Chennai-based company brings down India’s popcorn maize imports, more than doubles domestic output
India has cut the import share of popcorn maize demand from 70% to 15% as domestic production expanded from 15,000 to 85,000 tonnes. The model combines hybrid seed, contract farming, processing, storage and guaranteed offtake.
India’s popcorn maize industry has undergone a rapid localization drive, with imports falling from 70% of national demand a decade ago to just 15% today. BusinessLine reports that domestic output has expanded by more than two and a half times over the same period. According to Gourmet Popcornica managing director SBP Pattabhi Rama Rao, the market has grown from 50,000 tonnes to 130,000 tonnes, while domestic production has climbed from 15,000 tonnes to 85,000 tonnes.
The company, founded in 2014, built an integrated value chain around the crop, covering hybrid seed, farmer partnerships, kernel processing, cold storage, cinema supply and branded retail products. Its first imported seed trials were conducted in late 2016, and by January-March 2018 the crop had already expanded to 840 acres. What began in Andhra Pradesh has since spread into a much broader multi-state production network.
Today, more than 17,500 farmers in nine Indian states grow popcorn maize under contract across over 36,000 acres. The footprint includes Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, where the crop is still being tested. To attract growers, the company offered inputs on credit, guaranteed purchase of 100% of output even when quality issues arose, and made direct bank transfers to farmers after procurement.
Mechanisation is now the next efficiency step. About 30% of farmers are already planting with seed planters, compared with fully manual planting in 2017. In 2026, the company aims to mechanise harvesting on at least 10% of the 36,000-acre area by deploying automated planters, corn-cob harvesters and drone spraying. Gourmet Popcornica, which employs 800 people, says these changes have helped improve both yields and farm income while reducing labor pressure.
Processing capacity has scaled up alongside production. Wet cobs are moved to the company’s Musunuru facilities in Andhra Pradesh, where they are dried, sorted, processed and kept in cold storage until dispatch. Four lines can process 29 tonnes of maize per hour, and cold storage capacity has reached 45,000 tonnes. The company says it supplies more than 2,200 cinemas across India and works with large popcorn manufacturers, supermarkets and commodity traders. Revenue rose from zero a decade ago to 400 crore rupees in 2025, and the success of the maize model is now supporting expansion into oil palm and seed production for paddy, mustard, oats, corn and high-oleic peanuts.