Desify NRI Food Index 2026

An annual research observation from Desify on what the Indian diaspora actually orders from home.

The Desify NRI Food Index 2026 is a year of observations on what Indian families abroad order when they send for home from India directly. The index covers shipments to 20 countries and over 560 cities between June 2025 and June 2026, and is intended as a qualitative reference for journalists, researchers, and food brands interested in the international Indian food market.

The ten most-ordered items, in rank order

If the Indian diaspora had a single shared shopping list, this is what would be on it. Items are ranked by the number of separate Desify orders that included them during the year. Specific volumes are not disclosed in this public report.

Rank Item Vendor partner
1 Haleem Box, Pista House (from Hyderabad) Pista House
2 Motichur Laddu Almond House
3 Haleem + Biryani Box (Pista House + Paradise) Pista House + Paradise
4 Andhra Avakaya Pickle (Mango) Godavari Vantillu
5 Niloufer Platinum Tea Powder Cafe Niloufer
6 Telangana Chekkalu Vellanki Foods
7 Paradise Biryani Kit (Authentic from Hyderabad) Paradise Hyderabad
8 Chegodi Vellanki Foods
9 Kaju Burfi Almond House
10 Osmania Biscuits Premium Pack - Cafe Niloufer Cafe Niloufer
The Haleem moment. Pista House Haleem leads the ranking, a striking signal because Haleem is a Hyderabadi specialty traditionally tied only to Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr. The rank tells us Hyderabadi NRI households are willing to pay a premium for home-style Haleem from Pista House specifically, with orders compressed into a six-week window. No other single SKU shows this concentration.

Where Indian food travels

Desify shipments reach Indian households across the diaspora's primary geographies, with notable presence in markets often underserved by traditional Indian retail. The list below shows countries where Desify recorded recurring household orders, ranked by relative volume rather than absolute count.

Rank Country
1 United States
2 Australia
3 Canada
4 Switzerland
5 United Kingdom
6 Germany
7 Sweden
8 Singapore
9 Netherlands
10 Denmark
11 France
12 Ireland
The United States captures the majority of Desify orders, but the long tail is more diverse than the diaspora is often credited for. Indian-origin households in Switzerland, Sweden, and Singapore appear at significant rates relative to community size. Continental Europe collectively forms the second-largest market region after the United States, with German, Dutch, Swedish, and Swiss households driving the bulk.

The Indian-American city map

Across 560+ cities reached during the year, the strongest concentration patterns reveal that the Indian diaspora has moved beyond the popular assumption of New York and California dominance. The cities below appear as recurring delivery markets in the dataset, listed alphabetically rather than by volume.

Region Recurring Indian-American clusters
Atlanta corridor (GA) Alpharetta, Cumming, Johns Creek, Atlanta
Pacific Northwest (WA) Bothell, Redmond, Bellevue, Seattle
Texas Triangle Plano, Austin, Frisco, Sugar Land
Carolinas Charlotte, Cary, Raleigh, Morrisville
Greater New York / NJ Jersey City, Edison, Iselin
Mountain West Phoenix, Parker (CO), Aurora (CO)
Mid-Atlantic / Virginia Aldie, Ashburn, Richmond
Florida Tampa, Celina, Orlando metro
The Atlanta corridor (Cumming, Alpharetta, Johns Creek) and the Pacific Northwest (Bothell, Redmond) consistently outrank traditional Indian-American hubs like New Jersey and the California Bay Area in our shipment patterns. This tracks with the post-2015 settlement of Indian tech professionals: Microsoft, Boeing, Amazon, Coca-Cola, and Delta-area employers have pulled new diaspora into the Seattle and Atlanta metros. Mainstream consumer brands serving the Indian community still default to New Jersey and the Bay Area as the assumed market centers, which is increasingly out of step with where the diaspora is growing fastest.

Festivals shape the entire calendar

Indian festivals do not produce a sales lift on top of a steady baseline. They are the structural rhythm of the international Indian food market. Two months in the year drive a disproportionate share of total volume. The other ten months collectively form the baseline.

