Once confined to guacamole bowls in upscale cafés and hotel brunches, avocados are rapidly finding a place in everyday Indian kitchens, from chutneys and parathas to tikkis and full thalis, as consumption expands beyond metros into smaller towns and cities.
The growing appetite for the fruit is reflected in import numbers. Avocado imports rose 135% in FY25 compared with the previous year, according to government data. Trade estimates suggest India imported nearly 19,000 tonnes of avocados in calendar year 2025, more than double the roughly 9,000 tonnes imported a year earlier.
Wholesale traders say the fruit is now moving through mandis in cities such as Indore and Patna and reaching towns like Sangli, where consumers have begun adapting it to local cuisines. “Until last year, even premium fruit sellers in towns such as Sangli had no idea what an avocado was. Today, it sells on the streets,” said Tausif Liyakat Bagnikar, a Mumbai-based importer and trader of exotic fruits.
Online grocers are seeing a similar trend. Bigbasket said avocado consumption has quadrupled over the past year in smaller cities including Dehradun, Visakhapatnam and Nagpur. “Demand for avocado is picking up across the country,” said Sapna Kaushik, head of merchandising for fruits and vegetables and private label staples at Bigbasket.
Westfalia, the world’s largest avocado supplier and the source of about one-third of India’s imported avocados, said nearly 30% of its India sales now come from outside the top four metros. Operating through a joint venture with Sam Agri, the company currently sells avocados in 18 cities and has expanded distribution alongside the rollout of quick-commerce services.
“Smaller places are the biggest growth centres,” said Ajay TG, general manager at Westfalia. “Whenever quick-commerce players enter a new market, they ask us to launch operations there as well.”
India currently sources most of its avocados from Tanzania due to duty-free access, apart from Peru, New Zealand, Kenya and Australia. Trade insiders said a supply-demand mismatch earlier this year accelerated the push into smaller markets. While weekly demand was around 10 containers, higher prices in January and February prompted traders to import nearly 30 containers, forcing them to widen distribution beyond metros.
The expansion has also been aided by influencer-led marketing. The World Avocado Organization has partnered with more than 60 Indian influencers over the past two years to promote the fruit across digital platforms.
The avocado boom is now influencing agricultural choices as well. Farmers in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, traditionally dependent on crops such as coffee, pepper and banana, are experimenting with avocado cultivation. In Nagpur, some large grape growers are converting portions of their plantations, while in Bhopal, urban farmer Harshit Godha has developed a sizeable avocado farm and supplies Israeli saplings to growers across the country.
“There has been a huge jump in farmers planting avocados. Some test it on one or two acres, others start with five to 10 acres,” Godha said, adding that he also trains farmers in cultivation practices.