For long, chocolates in India have meant the industrial mass-produced bars that have more sugar than cocoa. It was not until the 2010s that chocolate-makers started introducing darker varieties for the adult palate that, although refined, still tasted foreign. Now, India’s ₹18,000 crore chocolate market seems to be undergoing another churn with the rise of craft chocolates – made in small artisanal batches from carefully-selected cocoa beans and minimally processed. Rooted in India from farm to store, these chocolates aim to deliver a distinctly local experience -- one that was virtually unheard of in the country until a few years ago.
Not your usual chocolate store
This is starkly evident at Manam Chocolate’s recently-launched experiential centre at New Delhi’s Eldeco Centre. A brainchild of Chaitanya Muppala, this is the first outing of the craft chocolate brand outside its home Hyderabad, and its Delhi store clearly captures the ambition.
And not your typical chocolate store, it’s a factory, with large overhead pipes pumping in high-quality chocolate, which is then shaped into various confections by chocolatiers, from your usual bars to bonbons and barks. It’s also a patisserie with delectable cakes and pastries lined up on the shelves, a cafe, and a beverage bar with over 30 chocolate drinks on the menu.
What further enhances the experience is how the brand tells its story, which, although retail-focused, works closely with farmers in Andhra Pradesh’s West Godavari to source cacao.
“It's a large operation where we start from before the flowers get pollinated. We work with the farmers and also with genetics, pollination, and post-harvest processing,” says Muppala during a walkthrough at his Delhi store. A screen at the store showcases live footage from the cacao farms in West Godavari and Manam’s fermentary, allowing the visitors to delve into the world of craft chocolate making and how cacao is turned into bars, bonbons, and barks.
The chocolate maker boasts of 300 products across 50 categories, with product lines such as Single Farm, Single Origin, Infusions, and Blends.
South takes the lead
Evidently, it’s the cacao-producing southern states such as Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu who’re at the helm of this churn. Along with Manam Chocolate, the brands spearheading this trend include Bon Fiction, Paul and Mike, Mason & Co, Pascati, Naviluna, Soklet, and also Subko Cacao from Mumbai.
Indian in more ways than one
Competing in a space with giants such as Nestle and Mondelez, which owns Cadbury, at a premium price point of ₹300 and up, is no small feat. On top of that, the craft chocolate makers are not only making in India, but taking it further by infusing ingredients such as mangoes, chillies, and curry leaves. Case in point being Bon Fiction’s 55 per cent Dark Alphonso Mango Chilli Chocolate, Mason & Co’s 70% Chilli and Cinnamon Dark Chocolate, and Soklet’s Filter Kaapi 55 per cent dark milk chocolate. At Manam, its Raspberry and Guntur chilli bonbon comes coated with a 40 per cent single origin white West Godavari chocolate, which is a burst of flavours in one’s mouth but balanced and not overpowering.
“We’re looking at what craft chocolate should look like to an Indian consumer while not reducing it to kesar and elaichi (cardamom),” says Muppala.
And despite being at a nascent stage in India, Indian craft chocolates are making a mark globally. For example, Manam Chocolate won three silvers and eight bronzes at the 2024 UK Academy of Chocolate Awards last year. Not only that, it’s also exporting cacao, a segment dominated by West Africa – specifically Ghana and Ivory Coast, which currently account for 60 per cent of the global cacao production. “In the past year, we've exported cacao to a very large Swiss chocolate brand, which is going to make a single-origin India bar for the first time with our beans,” Muppala says without naming the brand.
Bottlenecks remain
Despite the ambition, challenges remain, such as India accounting for just 1 per cent of the global premium chocolate last year. India’s per capita chocolate consumption of around 100-200 grams per year also remains much less than Europe’s 5-9 kilograms, as per the International Cocoa Organisation. Here, the popularity of mithai, or traditional Indian sweets, also plays a role.
However, there is potential as India’s premium chocolate market is projected to grow from $313.5 million in 2024 to $481.2 million by 2029. Also, seeing the artisanal coffee and craft liquor space in India, there’s much in store for India’s craft chocolates both in terms of growth and innovation.