Home cooking has seen a steady revival since the Covid-19 pandemic, thanks to a growing focus on healthy eating and immunity boosting. This has also led to safe cooking practices and chemical-free cookware. Consumers today increasingly look for ‘safe’ and eco-friendly options while regulatory bodies worldwide are busy setting up quality standards to protect people from kitchenware that may chemically contaminate the food.
Although most Indians – even millennials and Gen Z – prefer home-cooked food, they have less time to prep and cook meals, much like their global peers. Hence, they mostly use oven-compatible and easy-to-clean utensils, presumably ‘safe’. However, Madhumitha Udaykumar and Jagadeesh Kumar had a different experience, as an ovenable plastic container suddenly melted during cooking. Shaken by the incident, the couple started looking for more durable and genuinely toxin-free options, but the chemical-coated cookware widely available in the market failed to meet their health and safety expectations.
They decided to explore traditional materials used for cookware, did their R&D and finally launched The Indus Valley, a brand committed to making toxin-free cookware from nonreactive metals and alloys like iron, cast iron and stainless steel besides wood and clay. Today, it has a customer base of 10 Lakh+ across 10K+ pin codes and offers 250+ SKUs, including a wide range of pots and pans, woks (kadai), griddles (tawa), cookers, idli makers and more.
Although the product line is co-designed with help from third-party manufacturers across the country, the brand is ISO 9001 certified for quality management system, which means every piece of cookware made by TIV undergoes rigorous testing for raw material quality and safety norms.
“Covid-19 has deepened the urgency of prioritising personal well-being. Our commitment to producing chemical-free products resonated well with consumers as we combine India’s traditional wisdom with modern innovation powered by extensive product testing,” said Jagadeesh.
About 60% of The Indus Valley products are sold via its D2C website, 38% through online marketplaces like Amazon and Flipkart and 2% via offline outlets in Chennai. It clocked INR 70 Cr in revenue for FY24 and targets INR 125 Cr in the current financial year, more than a 78% jump.
To implement its growth plans, the brand raised an undisclosed amount from Rukam Capital, a Delhi-based venture capital firm known for backing early stage consumer products and services companies. It has raised a total of INR 28 Cr from The Chennai Angels and two existing investors – Rukam and DSG Consumer Partners.
How The Indus Valley Built Toxin-Free Cookware & Won Consumer Trust
When the founders decided to launch The Indus Valley, they quit their day jobs and extensively researched safe and sustainable alternatives that helped build trust in the all-new cookware brand. Earlier, Madhumitha was a Deloitte consultant and conducted more than 100 events in Bengaluru and Chennai. Jagadeesh Kumar was an engineering graduate with a degree in management from IIM-Raipur who worked for companies like TCS, Linde India and Healthkart.
Reintroducing traditional cookware made of (sheet) iron, wood and clay was one of the options. But the duo focussed more on healthy alloys like tri-ply stainless steel with three layers of metal and its flagship product line crafted from cast iron, an iron-carbon alloy with 2-5% carbon content.
Due to its high carbon content, cast iron cookware is more durable than sheet iron products and is not easily damaged. Additionally, it retains heat to ensure speedy cooking (like stainless steel) and gets a non-stick-like finish with regular use and seasoning, making cooking easier and cleaner. It also provides health benefits in the long run as a small amount of iron leaches into the food and meets dietary requirements. There is still a maintenance side as the material is cast iron and requires seasoning, but food becomes more flavourful as the seasoning develops.
The cast iron range is not ‘ovenable’ or dishwasher-safe. But the best part of this cookware is the complete absence of all chemical coatings, which can release unhealthy fumes when heated, or the chemicals may leach into foods during cooking. “In India, the growing awareness about these health risks is changing buying behaviour. People search for toxin-free cookware, but these are not easily available. The market options are also unhealthy and unreliable,” said Jagadeesh.
The brand claims a customer retention rate exceeding 25%, yet another example of how difficult it can be to pioneer a category-defining product range and build consumer trust. Hence, it joined forces with health-conscious celebrities like Shriya Saran and Mandira Bedi, as well as fitness enthusiasts, mom influencers and medical professionals, to educate people about the benefits of toxin-free cookware. It also used major Indian languages like Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam for the campaigns to reach a broader audience.
