Umesh Guptaa, Managing Director at Bergner India, discusses the brand’s journey, market trends, and expansion plans in an interview with BW Retail World
Over the years, Bergner has established itself as a trusted kitchenware brand in India. How would you describe Bergner India’s journey so far, and what key milestones have defined its growth?
Bergner India’s journey has been about more than just selling cookware; it has been about quietly changing how India thinks about everyday cooking. When we entered the market, most purchase decisions were driven by habit and price. Today, a large part of our consumer base actively asks: Is this safe? Is this healthier? Will it last? That shift, to me, defines our journey.
One important milestone was introducing Tri-Ply cookware at scale in India, at a time when the category was niche and poorly understood. That laid the foundation for our ‘Har Ghar Tri-Ply’ vision and positioned cookware as a wellness choice, not just a kitchen utility.
Over the years, we’ve also strengthened the brand story by associating with Michelin-starred Chef Vikas Khanna as our brand ambassador. His credibility with home cooks and food lovers has helped us communicate the importance of the “right cookware” in a simple, relatable way, without changing our core focus on product and engineering.
A third milestone has been building a portfolio around real Indian cooking. From Argent Tri-Ply and HiTech ranges to Essentials and pressure cookers, every line is designed for how Indian kitchens actually work – high heat, frequent use, diverse cuisines, and multi-generational households.
The fourth has been our reach and accessibility. We made a deliberate choice to go beyond metros, investing in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities through modern trade, regional retail partners and ecommerce. If we talk about health and better cookware, it cannot be limited to a few pin codes.
And finally, I consider our education-led approach another key milestone, whether it’s frontline training at stores, digital content, or platforms like BergCast. Today, more consumers understand why Tri-Ply and material choice matter. That awareness, more than anything else, tells me that Bergner has earned its place as a trusted brand in the Indian kitchen.
Could you share how Bergner India has performed in terms of revenue and market share over the past year, especially within the premium kitchenware segment?
The past year has been one of our strongest, with Bergner India delivering around 30% year-on-year growth, led primarily by the premium cookware segment. This is not just a festive bump, but a clear sign that consumers are consciously upgrading what they cook in.
At the heart of this shift is Argent Tri-Ply. For many households, Argent is their first experience of truly high-performance cookware – once they see the difference in even heating, reduced sticking and overall confidence in daily cooking, they tend to come back to build out the range. On the back of that, our HiTech range has also built a strong base of loyal users who want advanced, durable non-stick within a more sophisticated construction.
What excites me most is that this growth is not limited to metros. A significant share of our premium growth is now coming from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, where families are actively moving away from basic aluminium or low-grade non-stick into Tri-Ply and better-engineered products.
As a result, our position in the organised premium cookware segment has strengthened, and we are seeing both deeper penetration and healthy repeat purchase trends – strong indicators that Bergner is well aligned with India’s premiumisation and wellness journey in the kitchen.
What major trends are you observing in India’s kitchenware and home appliances market, and how is Bergner aligning its product strategy to meet evolving consumer preferences?
We’re at an interesting inflection point in Indian kitchens. A few shifts are very clear.
The first is the wellness lens on everyday cooking. Consumers are not only asking what they eat, but also how it is cooked. There is growing discomfort with low-grade aluminium and unpredictable coatings, and a clear move towards safer, non-reactive, longer-lasting materials. Our focus on Tri-Ply and better-engineered stainless-steel cookware, including pressure cookers, is built around this shift—better heat control, less oil, and more confidence in what touches the food.
The second is premiumisation with practicality. People are willing to invest more, but the product has to earn its place on the stove. It needs to cook faster and more evenly, clean easily and genuinely last longer. That’s why we prioritise engineering details—Tri-Ply construction, rivetless interiors, etched stainless where non-stick is required, stay-cool handles, flared rims—rather than just cosmetic upgrades.
The third is regional authenticity meeting modern materials. Indian homes are rediscovering traditional formats—like appachetty, paniyarakkal and other region-specific shapes—but now want them in safer, upgraded constructions. We are redesigning these familiar forms in better materials so families don’t have to choose between nostalgia and health.
And finally, discovery is increasingly digital, while purchase is truly omnichannel. Consumers may learn about cookware materials through content, reviews or podcasts like BergCast, but still buy from a trusted neighbourhood retailer or modern trade outlet. Our strategy is to keep product, education and availability aligned so that choosing conscious cookware becomes the easy, default decision in the Indian kitchen.
Bergner has been expanding its product categories and retail footprint. What are your short-term and long-term expansion plans—both geographically and in terms of product innovation?
In the short term, our focus is on deepening, not just widening. Geographically, that means strengthening our presence in key Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities alongside metros, through modern trade, strong regional partners and more Bergner gallery spaces inside multi-brand stores. On the product side, we’re building out our Tri-Ply and health-focused cookware portfolio in everyday formats like frypans, kadhais, tawas and pressure cookers, and reworking traditional Indian shapes in better, safer materials.
In the long term, our plans are anchored in making premium, wellness-oriented cookware mainstream. That means democratising Tri-Ply with clear upgrade paths for households at different price points, designing around real Indian cooking habits rather than global catalogues, and tightening our omnichannel play so that discovery, education and purchase work together. If we get this right, expansion won’t just mean more outlets or SKUs – it will mean more Indian kitchens naturally choosing better cookware by default.
As consumer lifestyles continue to shift towards health, convenience, and sustainability, how does Bergner plan to stay ahead in design, technology, and brand relevance in the Indian market?
For us, staying relevant starts with one simple filter: does this product genuinely make everyday cooking healthier and easier for an Indian family? Health is obviously at the core – which is why our design and technology choices are anchored in safer materials, better heat control, and low-oil cooking. Tri-Ply construction, rivetless interiors, stronger non-stick systems where needed, and ergonomics like stay-cool handles or flared rims are all built to quietly support wellness and convenience, not just add features.
On sustainability, our approach is very practical: fewer, better, longer-lasting pieces rather than disposable cookware. That means focusing on durability, repairability where possible, and designs that can handle years of high-flame, high-frequency Indian cooking without falling apart. If a pan can replace two or three lower-grade utensils over its life, that’s sustainability in a very real, household sense.
From a brand perspective, we plan to stay ahead by being educators, not just manufacturers. Through in-store conversations, digital content and platforms like Bergner’s podcast and social channels, we’re trying to make concepts like material safety, Tri-Ply, and conscious cooking easier to understand. As consumers move towards health, convenience and responsibility, our job is to make sure the cookware they choose is not an afterthought, but a natural extension of that lifestyle.
