Sun19 Farms founder Himansshu M Raghav has thrown down a clear challenge to India’s food entrepreneurs: replicate the makhana playbook and take more Indian superfoods global.

In a post that’s making the rounds among agribusiness operators and D2C founders, Raghav frames makhana (foxnuts) as living proof that a traditional ingredient can be repositioned for international shelves.

Once known in a handful of Indian homes, makhana is now, by his telling, a ₹5,000+ crore category with premium global positioning, a journey he captures as “from Bihar’s ponds to California’s supermarkets.”

The message isn’t cheerleading. It’s a prompt to execute.

“Why stop at Makhana? Why not create India’s next global superfood revolution?” Raghav writes, arguing that India has the crops and the capability, what’s missing is ambition in packaging, storytelling, and trust-building.

The Playbook: Brand First, Commodity Later

Raghav’s thesis is blunt: consumers don’t buy commodities, they buy brands. Makhana’s leap, he suggests, came from treating it like a lifestyle product, moving from loose bulk to clean, portable formats; from generic labels to aspirational design; from folklore to clear reasons-to-believe. Traceability, batch consistency, and visible quality controls do the heavy lifting on trust; packaging and narrative do the rest.

“Position it aspirationally and people will pay attention,” is the thread running through his argument.

The Bench: Ready-to-Scale Indian Staples

Raghav names a deep bench that, in his view, can follow makhana’s arc with the right treatment:

• Millets: riding a tailwind of global recognition (he cites the UN’s “International Year of Millets”).
• Moringa: long tagged by nutrition voices as a “miracle” tree for its dense profile.
• Jackfruit: increasingly used as a plant-based meat alternative.
• Amla, Sattu, Kokum, Jaggery snacks, Herbal Kadhas, “goldmines of wellness” if they’re made easy, consistent, and modern.

The through-line: these aren’t novelties; they’re everyday Indian ingredients that can be reformatted for global habits, on-the-go packs, ready-to-mix blends, clean-label sweets, and pantry-friendly portions.

The Gap: Courage and Consistency

Raghav rejects the idea that India is short on raw material or ingenuity. “India doesn’t lack resources. India doesn’t lack innovation,” he notes, calling instead for bigger brand ambition and systematic trust, from farmer to processor to shelf. Certifications, transparent sourcing, and uncompromising quality standards are non-negotiables if the goal is repeat purchase in unfamiliar markets.

The Why-Now

His timing is deliberate. Makhana has shown that heritage can command a premium when it’s made convenient and credible. The consumer vocabulary for “better-for-you” snacking and functional pantry staples is broader than it was a few years ago. Raghav’s point: use the open window, not as exporters of bulk ingredients, but as owners of categories.

Time To Transform

“It’s time to transform kitchens into boardrooms and farmers into global suppliers,” Raghav writes, urging founders, FPOs, designers, and processors to align around brandable, auditable, and lifestyle-ready products. The commercial upside, in his telling, lies as much in design and discipline as it does in agronomy.

His provocation lands on a simple refrain: If makhana can be a household name in New York, the next global hit could be sitting in an Indian kitchen today. The task is to package it, prove it, and tell its story, clearly and consistently.

Raghav isn’t celebrating a one-off success; he’s outlining a repeatable system. Treat Indian staples like modern brands. Build trust like regulated businesses. Speak the world’s retail language, clean labels, portioned formats, transparent sourcing. The raw materials are here. The know-how is here. The question he leaves on the table is the only one that matters now:

Will India dream bigger and build accordingly?

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