India: Sovena is planning his foray into the country.
For most of history, olive oil had nothing to do with Indian cooking. Then rising incomes, health marketing and a globalising kitchen turned India into a prize: a vast market with no home production, where the world’s big bottlers all want an early foothold.
India is one of the great frontier markets for olive oil, for a simple reason: it has essentially no tradition of it and enormous room to grow. Indian cooking has always leaned on mustard, groundnut, coconut, sesame and, latterly, refined seed oils; olive oil is a newcomer, sold to a rising urban middle class on the strength of its health image. Consumption is still tiny per head, but it has climbed fast from almost nothing, which is exactly why the world’s largest bottlers keep announcing plans to move in and grab an early-mover advantage.
An import story
Almost all the olive oil India uses is imported, the lion’s share from Spain, with Italy and others behind. That makes India a pure demand market — a place to sell into rather than grow in — and it shapes what lands on the shelf. The winning products are not the fierce, peppery extra-virgins that connoisseurs prize, but milder, cheaper grades that suit high-heat Indian cooking and price-sensitive buyers: refined olive oil, and above all olive-pomace oil, the cheapest grade of all.
The pomace catch
Here is the thing the health marketing tends to blur. A great deal of the oil sold into markets like India is olive-pomace oil — extracted with solvents from the paste and skins left after pressing, then refined. It is a legitimate product and fine for frying, but it is a world away from extra-virgin in flavour, aroma and the polyphenols that carry olive oil’s health reputation. Buyers drawn in by the healthy halo often end up with the grade that has the least of what made olive oil famous. If you want the real benefits, the label must say extra-virgin, not simply olive oil or pomace.
Will India ever grow its own?
There have been serious attempts to plant olives in India, most notably in the desert state of Rajasthan using imported trees and Israeli irrigation know-how. The agronomy is genuinely hard — the olive wants a Mediterranean rhythm of cool winters and dry summers that most of India cannot offer — and domestic production remains marginal. For the foreseeable future India will be a market that buys, not a producer that sells, which keeps it firmly in the sights of every big exporter.
| Market | India — large, fast-growing, low base |
|---|---|
| Supply | Almost entirely imported (mainly Spain) |
| Top grades sold | Refined olive oil & olive-pomace oil |
| Sales pitch | Health and aspiration |
| Home production | Marginal (Rajasthan trials) |
| Buyer’s rule | Read the grade — extra-virgin is not pomace |
Buying olive oil in a new market
- Read the grade, not the health halo — extra-virgin, refined olive oil and pomace are very different things.
- For the flavour and polyphenols that built olive oil’s name, buy extra-virgin; use cheaper grades only for frying.
- Check country of origin and harvest date — imported oil can be old by the time it lands.
- Treat bold health claims with scepticism; the benefits sit mostly in fresh extra-virgin.
Olive oil in India: common questions
Does India grow its own olives?
Barely. There have been trials, notably in Rajasthan with Israeli techniques, but domestic production is marginal and almost all olive oil is imported.
Where does India’s olive oil come from?
Mostly Spain, with Italy and other Mediterranean suppliers behind. India is a demand market, importing nearly all of what it uses.
What kind of olive oil sells most in India?
Milder, cheaper grades suited to high-heat cooking and price-sensitive buyers — refined olive oil and, especially, olive-pomace oil.
Is olive-pomace oil the same as extra-virgin?
No. Pomace oil is solvent-extracted from pressing residue and refined; it lacks the flavour, aroma and polyphenols of extra-virgin, though it is fine for frying.
How do I buy the healthy kind?
Look specifically for extra-virgin olive oil with a clear origin and harvest date — that is the grade carrying the flavour and polyphenols behind the health reputation.
Frontier markets like India are where the grade game is played hardest. People buy olive oil for its healthy image, then reach for the cheapest bottle on the shelf — which is usually pomace oil, solvent-extracted and refined, holding almost none of what gave olive oil its reputation. If you are buying in a market with no olive tradition, ignore the wellness talk and read the grade line. Extra-virgin is the only one that delivers the flavour and the polyphenols. Everything else is just fat.
Drawn from India’s olive-oil import market structure, grade distinctions (extra-virgin vs refined vs pomace), and domestic planting trials.