TOP 10 INDIAN FOOD PROCESSING START-UPS 2021

Food processing industries of India is one of the largest growing industries in the world. It stands on the 5th position with respect to consumption, production & export. Its output is expected to reach 535 billion dollars by 2025-2026. The food processing sector contributes around 12.8% to Indian GDP. India is the largest producer of numerous agricultural commodities with 15% of the global production. It produced around 296.65 million tonnes of food grains during 2019-2020. India is also the second largest producer of fish in the world with a production of 14.16 MT during 2019-2020. It is also the world’s largest producer of spices, milk and pulses. The Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana has approved 41 mega food parks, 353 cold chain projects, 63 produce processing clusters, 292 food processing units, 63 rear and forward link projects, and 6 operational green projects nationwide.

The food industry is of massive significance as it also contributes to Indian economy.

· Less food wastage – In an estimated report by NITI Aayog, the post-harvest loss was nearly 90,000 crores. With the increase in sorting and grading at the farm this can be reduced.

· Nutritional quality preservation and increased shelf life – Many start-up companies are focusing on how there can be minimum nutritional loss on the product along with having prolonged shelf life by preventing the biological and chemical changes to take place while storage.

· Increased taste of food and enhanced consumer choice

· Employment generation

· Doubling of farmers income – As the demand for agricultural produce increases, so does the price pay to farmers and their income increases.

Food Processing Start-Ups

The current value of food processing sector and food retail sector was USD 260 billion and USD 400 billion respectively. This adds on the opportunity for aspiring entrepreneurs in filling the gaps in the world food chain. Start Up creates innovative products, packing technologies, efficient storage solution, innovative marketing techniques

Government has taken various initiatives and incentives for boosting the moral of the entrepreneurs. Start Up Action Plan was launched in 2016 under the flagship Invest India initiative of Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion. Government aims to accelerate the growth of Start Up on a huge scale as there are so many innovations still possible that will spring up the growth of new start-ups more than the organized players.

The top 10 start-ups food processing industries that have made their path in the food processing sector are as follows –

Fit and Flex Granola

It is a new brand started by Niva NutriFoods LLP in Ahmedabad, Gujarat with healthy and delicious eating options. Its helps in fulfilling the daily nourishment. They drive people towards making a healthy lifestyle decision. They have an established base on both retail stores as well as e-commerce platforms.

Name of the company – Fit and Flex Granola

Year – 2019

Founder – Pathik Patel, founder and director

Product range – the products of fit and flex granola are exquisite as they are fully baked with added prebiotics.

a.) Mixed Fruit Crunchy granola

b.) Happy berries crunchy granola

c.) Choco almond & cookies crunchy granola

d.) Mango coconut crunchy granola

Mango coconut crunchy granola

Certifications – every company should have proper certification from authorized organizations as serving unsafe food will endanger the health of the ultimate consumers. The company has three certifications –

a. ISO 22000:1800

b. BRC (British Retail Consortium)

c. HALAL

Logo of the Company –

Mahalaxmi Agro

It is a partnership company in Visnagar, Gujarat. The company is one of the leading producer of potato flakes which are supplied to various companies to prepare various potato snacks, ready-to-eat meals, soups and many other products.

Name of the company – Mahalaxmi Agro

Year – 2019

Founder – Pritesh K Patel, Managing Director

Product range – The company’s focus on manufacturing potato flakes from high grade potatoes. They also utilize the by-products like potato peel for cattle feed and potato starch, which can be used as a binding agent in several industries and wood ash which can be used as biomass.

a. ISO 9000

b. BRC (British Retail Consortium)

c. HALAL

d. KOSHER

e. HACCP

Logo of the company –

Nutri Munchy

Nutri Munchy is a start-up company in Noida, Uttar Pradesh. It is a company that manufactures scrumptious and healthy products to satisfy the mid-day meal hunger. They can be a great alternative to those fried snacks as the products manufactured are baked not fried.

Name of the company – Nutri Munchy

Year – 2018

Founder – Mamta Negi, Founder & CEO

Product range – The company has a multiple range of products that are rich in fibre and the hygiene packaging traps the natural goodness. The product range starts from quinoa snacks, vegetable snacks, roasted makhana, cookies and nutrition bars.

Logo of the company –

Nutrox Food LLP

Nutrox Food LLP is a company in Mumbai. They sell on-the-go snacks under the brand Appeatoz. They look forward to change the snacking experience from unhealthy fried snacks to baked delicious snacks in an economical way.

Name of the company – Nutrox Food LLP

Year – 2020

Founder – Arun Maurya, CEO

Product range – The company manufactures flavoured nachos like creamy cheese and herbs, sizzling jalapeno, and blazing peri peri masala and various RTE (Ready To Eat) products like Misal pav, Dal Khichdi, and Pav bhaji.

Logo of the company –

Steam Up

Steaming is one of the healthiest form of cooking. Steam Up is a company in Mumbai, Maharashtra. They manufacture assorted range of steamed momos which are easy to cook. They built a bridge between tasty and healthy lifestyle.

Name of the company – Steam Up

Year – 2019

Founder – Archit Agrawal, Founder

Product range – The company currently focus on manufacturing diverse range of veg momos like vegan corn momos, vegan soya momos, vegan tofu momos, Mix veg momos, Pizza momos, Mushroom momos and many more.

Logo of the company –

Swadika Foods

With the idea of preserving the natural essence of the food, Swadika Foods located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, are manufacturers of Frozen fruits and vegetables. They supply fruits and vegetables all over the world.

Name of the company – Swadika Foods

Year – 2017

Founder – Swarnamugi Karthik, Managing Director

Product range – The company has a wide range of frozen commodities without using any preservative. Some of them are – Watermelon, Onion, Okra, Totapari mangoes, Guava, Pomegranate

Certifications –

a. APEDA

b. BRC (British Retail Consortium) Grade A

c. HALAL

d. KOSHER

e. USFDA

f. India Organic

g. FSSAI

h. ECOCERT

Logo of the company –

Tru Millets

With the increasing health concerns people have started once again the consumption of millets. Urban Millets Pvt. Ltd., a 17-year-old company in Bengaluru, Karnataka, launched a Tru millets. The company focuses on manufacturing ready-to-eat delectable snacks using millets as their key ingredient.

Name of the company – Mahalaxmi Agro

Year – 2020

Founder – Gagan Giri, Founder

Product range –

Logo of the company –

Waffle Mill

Claiming to be WAFFLE EXPERT, Waffle mill, a company in Mumbai, Maharashtra, manufactures from waffles to stroopwafels.

Name of the company – Waffle Mill

Year – 2018

Founder – Sahil Engineer, Founder & Managing Director

Product range – The product range comprises of all waffle style from around the world

Logo of the company –

Snack Aart

It is a company in Surat, Gujrat. The company claims that they sell healthy products as they are considered of high low in salt, fat and sugar. They plan on bringing superfoods back in knowledge of the people.

Name of the company – Snack Aart

Year – 2018

Founder – Fatema Arsiwala, Founder

Product range – The products claim to be rich in fibre and proteins and free from gluten which can easily be consumed by people with gluten intolerance like flavoured chickpea, seed mix, fruit bites etc.