Cold-chain infrastructure, consumer perception and product consistency, not demand, are emerging as the industry’s biggest hurdles as India’s frozen foods market expands
India’s frozen and convenience foods industry is entering a new phase of competition, with large fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies investing in product innovation, digital commerce and wider distribution. Manufacturers say demand is no longer the constraint; inadequate cold-chain infrastructure, uneven distribution beyond metro cities and lingering consumer scepticism about freshness remain the primary barriers to sustained growth.
“The biggest challenge isn’t demand; it’s ensuring the ecosystem can keep pace with it. Cold-chain infrastructure remains uneven, particularly beyond tier-I cities, making distribution more expensive and limiting market reach. Consumer awareness is another factor, as frozen food is still often perceived as less fresh despite modern freezing techniques preserving quality and nutrition,” said Sanket S, Founder, Scandalous Foods.
Industry executives broadly agree that convenience has already found acceptance among urban consumers, and that the next stage of growth depends on cold-chain investment, wider geographic reach and greater consumer confidence in product quality. Quick commerce is widely seen as an accelerant of this shift rather than its primary driver.
Cold Chain Remains Biggest Hurdle
According to the National Centre for Cold-Chain Development, India had 8,815 cold storage facilities with 40.22 million metric tonnes of combined capacity as of 30 June 2025, but the country still faces an estimated shortfall of around 35 million metric tonnes, concentrated mainly in Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Gujarat, leaving several other regions comparatively underserved for temperature-controlled storage, transport and last-mile distribution.
“The cold chain is not just a logistics function, it is the backbone of the frozen food industry. From manufacturing and warehousing to transportation and retail, maintaining the right temperature throughout the journey is essential to preserving product quality and food safety,” Surinder Arora, Chairman, Jasper Food Manufacturers said.
The Union government has been trying to close this gap through the Ministry of Food Processing Industries’ Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana (PMKSY), an umbrella scheme funding farm-to-retail infrastructure. “The fastest-growing verticals (veg and non-veg snacks) also have the most fragmented supply, no dominant players yet which lowers entry barriers for new brands but has kept the category from consolidating around a few trusted names, limiting pricing power. Growth is also capped by home infrastructure: freezer/microwave/air-fryer penetration is rising but still uneven beyond large cities. And because a large share of demand today is impulsive rather than planned, the real unlock for the category is converting occasional convenience purchases into habitual, weekly consumption,” explained Mirgank Gutgutia, Partner, Redseer.
” Both national and regional brands are strengthening their capabilities through cold storage facilities, reefer transportation, and last-mile frozen delivery networks. The rapid growth of franchise-led QSRs and cloud kitchens has further accelerated this investment,” Neeraj Seth, Co-founder and Managing Director, Trufrost & Butler.
Separately, the government-backed Agriculture Infrastructure Fund offers a Rs 1 lakh crore corpus for post-harvest assets, including cold storage and warehousing, with collateral-free loans up to Rs 2 crore and a 3 per cent annual interest subvention for eligible builders. The July 2025 PMKSY expansion also earmarked Rs 1,000 crore for 50 new multi-product food irradiation units.
Consolidation Meets New Entrants
Consolidation among large players is proceeding alongside continued entry by smaller, specialised manufacturers. Executives note that frozen food is not a single market, snacks, bakery, desserts and ingredients each require distinct technical capabilities, which has so far kept any one company from dominating the category outright.
“Large players are consolidating; ITC’s acquisition of Prasuma in a sector valued at over Rs 10,000 crore says it all. But frozen food is not one market; snacks, bakery, desserts, and ingredients each demand different technical capabilities, and no single player dominates them all,” said Puneet Davar, CEO and Managing Director, Tropolite.
Fresh capital continues to enter the category despite consolidation at the top. Gujarat-based HyFun Foods launched Indian street-style frozen snacks, including Mumbai-style aloo vada, in May 2025 and has targeted Rs 5,000 crore in revenue over five years, with quick commerce expected to supply nearly a third of consumer sales.
Allana Consumer Products announced a Rs 300 crore investment in January 2025 to enter frozen French fries, aiming to capture at least 3 per cent of the global regular fries market by 2029. BigBasket partnered with chef Sanjeev Kapoor to introduce frozen brand Precia, while Amul expanded its frozen dessert range in the same period.
In its FY26 Annual Report, ITC said its frozen foods business grew strongly during the year, aided by new product launches and wider distribution. Together with associate company Ample Foods, which owns Prasuma and Meatigo, ITC’s frozen portfolio now spans over 80 products across cuisines, from onion rings and piri piri prawns to falafel kebabs and veg pizza pockets.