Window Festival concentration Volume signal
March Holi, the second half of Ramadan, Ugadi, Telugu New Year Annual peak
October / early November Diwali Second annual peak
February Early Ramadan ramp-up, Haleem pre-orders Strong ramp
April Eid al-Fitr, Bakrid run-up Sustained
August Raksha Bandhan, Ganesh Chaturthi Moderate
Other months Birthdays, weddings, anniversaries Baseline
March's volume materially exceeds the quietest months of the year. The compound of Holi, Ramadan, Ugadi, and Telugu New Year falling in a single window creates the year's largest commerce event for the international Indian food market. October and November together drive a second peak around Diwali. For any operator serving this market, festival logistics planning is the single highest-leverage operational lever. The category does not behave like grocery, where demand is roughly flat across months.

The vendor hierarchy

Desify operates as a curator of premium Indian institutions rather than as a manufacturer or bulk reseller. Across the year, a small group of vendor partners produced the bulk of demand, with Hyderabad institutions dominating the top tier.

Rank tier Vendor partners Specialty
Top tier Pista House, Vellanki Foods, Almond House, Dadu's Hyderabadi heritage institutions
Strong tier G Pulla Reddy, Godavari Vantillu, Cafe Niloufer, Organics & You, Paradise Hyderabad Andhra-Telangana specialties, pickles, organic foods, biryani kits
Wellness tier Isha Life, Jivika Organics Ayurveda and clean-label wellness
Confectionery tier Subhan Bakery, Hameedi Confectioners Hyderabadi sweets and Karachi bakery traditions
Hyderabad punches well above its weight. Most of the top-tier vendor brands on Desify are Hyderabad-based institutions. This reflects two structural facts: Hyderabadi cuisine has built unusually strong brand institutions (Pista House, Almond House) that the diaspora is loyal to by name, and Hyderabadi NRI households appear to seek out their specific city's vendors when ordering abroad, more so than diaspora from many other Indian regions.

What this tells us about the NRI food market

1. Premium beats price.

Indian families ordering directly from India are explicitly choosing premium and curated over volume and price. The most-ordered SKUs in the dataset skew toward institutional, named, gift-worthy products rather than commodity Indian grocery. This is a meaningful contrast with US-based Indian grocery, which still operates on volume and price.

2. Hyderabadi and regional specificity is winning the diaspora.

The top-ranked SKUs are heavily Hyderabadi and Andhra-Telangana specialties. The diaspora is moving away from pan-Indian generic gifting toward regional specificity, a shift away from the homogenized "Indian sweets" assortments that bulk importers have historically pushed.

3. Seasonal compression is severe.

Two months in twelve drive a large fraction of annual demand. For any operator serving this market, staffing, vendor sourcing, and inventory rotation must be planned around the festival calendar rather than a smooth annual curve. Any brand without a festival planning system is leaving meaningful volume on the table.

4. The diaspora is no longer where it used to be.

The post-2015 settlement of Indian tech professionals has rewritten the map of where Indian-American demand actually sits. Atlanta, Seattle metro, Charlotte, and Texas's Triangle are now primary markets that mainstream consumer brands still mis-target as secondary. Anyone serving the diaspora should consider these markets primary.

Methodology

Source: Desify Shopify shipment data, June 30, 2025 to June 30, 2026, paid international orders only, anonymized at the customer level. Aggregate ranks only; no personally identifiable information, no specific dollar amounts, no specific order counts, no customer counts.

Inclusions: All international commercial shipments fulfilled under FSSAI-compliant packaging and CSB-V export from India.

Geography: Country and city derived from verified shipping addresses.

Public-disclosure scope: This report publishes ranks and qualitative patterns. Journalists and researchers interested in additional underlying analysis can contact the editorial team directly.

Limitations: Desify operates in the premium segment of the international Indian food market. Patterns observed here reflect that segment specifically and should not be read as the entire international Indian food category. Bulk-import grocery operations and second-generation Indian food brands would surface different patterns.

How to cite this report

Suggested citation: Chouhan, Sheetal. Desify NRI Food Index 2026: Patterns in international Indian food orders from a year of diaspora shipments. Desify, 2026. Available at desify.in/pages/nri-food-index-2026.

About Desify

Desify is a premium Indian marketplace shipping fresh sweets, snacks, pickles, ghee, spices, and gifting boxes from Hyderabad, India to Indian families abroad. Founded by Sheetal Chouhan in 2022, Desify ships to the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Singapore, Japan, and the European Union. More about Desify.

Published June 30, 2026. Researched and written by Sheetal Chouhan, Founder, Desify. Editorial review by the Desify Editorial Team. For media or research questions, contact info@desify.in.