You won't believe how crazy Indians from villages and small towns are for Korean noodles...

The demand for Korean noodles in cities and towns around Dehradun, Ludhiana, Bhopal, Ranchi... is said to be rising faster than the demand for the same in tier 1 metro cities of India...

1 out of every 4 packs of Noodles purchased in India on Blinkit are one of the two Korean brands - Nongshim and Samyang...

But when you look at cities of Ludhiana and Dehradun, almost 1 in every 2 packets of noodles sold is Korean noodles...

This is because now trends are not flowing from metro cities to tier 2 cities... they're in fact growing simultaneously and at times even faster in smaller cities and towns... because global cuisines are harder to access in smaller towns, so the moment any option arrives, it ends up becoming a cult favourite of the entire generation in a smaller city...

And apparently, children of even blue collar workers and domestic workers are watching Korean dramas on their parents mobile phones... such that on Duolingo, Indians are learning Korean... after the languages of English, Hindi and French, which are more pushed because of school curriculum.

In 2021, only Rs 2 crores worth of Korean noodles were sold in the entire year in the whole country... and 4 years down, this market is already at Rs 65 crores...

Such that the biggest threat is being felt by the likes of Maggi and Nissin, who are launching Korean noodle versions, but consumers want to have something authentic, even if it is at 3X the price of Maggi.

Currently, a the imported variants cost about Rs 150 a packet because they're imported...

And the biggest whitespace in India that investors wish to fund is an Indian founded Korean noodle brand, which is manufactured in India and can sell a pack at Rs 50-120.

There's a new brand called Gimi Michi, being manufactured in Rajasthan, which has started just 10 months ago, and is already at over Rs 40 lakhs of monthly sales, and has raised Rs 3.5 crores from investors.

So Korean noodles have become the fastest growing food trend in India... where hawkers in West Bengal, Chhatisgarh, Gujarat are selling them on the streets... so we'll see a flurry of brands kicking off in 2026... either as Korean cafes, or as FMCG players.

There's also Gochujang, and other Korean pastes that are taking off... so let the games begin.

P.S. Kudos to Datum Intelligence for pulling out this data, and a fun post written on the Next Up India Substack by Aaryaman Vir.

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