Freshara Agro Exports is a platform that turns Indian farm produce into the jars of pickled gherkins and vegetables sitting on supermarket shelves across forty countries. It began in 2015 by organising thousands of small farmers into a contract-farming network, and in early 2026 it bought a fifty-year-old Spanish olive and pickle company, transforming itself from a behind-the-scenes exporter into an integrated international food platform with its own brands on European shelves. The recurring approach is to control the chain from seed to shelf - securing raw material through farmers, processing it in-house, and then pushing the finished product closer to the end consumer, first through bulk exports and now through a local European subsidiary that bypasses middlemen entirely.
Business segments
Two engines, one feeding the other - a contract-farming-based export business that supplies the world's bottlers with preserved vegetables, and a newly acquired Spanish subsidiary that puts branded jars directly into European supermarkets, with Indian-made gherkins now flowing into both.
1. Gherkin and pickled-vegetable exports: the contract-farming engine that supplies the world's bottlers
Freshara runs a farm-to-factory-to-export pipeline for preserved gherkins and pickled vegetables, selling in bulk to global food manufacturers and private-label bottlers - it is a raw-material supplier, not a consumer brand.
- Contract farming locks in supply and cost - over 4,000 farmers across 22 districts in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh grow crops under fixed-price contracts, with the company providing seeds, technical help, and a guaranteed buyback; more than 95% of raw produce comes this way, and nine out of ten farmers stay with the company year after year.
- Two factories turn fresh produce into shelf-stable jars and drums - the company runs two processing plants in Tamil Nadu’s Tirupattur district with a combined daily capacity of about 150 metric tonnes (later disclosures point to roughly 550 metric tonnes), packing output into industrial drums, glass jars, and metal tins for shipment.
- Industrial drums drive the volume - roughly seven out of every ten rupees of revenue comes from bulk industrial-pack shipments to global buyers and private-label manufacturers, a volume-led model with steady institutional demand; retail jars and food-service packs make up the rest.
- Russia and Spain are the biggest export destinations - the company ships to over 40 countries and more than 100 customers, with Russia alone taking about 37% of exports in the second half of FY26 and Spain another 15%; it claims roughly 35-40% of the Russian gherkin market and calls itself probably the number-one Indian exporter to Spain.
- Certifications are the entry ticket - IFS Food and BRCGS Food Safety certifications, along with FDA, Kosher, and FSSAI approvals, are what let Freshara sell into European and American supermarket supply chains in the first place.
2. Sarasa: the Spanish shop window that puts branded jars on European shelves
A 1968-vintage Spanish olive and pickle business, bought through a court-approved insolvency process in early 2026, gives Freshara its own B2C brand, local European production, and direct access to supermarket chains - something Indian exporters rarely get.
- Bought, not built - the acquisition of Aceitunas Sarasa through a Spanish special-purpose vehicle delivered decades of brand trust, customer relationships, and three operating sites in a single transaction, avoiding a greenfield investment estimated at roughly ₹150 crore and a four-to-five-year build.
- Three Spanish sites handle olives from reception to retail - an integrated processing-and-logistics hub in Navarre can load up to 25 trucks a day, while a facility in Extremadura ferments and stores roughly 3 million kilograms of olives and runs pitting and slicing lines of up to 10,000 kilos daily.
- Over 32 SKUs sit on more than 14,000 retail shelves - the portfolio spans olives, gherkins, white onions, banderillas, and ready-to-cook vegetables, sold under multiple owned brands including “Hechizos,” which is the number-one variety in Spain.
- Indian gherkins slash Spanish costs - by shifting roughly 30% of Sarasa’s production - especially gherkins - to Freshara’s Indian factories, the company cuts Sarasa’s cost of goods sold by about 20%, freeing capacity for a 35% increase in olive output without new investment.
- A platform to bypass middlemen - European buyers typically prefer domestic suppliers for compliance and logistics, but partnering with Sarasa lets Freshara sell directly to chains like Makro, Spar, and Eroski, while also cross-selling olives into Freshara’s existing markets in the US, Russia, and the Middle East.
Group structure and partners
Freshara Agro Exports Limited is the Indian parent, listed on the NSE SME Emerge platform, with two wholly owned Spanish subsidiaries acquired in January 2026 that now run the Sarasa business.
- The parent company, incorporated in Chennai, completed its IPO in October 2024 and had no subsidiaries, joint ventures or associate companies during the year.
- On 20 January 2026, Freshara acquired 100% of Conservas Selectas Españolas S.L., a Spanish special-purpose vehicle, which in turn acquired the stocks and business of Aceitunas Sarasa S.A.U. through a court-approved insolvency process; the deal also included Gandin Invest S.L., making both entities wholly owned subsidiaries.