emerging as a game changer, energy is here to stay, and mood support is still very niche. But on the floor, I was surprised to see very few health or functional benefits being showcased.

Nutrition is expected to get more attention, especially as India struggles with the double burden of undernutrition and diet-related diseases like diabetes and obesity. Nutritional density, particularly for children, may be the next iteration. The bigger issue though is still awareness of nutritional basics. Protein deficiency remains a far more urgent gap to address than new age functionalities. And let’s not forget that affordable nutrition is key to improving overall health across the country.

Convenience is an obvious selling point for packaged food, but in India, daily meals are still mostly made from scratch. Ready meals remain a tough category, because people like fresh food and their own recipes. Ordering in is always an option too.

What stood out this year were ready-to-use cooking bases and pastes. These give consumers a shortcut without taking away control. You can still add your own protein, vegetables, or extra heat. Smartly, many of these products also called out their suitability for Indian travelers, a nod to the very real habit of carrying food when going abroad, like HappiKerry’s wet cooking bases.

Dehydrated food had a strong showing this year. Some products claimed to cut down weight by about 78 percent, clearly targeting travelers and trekkers. Cooking pastes and even entire dishes were prepped and dehydrated for easy transport - to be used at home or even by food service.

The most interesting for me were the “instant sprouts”. Sprouted lentils are popular across India, but they take two to three days to prepare. Sprouted lentils are popular across the country, but are a pain because it’s a 2-3-day process to make them (you know, the planning and the soaking and the waiting). These companies do this long-drawn procedure for you so you can have sprouted lentils in a matter of minutes, no planning needed. I can’t believe it took this long for them to show up.

We talked to the co-founder of Tribe 91 Farms about their range of products. Listen to the full conversation here:

Clean label has become entrenched in India’s F&B space. According to Symega, India saw 3,000 clean label launches in 2023, accounting for 13% of global launches. Clean label ingredients (specifically, flavors and colors) were estimated to be worth US$500 million in 2024, and are expected to grow at a CAGR of 14-16% through 2030.

The most common claims were “no additives or preservatives” and “100 percent natural” (though the FSSAI is cracking down on these right now). This reflects India’s strong preference for homecooked food, and the effort to make packaged foods feel closer to that experience.

In fact, someone at one of the panel discussions even joked that companies which once positioned their products as being “just like restaurant food” are now trying to compare them to home food instead.

Palm oil has become the latest dietary villain in India. On-pack claims highlighting “no palm oil” are on the rise - and as a corollary, so are products highlighting the use of other oils. It’s a curious move because it has little to do with sustainability. Instead, consumers see palm oil as unhealthy due to its saturated fat content.

Science suggests otherwise: when eaten in moderation, palm oil is no worse than most alternatives and even acts more like a monounsaturated fat with no major impact on cholesterol. But brands are leaning into consumer fear to stand out. The risk is clear: palm oil is far more affordable than other oils, and pushing it out could inflate costs. As awareness and regulation improve, this claim may fade in the coming years.

Even frozen meat snacks are going clean. Snacksters, from Sneha Chicken, promoted its range of chicken snacks as free from a whole list of nasties.

Korean food is still winning hearts, especially in India’s big cities. Seasoning suppliers had entire ranges of Korean flavors ready to go. But in smaller towns and rural markets, Indian flavors still dominate, with extra spice a must.

Other Asian beverages also drew attention. Boba tea and nata de coco drinks are on the radar for Indian brands, although packaging formats are still being worked out. I didn’t see too much matcha even though it is quite the rage at the moment. Cafes have been introducing matcha drinks over the summer and the first retail products have made an appearance, but not at the event.

Someone I spoke with talked to how the popularity of these drinks can be linked to the popularity of all thinks Korean, even though these drinks don’t originate in Korea. Indian consumers are exposed to the drinks through K-pop and K-drama and want to experience them. That’s got to be some food for thought on how to market new products to consumers.

Outside Asia, there were small signs of other cuisines making inroads. I spotted Peruvian seasonings, echoing predictions of its global rise

Learn more about Peruvian food from Christine Couvelier’s latest trend predictions on The GourmetPod.

I had no idea that açaí berries were not already in India. Turns out they weren’t, until now. So we can breathe açaí of relief… ;p

The Açaí Spot claims to be the first company to import frozen açaí puree into the country, and it took them two years to get regulatory approval, since the berry was considered a novel food by FSSAI.

What makes their story even juicier is that they’re part of a large third-party logistics provider, giving them the perfect infrastructure to handle cold chain distribution. They even run a café to showcase how açaí can be whipped into bowls, smoothies, and other Insta-worthy creations.

It’s a smart move: import a global superfruit, plug it into an existing logistics network, and then market it with a lifestyle café. Not bad for a berry that’s been hyped abroad for years but is only now getting its official Indian debut.

This is actually something we’ve seen before in India, where new brands are occasionally part of larger non-food companies, but with interesting synergies. Check out our coverage of the Vegan India Conference from a couple of years ago for more examples.

This one surprised me. With all the talk of health, I expected to see more. Instead, most health claims were indirect, tied to clean label or quality, rather than nutrition or functionality. Even protein barely showed up, just a yogurt (yawn) and a rice protein.

The only product that really caught my interest was a set of protein bars, and not for the protein content, but for the unusual flavors: Strawberry Lime and Guava Chili.

Energy drinks had one of the strongest showings. The market is valued at US$0.8 billion and is projected to cross US$1 billion by 2030. Young consumers are driving growth, looking for stamina in an always-on world without turning to sugary sodas.

Different brands targeted different consumer groups. Tata Gluco+, priced at just INR10, offered juice and glucose without caffeine. Ajfan launched a milkshake using dates as a natural sweetener. Jerk highlighted the use of plant-based caffeine. And several global players are eyeing India as their next growth market.

For now, Indian consumers don’t seem to want complexity. They just want more energy.

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