India’s first peanut butter brand
India loves American businesses. A visit to USA inspired the businessman from Kolkata, to start Prutina, India’s first peanut butter brand. Indian consumers also lap up niche products.
Amy Kazmin is bureau chief of Financial Times, India. She grew up in USA, eating authentic peanut butter. She discovered Prutina in 90s. It tasted as good as the authentic American one.
She writes, “Prutina has a bit of sugar, salt and stabiliser, but is still pretty close to the natural-style spread I grew up on. In the 1990s, I ate my way through tub after tub without ever considering how this quintessential American food came to be made in India.”
Girdhari Lal Bharech started Prutina in 1962. He secured the contract to supply the peanut butter to Indian army. Indian soldiers did not like it, but urban consumers liked it. Today the third generation runs the business. It employs 22 people. As per India Mart its annual revenue is more than INR 55 lakhs.
India is the second largest consumer and producer of peanuts. As per Euro Monitorby 2022 market for spreads will expand to INR 3500 crore . Honey and Jams dominate now. In the future spreads from nuts (peanut, almond, cashew) and exotic fruits will drive the growth. Independent brands such as Prutina can reach more customers with e-commerce platforms such as Shopify and Amazon/ Flipkart.
