The food processing sector empowers Indian farmers by connecting them to their customer both in the country and abroad. Find out India’s top 9 Food Processing Companies in 2023.
The Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) promotes value chain investments and employs 12.38% of all Registered Factory workers (at the 3-digit NIC category). Food processing involves turning agricultural products into food or switching between food types. It reduces food waste and improves food preservation, reducing agriculture’s environmental effect and increasing food security. It also eliminates toxins, preserves food, simplifies distribution, and improves uniformity.
It also increases the amount of food accessible each year, makes delicate perishable goods safe to transport long distances, and neutralizes rotting and hazardous germs in many foods. Processed foods last longer and are superior for long-distance travel, reducing food shortages and enhancing population nutrition. Processing reduces food-borne disease, as pathogenic germs like Salmonella are more likely in fresh materials.
The vastly diversified modern diet is only possible with food processing, which often improves food flavor and costs cheaper than homemade food. Processed food eaters spend less time preparing and cooking “natural” foods, giving them additional lifestyle choices.
Here are India’s top 9 Food Processing Companies in 2023 that empower the country’s farmers:
1. Nestle
Nestle leads India’s food processors. It was founded in 1866. Nestle is Swiss. Nestle products are omnipresent, including infant food, coffee, dairy, morning cereals, candy, bottled water, ice cream, and more. Your favorite Maggi? Nestle makes that. Maggi and Kitkat are popular Indian food industry products. It is a Mumbai food processing company. The company has three more Indian operations besides Mumbai.
2. Parle
Parle Products is a Mumbai-based international food manufacturing company. Parle-G cookies are its most popular product. In 2019, it had 70% of the biscuit market. As of 2020, Nielsen’s Parle-G is the world’s best-selling biscuit brand. The Chauhan family of Vile Parle, Bombay, founded Parle Products in 1929.
Parle made biscuits in 1939. The company began marketing their Glucose cookies as Indian alternatives to British biscuits after India attained independence in 1947. Parle-G biscuits, 20-20 biscuits, Happy Happy, Hide & Seek, Krackjack, Magix Creme, Milano, Monaco, and cold beverages like Gold Spot and Frooti made the Parle brand prominent in India.
3. Britannia
Nusli Wadia’s Wadia Group comprises food-focused Britannia Industries Limited. Its headquarters are in Kolkata, and its biscuits are famous. Britannia and Tiger brands sell biscuits, bread, and dairy worldwide.
Since the early 1990s Wadia Group purchase, the corporation has been involved in various management controversies. Profitable and with a large market share. The company makes and sells biscuits, bread, rusk, cakes, and dairy.
4. Cadbury
Cadbury India started in 1948. Its five factories are at Malanpur, Madhya Pradesh, Thane, Induri, Bangalore, and Baddi (Himachal Pradesh). Cadbury India, with over 70% market dominance, operates the only cocoa office in Dharapuram, Tamil Nadu. Cadbury Dairy Milk, India’s most famous chocolate brand, is the “gold standard” for other chocolates.
Oreo, Bournville, 5 Star, Perk, Celebrations, Halls, Éclairs, and Tang are also popular. Bournvita is the top Malted Food Drink (MFD) and Milk Food Drink brand. Cadbury India introduced Oreo to the biscuit sector and Halls to the medicated candy segment.
Cadbury pioneered cocoa growing in India from 1965. Research was done with Kerala Agricultural University. Cadbury also instructs cocoa farmers on multiple growing methods to increase productivity.
5. Mother Dairy
The National Dairy Development Board, a government-owned, statutory agency under the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry, and Dairying, owns Mother Dairy. Mother Dairy was founded as an NDDB branch in 1974.
In Delhi-NCR, the business sells around 30 lakh gallons of milk per day under the “Mother Dairy” brand. It is the only dairy company that distributes packaged sweets, fruits, vegetables, culinary oils, and other products from other sectors.
Safal is Mother Dairy’s produce section. It has multiple NCR fruit and vegetable stores and a large Bengaluru presence. In 1974, the National Dairy Development Board created Mother Dairy. (NDDB).
The “Mother Dairy” brand sells around 30 lakh gallons of milk daily in Delhi-NCR. It is the only dairy company that sell packaged sweets, fruits, vegetables, edible oils, milk, and dairy products.
6. Haldiram
Haldiram’s headquarters are in Nagpur, Maharashtra. The company manufactures in Nagpur, New Delhi, Gurgaon, Hooghly, Rudrapur, and Noida. Haldiram runs restaurants in Pune, Nagpur, Raipur, Kolkata, Noida, and Delhi in addition to its retail network. Haldiram sells over 410 products.
It sells namkeens, western snacks, Indian sweets, biscuits, sherbets, pickles like gulab jamun, potato chips, frozen dinners, Bikaneri bhujia, and papadum. The company makes ready-to-eat meals. In the 1990s, American potato-based meals were developed.
7. Amul
Amul is a cooperative dairy state government society in Anand, Gujarat. Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd. (GCMMF), created in 1946, is administered by 36 lakh Gujarati milk producers and the 13 district milk unions’ apex body, which are spread across 13,000 villages. Amul’s “White Revolution” made India the world’s top milk and dairy product producer.
AMUL is Anand Milk Union Limited. Kaira Union established “Amul” to promote its products. Anand Agriculture College founder Maganbhai Patel recommended naming the school “Amul” after the Sanskrit word “Amulya,” meaning “priceless” or “valuable.”
8. Kissan
“Shop kisan tomato ketchup, mix fruit jam, red chilli, green chilli sauces online & get a 15% discount with free home delivery on your first order in Shivaay Food Mart,” tweeted the company.
Kissan’s farm-fresh, delicious food makes for a pleasurable experience. It’s main goal has been to help small farmers produce high-quality food. Our jam, peanut butter, and squash, as well as our ketchup and sauces, are made with ingredients from farmers.
9. Pepsi
The company makes many great products, including Doritos, Lays, Pepsi, and Quaker Foods. Its long history in India is the reason for that. Environmentalists have criticized Pepsi for its links to harmful agricultural practices in its supply chain, distribution practices like pesticide use and palm oil deforestation, its use of water resources, and its negligible impact on the environment.