Convenience foods are also driving growth for companies outside the strict frozen category. Sanjay Sharma, MD and CEO, Orkla India, which owns the MTR and Eastern brands, said during the earnings call that their company reported 6.4 per cent growth in convenience foods in the March quarter of FY26, led by double-digit growth in ready meals and dessert mixes, with digital commerce now contributing 8.7 per cent of domestic revenue, up from 6.6 per cent a year earlier.
Quick Commerce Fuels Frozen RTC
Although quick commerce has transformed the way consumers purchase frozen foods, executives caution against attributing the category’s growth solely to 10-minute delivery platforms.
“Quick commerce’s 10-15 minute delivery has shifted frozen RTC into unplanned, need-based consumption; consumers no longer plan meals in advance. This is reinforced by smaller or nuclear households seeking low-effort cooking, app-led discovery driving experimentation, and rising freezer/microwave/air-fryer penetration enabling storage and prep at home,” said Gutgutia, Partner, Redseer.
India’s frozen ready-to-cook (RTC) segment on the top three quick commerce platforms at USD 376 million in CY2025E, up 88 per cent from USD 200 million in CY2024. Frozen vegetable snacks such as aloo tikkis and mini samosas accounted for 27 per cent of this, with peas contributing a further 14 per cent, according to Redseer Strategy Consultants report.
“Quick commerce has certainly accelerated this transformation by making frozen products more accessible and ensuring they reach consumers while maintaining the cold chain. However, I see it as an enabler rather than the primary growth driver. The bigger change is the growing consumer confidence in frozen food as a reliable and high-quality category,” Arora said.
By composition, purely vegetarian products made up about 47 per cent of the frozen RTC quick commerce market, items sold in both vegetarian and non-vegetarian variants around 35 per cent, and non-vegetarian products such as chicken nuggets, cold cuts and seafood the remaining 18 per cent, the report found. Two in three millennials surveyed separately said they would pay roughly 15 per cent more for cleaner ready-to-cook and ready-to-eat products.
Gutgutia said that the frozen vegetable snacks such as aloo tikkis and samosas lead the category with a 27 per cent share, followed by peas (14 per cent), non-vegetarian snacks (10 per cent), imported gourmet products (7 per cent), parathas and breads (6 per cent), cold cuts (6 per cent), momos (5 per cent) and seafood (2 per cent). Frozen vegetable and non-vegetarian snacks are also the fastest-growing segments.
“Today, people want convenience, but they are unwilling to compromise on taste. Whether someone is in Chandigarh, Toronto or Melbourne, they want the same authentic Indian flavours they have grown up with. We see this every day across our export markets. Consumers are looking for food that tastes like home, and they expect that experience to remain consistent every single time they open the pack,” said Amit Goyal, CEO and Director, Amar Pure Gold.
Nutritionists Flag The Fine Print
Nutrition specialists distinguish between freezing as a preservation method and the nutritional content of what is actually frozen. They note plain frozen vegetables and fruits can be healthy, minimally processed options, while ready-to-eat frozen meals, snacks and parathas often carry higher sodium, refined flour and added-fat content that warrants closer label scrutiny.
“The problem isn’t the freezing, it’s how processed the product is. Many frozen ready-to-eat products contain high levels of sodium, unhealthy fats, refined flours, preservatives and added sugars. Eating foods like this regularly may increase your risk of developing obesity as well as high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease over time,” Anshul Singh, Team Lead, Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics, Artemis Hospitals said.
Meena Kumari, Chief Dietician, Dietetics Sarvodaya Hospital said that convenience should not come at the cost of nutrition. As lifestyle diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes and hypertension continue to rise in India, manufacturers have an opportunity to reformulate products rather than simply market them as healthier.
The labelling gap both dietitians point to remains unresolved at the regulatory level. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has been under Supreme Court pressure to finalise front-of-pack nutrition labelling rules since 2018, and in February 2026 the Court urged it to consider mandatory warning labels for products high in fat, sugar or salt, giving the regulator four weeks to respond. FSSAI told the Court in March 2026 it was weighing a tabular or pictorial warning format over the previously proposed star-based Indian Nutrition Rating system, noting that front-of-pack labelling exists in 44 countries, only 16 of which make it mandatory; no final format had been notified as of the last update.
FSSAI did notify amended labelling regulations on 24 March 2026, set to take effect on 1 July 2027, but these address packaging exemptions and minimally processed food definitions rather than the high-fat, sugar and salt warning labels.
“There is still a perception that frozen food is somehow inferior to fresh food, whereas the objective of freezing is quite the opposite , to preserve freshness, nutritional value, taste and quality at the point when the product is at its best,” said Amit Goyal, CEO and Director, Amar Pure Gold.
