Oomerbhoy (RRO) to grab 15% olive oil market in India
When Indian distributors chase a share of the olive-oil market by tying up with European brands, the growth is real — but the oil that actually sells is not the one the health headlines picture. India’s olive boom runs on the bottom of the barrel.
Every few years an Indian company announces a bold target for its slice of the national olive-oil market, usually on the back of a distribution deal with a famous European brand. The ambition is genuine and the category really is growing. But to understand Indian olive oil you have to look past the glossy Italian label and ask which grade is actually going home in the shopping bag.
A market built on imports
India grows almost no olives of its own, so its olive oil is overwhelmingly imported and sold through distributors who license European names. That makes the business one of marketing and shelf space rather than farming — securing a famous label, getting it into the right cities and stores, and persuading a cook with no olive tradition to reach for an unfamiliar, pricier oil. The ‘market share’ being chased is a share of imports, not of any Indian harvest.
Why pomace, not extra virgin
Here is the twist the health story misses. The Indian kitchen runs hot — deep-frying, tempering, searing — and a grassy extra virgin is both wasted and worrying at those temperatures. So the volume seller is refined olive oil and, above all, olive-pomace oil: the cheapest grade, solvent-extracted from spent paste and refined, marketed squarely for everyday Indian cooking. The boom is real, but it is largely a boom in the humblest oil on the shelf.
| Grade | Role in India | Honest verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Extra virgin | Premium, health-and-flavour buyers | Best oil; wasted if you fry it |
| Refined / ‘pure’ olive oil | Everyday cooking | Fine for the pan; little flavour |
| Olive-pomace oil | The big volume seller | Cheapest, most refined; a cooking fat, not a health food |
What it means for a shopper
None of this makes olive oil a bad choice in India — it makes label-reading essential. If you want the oil the headlines promise, buy extra virgin and use it raw or in gentle cooking. If you just want a neutral fat that tolerates a hot kadhai, a refined or pomace oil is honest enough, so long as you know that is what it is and don’t pay a health premium for it. The famous brand on the front tells you far less than the grade on the back.
Buying olive oil in India
- Read the grade on the back before the brand on the front.
- Buy extra virgin for raw uses, where its flavour and antioxidants survive.
- Accept refined or pomace oil for frying — but only at the cheap price it deserves.
- Don’t pay a health premium for pomace; it is a cooking fat, nothing more.
Olive oil in the Indian market: common questions
Why is India’s olive oil almost all imported?
India grows very few olives, so its market is supplied by distributors who license famous European brands. The business is about marketing and shelf space, not domestic farming.
What kind of olive oil do Indians mostly buy?
Largely refined olive oil and olive-pomace oil, marketed for high-heat Indian cooking, rather than extra virgin — the growth is concentrated in the cheaper, refined grades.
Why is pomace oil so popular in India?
Because Indian cooking uses high heat, where extra virgin’s flavour is wasted and its lower smoke point worries cooks. Pomace oil is cheap and heat-tolerant, so it fits the frying pan.
Is olive-pomace oil healthy?
It is a refined cooking fat, not the health food the headlines describe. It lacks the polyphenols of extra virgin, so it should not command a health premium.
How should I choose olive oil in India?
Read the grade, not the brand: extra virgin for raw uses and gentle cooking, and a cheaper refined or pomace oil if you specifically need to fry at high heat.
I always smile at the big Indian market-share targets, because the growth is real but it is mostly growth in pomace — the very bottom of the olive-oil ladder, dressed up in a famous Italian name. There is nothing wrong with a refined oil for a hot pan. There is a great deal wrong with paying a health premium for it. Turn the bottle over, read the grade, and let the brand on the front be the last thing you look at, not the first.
Drawn from the structure of India’s imported olive-oil market and the grades that dominate it.