Biryani boom drives surge in basmati rice demand across India

This has happened on the back of an increasing number of restaurants offering the dish across the country, and with food aggregators making it easy for consumers to order the delicacy at home. The increase of in-home occasions has also added to the demand for biryani, and even led to a clutch of cloud kitchens surfacing, dedicated to selling their own versions of the dish.

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“Biryani has now become the Indian fast food," said Ashwani Arora, managing director and CEO of LT Foods Limited. “This wasn’t the case five years ago; with Zomato and Swiggy, consumers have much better options."

Gurugram-based LT Foods, which sells basmati under Daawat and Royal brands, said its institutional business—sales to restaurants, hotels and caterers—in India now contributes 22% to the company’s domestic business, up from 20% last year. In FY24, the company, which reported revenues of ₹7,822 crore, saw its institutional business grow 24% year-on-year. LT Foods exports rice to more than 60 markets, including the US, Europe and the Middle East.

BSE-listed rice processor KRBL Ltd, which sells basmati rice under the India Gate brand, said demand for bulk packs of basmati rice outstripped demand for consumer packs last fiscal. The company defines packs upwards of 30 kg as bulk.

“The bulk pack business for us has been growing quite significantly; I would say it's growing faster than the consumer pack business," Ayush Gupta, domestic business head, KBRL said in an interview. “This is fuelled by the southern states, because that's where the majority biryani consumption happens. Post-covid, we've been seeing a growth of almost 20-25% year-on-year on our bulk packs business." Before covid, the company’s bulk pack business was growing 10% annually.

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Last fiscal the company reported a turnover of ₹5,385 crore; the domestic business reported revenues of ₹3,936 crore. It draws half its domestic business from bulk packs.

Gupta said that restaurants and catering businesses are driving up demand for basmati rice. “During weddings we do see demand for our bulk packs. This is true for markets down south, especially Kerala and Tamil Nadu, where biryani is widely served," he added.

The aggregator push

Biryani remained the most ordered dish on food delivery platform Swiggy for the eighth year in a row last year, according to the company. Swiggy sold two-and-a-half biryanis per second in 2023; 2.49 million users made a debut on Swiggy with a biryani order. In 2023, biryani was searched 40,30,827 times on the platform.

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In-home occasions are also feeding the demand as consumers find it easy to serve—much like pizza. Swiggy saw 250 Biryani orders per minute during the India-Pakistan cricket world cup match last year, for instance. “Number of consumption occasions have gone up. People would earlier order pizza, but they are also finding biryani convenient," said Arora.

Trends at rival Zomato are no different. According to data from the company, in 2023, more than 100.9 million biryani orders were placed on the food delivery platform, making it the most ordered dish. Pizza followed with over 74.5 million orders placed last year.

Biryani in the cloud

The soaring demand for the dish has led to the emergence of several cloud kitchen and offline biryani brands that are present across the top cities. These include Behrouz Biryani, Biryani by the Kilo, Biryani Blues, among others.

This, said Gupta of KRBL, has also expanded the market for the dish. “The only thing that has changed is biryani is no more restricted to south India, Biryani has become a fast food for all of India now, it is as much available and in demand in Delhi as any other market. That's primarily fuelled by Zomato and Swiggy," he said.

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For Mumbai-based food services company Rebel Foods that operates Behrouz Biryani, the brand is the largest in its portfolio and does the most revenue from online sales. Rebel Foods also launched The Biryani Life—a more mass-market brand under its portfolio—citing greater demand for the dish.

“Biryani is an acceptable dish across all regions of India and is a very familiar food. Every region has variations that work based on regional nuances," a company spokesperson said.

Biryani DIY

Earlier this year, KRBL launched a biryani mix or masala for in-home prep. “With the consumption of biryani increasing outside homes, we want to offer spices that consumers can use to replicate the dish at home," Gupta said.

LT Foods has also started selling biryani kits in India that offers biryani spices used to prepare the dish at home. Arora said with the food services market set to expand the company will look at opportunities to offer ready-to-cook meals at home. Earlier this year, during the IPL 2024 final between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kolkata Knight Riders, the company ran campaigns for its Daawat biryani kits.

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LT Foods’ Arora, a connoisseur of biryani himself, said the meal is seeing adoption as it is easy to prepare and is packed with both protein and carbohydrates. It is also a celebratory dish and commonly prepared during festivities and wedding celebrations. “It's a complete meal and in India, biryani can be ordered for ₹200-1,000 per kg," he said.

To be sure, Indians aren't exactly new to biryani. This dish, popularized by the Mughals, has found local adaptations across the country. From Lucknowi biryani to Tamil Nadu's Ambur, the dish has divided Indians on the best way to cook it. This is because the dish and its cooking style can vary significantly between north and south India. However, one ingredient, the long, slender basmati rice, has been a staple in its preparation.