- Kohinoor Foods began as a family rice-trading business and turned a single grain - basmati - into a global brand that now sits on the shelves of TESCO, Costco, Whole Foods and chains across more than 65 countries. Over three decades, the founding Arora brothers built the 'Kohinoor' name into what the company calls India's best-recalled basmati brand, then used that brand as a platform to move into packaged Indian foods - curries, breads, snacks, spices - sold through the same export channels. The recurring approach is simple: take an authentic Indian kitchen staple, wrap it in a trusted brand the diaspora already knows, and sell it wherever Indian food is eaten.
Business segments
Two engines, one brand - a legacy rice business that built the 'Kohinoor' name across 60-plus countries, and a processed-food engine that now carries nearly all the company's turnover using that same brand and the same export relationships.
1. Branded basmati rice: the engine that built the brand
The rice business is the company's original identity - premium aged basmati sold under the 'Kohinoor' flag - but it has shrunk to a sliver of turnover after the main manufacturing plant was sold to settle debt.
- A brand, not a commodity - basmati rice is widely sold loose and unbranded in India, so the company invested heavily in building 'Kohinoor' as a differentiated, trusted name, winning the Super Brand Award three times and the Readers Digest Most Trusted Brand award four times in a row.
- Aging creates the moat - and the working-capital burden - basmati must be aged for 9 to 12 months before it is ready to sell, which locks up cash and makes the business working-capital intensive, a pressure the company has acknowledged as a structural challenge.
- The plant is gone; the brand remains - the rice manufacturing unit at Murthal, Sonepat was sold for INR 190 Crores in March 2025 as part of a one-time settlement with banks, and the company is now planning to operate a leased rice unit from Kandla, Gujarat, though operations have not yet begun.
2. Processed and packaged foods: the brand's second life
What started as a sideline has become the real business - a factory at Bahalgarh making ready-to-eat curries, frozen breads, cooking pastes, spices and more, all under the same 'Kohinoor' label, now contributing over 99% of turnover.
- A full Indian pantry under one brand - the portfolio spans Ready to Eat Curries & Meals, Readymade Gravies, Cooking Pastes, Chutneys, Spices, Frozen Breads, Snacks, Paneer, healthy grains, edible oils, Pure Ghee, Ready Mixes, Namkeens, Sweets and Wheat Flour, turning the brand into a one-stop shop for Indian food abroad.
- R&D inside the factory gates - the new food factory at Sonepat houses a state-of-the-art R&D facility that has developed new frozen-food variants in both Ready to Eat and Ready to Cook formats, and has also worked on organic products, with R&D spending up 67% year-on-year in FY25.
- Same export relationships, different products - Australia, the USA and Canada are the major markets, and the company has started direct exports to multiple countries, leveraging the same international retail relationships the rice business built over decades.
- Competing with retailers' own labels - the company faces a market where private-label frozen products are claiming more shelf space from retailers, so it is pushing further into branded differentiation to hold its position.
Group structure and partners
A lean structure of two wholly owned subsidiaries and one minority stake, all largely dormant or closed, sits beneath a parent company that has been working through a bank-led debt settlement for several years.
- Kohinoor Foods USA Inc. - a wholly owned subsidiary incorporated in New Jersey in 2000 to serve the US and Canada markets, but it conducted no business in FY25 because there were no export sales from the Indian parent to those regions, and its office is currently closed.
- Sachdeva Brothers Private Limited - a wholly owned subsidiary based in New Delhi, with no material activity disclosed in recent filings.
- Rich Rice Raisers LLC - a 25% stake in a Dubai-based associate that has closed its operations; the parent cannot exercise control over it, so its results are not consolidated.
- One-time settlement with banks - the company's accounts were declared a non-performing asset in June 2018, and it has been working through a settlement with a consortium of banks led by Punjab National Bank, with a revised settlement amount of INR 227.45 Crores, of which INR 205 Crores had been deposited as of September 2025.
- Asset sales to pay down debt - the Murthal rice plant was sold for INR 190 Crores and the registered office in Faridabad was also approved for sale on a slump-sale basis, both as part of the settlement.