The Indus Valley’s Strategic Plan To Expand Business Horizon
For The Indus Valley, innovation and experimentation are the key to good products and sound business strategy. The D2C brand wants to position itself as the leading alternative to chemical-coated cookware, boost its presence across online sales channels (Amazon, Flipkart and Tata CLiQ, among others) and onboard more customers through active engagement and feedback.
The founders have already launched aggressive campaigns on social media and ecommerce platforms for better brand visibility. Now, they plan to invest in targeted advertising – mostly branding and conversion campaigns – to optimise return on ad spend (ROAS). Its customer success team also keeps up an active dialogue with buyers to gather feedback, which helps improve product experience and customer satisfaction.
“Our entry into quick commerce further fuelled our growth, and we are currently selling on Instamart. We will go live on Blinkit and Zepto by November,” said Jagadeesh. “Given the spread of ecommerce and people’s familiarity with digital channels, our brand has seen remarkable traction not just in Tier I cities but also in Tier II and III locations.”
Interestingly, Rukam Capital has played a significant role in The Indus Valley’s entrepreneurial journey to propel this growth further. Apart from capital infusion, the VC firm has mentored the brand to help with critical operational decisions, refined its business strategy and ensured networking support to drive business growth.
“We have a solid base of limited partners who are experts in channel strategy, brand marketing and correct capitalisation. We also believe that startup founders have specific strengths but may face certain challenges that cannot be codified in a rigid framework. Therefore, they should have enough bench strength to address those hurdles as they arise,” said Archana Jahagirdar, founder and managing partner at Rukam Capital.
She lauded The Indus Valley’s product line and branding. “Its positioning as a healthy and safe cookware brand perfectly aligns with today’s health-conscious generation. Its positioning resonates with consumers and investors because its uniqueness lies in product curation and choice of channel.”
The Road Ahead For The Indus Valley
At the height of the pandemic, people had little option but to eat at home, and everything related to food items, cookware, or kitchenware underwent a thorough health and safety check by shoppers. The market for safe and durable cookware (instead of what’s commonplace and convenient) has gotten a kickstart since then, and India has been no exception. According to Bonafide Research, Indian consumers are keen to invest in high-quality cookware, and the domestic market is estimated to grow at more than 7% CAGR between 2023 and 2028.
Globally, the cookware market is projected to reach $42 Bn by 2032 from $31 Bn in 2023 at a CAGR of 3.5%, according to Global Market Insights. The report also underscores a rising demand for cookware made from sustainable and eco-friendly materials like cast iron, recycled aluminium and responsibly sourced wood.
Interestingly, stainless steel accounted for more than 40% of the global cookware market in 2023 due to its nonreactive nature, durability and versatility across various cooking methods. This utensil segment saw a revenue of around $12K Mn that year, while the cast and enamelled cast iron segment earned $3.9K Mn.
The industry is now leaning towards carbon steel, similar to the cast iron alloy but more lightweight as it contains less carbon. In essence, safer and more sustainable product segments are gaining popularity while Indian consumers increasingly target the 3A’s: Awareness, affluence and (growing) access.
All this augurs well for The Indus Valley as the brand majorly deals in stainless steel and cast iron products and intends to expand its product line four times to reach 1K+ SKUs.
“The growing preference for environment-friendly cookware is expected to surge in the coming years as wellness continues to shape consumers’ consumption patterns. The Indus Valley is focussed on becoming a fully health-oriented brand. And our mission aligns with the broader change towards mindful living practices and sustainability,” said Jagadeesh.
But in spite of its strong positioning powered by a fast-expanding market, there can be challenges on two fronts – pricing and convenience. Despite increased interest in home cooking and global quality standards, India remains a price-sensitive market and selling at scale may be difficult if the average pricing remains comparatively high. Then again, modern households look for oven-compatible and dishwasher-compatible cookware. Can cast iron products evolve enough to stand that test?
Additionally, there can be strong competition from deep-pocketed kitchenware brands like Hawkins Cookware, TTK Prestige and Wonderchef, which are always looking to enter new sub-segments. Add to that new-age brands like Zishta, which sells handcrafted traditional cookware to health-conscious consumers.
Going forward, The Indus Valley will require a better pricing strategy, more consumer acceptance and constant innovation to make traditional materials cool again in a hot and happening market. If the kitchen is the new theatre looking for aesthetics and functional props, best-selling and cult-favourite product lines must be transformative in every sense.
