The US is home to a large community of people who trace their
ancestry to India. According to American Community Survey conducted in
2016, the US is home to over 3.45 million Indians and another 4.12
million mixed race American-Indians- meaning people born to couples
whose one partner has roots in India and other is a foreign citizen.
They are referred as Indian Americans, Indo-Americans and Asian
Indians by various US government departments. For example, the US uses
the term Asian Indian to describe the community to avoid confusing with
indigenous Indians (Red Indian) natives of America.
Indian Groceries in USA
For several reasons, Indians remain faithful to their native cuisine.
Hence, they depend upon supplies from India and the Indian subcontinent
to fulfill these needs for spices, various types of food grains, pulses
and cereals, condiments and pickles imported from India for their daily
food.
With a little over one percent of America’s population of Indian origin, several
online grocery stores
that offer stuff from India have sprung up over the years. Many are
available online. Here we look at the top 10 online Indian grocery
stores in the US.
Top Indian Grocery Stores in USA
Most online stores selling Indian groceries in USA offer free home
delivery, if your order is worth a fixed value or higher. While some
online stores selling Indian products have a lower limit of US$65 to
qualify for free delivery, others require minimum orders worth US$ 100
and above. Check the free delivery options of these websites.
Patel Brothers are selling Indian grocery items in USA since 1974.
However, ensure the large diaspora of people from India get access to
these groceries, the company opened its online grocery store in the year
2000.
Patel Brothers USA offers the entire range of groceries from national
and regional brands of India. Additionally, you can also buy online
religious requirements, sweets, snacks, bakery, household items and
cosmetics from India and the subcontinent.
iShopIndian was established in the year 2000. Other than being an
online grocery store that sells national and regional Indian brand
grocery products in the US, the company also has a wholesale division to
assist neighborhood retailers to stock popular products.
iShopIndia has a distribution center at Wauvasota, Wisconsin.
Additionally, iShopIndian also sells cooking utensils required for
various special dishes from the Indian cuisine, cook books, beauty
products, incense and religious requirements from India.
KhanaPakana was launched in 2006 and claims to have over2.5 million
users every month. The company ranks among the topmost online stores for
Indian groceries in US and operates from Floral Park, New York.
KhanaPakana website states, it is operated by a team of food lovers.
The company ranks as the topmost importer, distributor and retailer of
Indian grocery items in US and Canada. You can also buy products from
other Asian countries online through this website.
Pragathi.com is much more than an online grocery store for Indians
living in the US. It is the largest Indian portal in the US with over
20,000 product and service listings in more than 30 categories.
Other than groceries, you can also buy Indian garments, handicrafts,
home décor, religious requirements and lots of other stuff through
Pragathi.com. It was launched in August 2013. The website states it
offers over 30 classifieds categories for people to share their products
and services online as receives over 1.3 million unique visitors every
year.
Indian Grocery stocks gourmet food and snacks from various top brands
including from India in almost every grocery segment. “We carry more
than 3000 Products and about 200 Brands procured from India and within
US.
We also carry latest movie DVD’s and old classics,” the website says.
The website sells ethnic Indian gifts ideal for special occasions and
festivals, religious requirements, gourmet food and organic food from
India too. Indian Grocery products can be also ordered through its
mobile website.
VedicPro stocks top brands from India and the Indian subcontinent,
South East Asia and Far East. It caters to customers across the US. The
company operates from Floral Park, NY and stocks Indian grocery, spices,
herbal, natural and Ayurvedic products as well as stuff including
health, personal care, food supplements, snacks and other requirements.
VedicPro sells online groceries in retail and has a wholesale division
too. It has been in business since 2006.
India Bazar operates from Plano, Texas. The company was established
in 2004, by Kishore Pabari and his family. The company imports grocery
items from across India and the Indian subcontinent as well as other
parts of Asia. You can shop for some top as well as regional favorite
brands from India online from India Bazar as well as a whole lot of
stuff from neighboring countries including Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan,
Thailand and the Philippines, to name a few.
GroceryBabu operates from Union, New Jersey. The website lists over
700 assorted grocery, household requirements, religious paraphernalia
and other common stuff from India and the Indian subcontinent on its
online store.
GroceryBabu ships within mainland USA only. You can also place a
request for any specific product from India with GroceryBabu who will
try and deliver it, if possible under import laws of the US and
available in India.
Based out of Waltham, Massachusetts, Desimart is another popular
online grocery store that sells Indian products online. Desimart has a
fairly extensive range of Indian groceries from topmost and regional
brands, ready-to-eat snacks, cereals and food grains, religious
requirements, sweets and tinned stuff, among other Indian products.
Desimart promises ‘Indian groceries in a click’ to emphasize its swift
delivery systems.
Zifiti.com offers a very wide selection of Indian grocery items as
well as ready-to-eat snacks, sweets, Indian beverages, bakery products,
cosmetics, health supplements and nutritional products as well as
traditional goods.
Zifiti.com has a program which allows Indian vendors to register as
sellers on its website. This program is aimed at making a broader range
of products from India available to the Asian Indian community of the
US. The company continually adds newer products to its existing
portfolio.
Special Mention: Amazon.Com
Keeping in mind the huge Asian Indian population of USA, global online retail giant, Amazon also offers
several grocery items from India
to customers in USA. Understandably, the range of Indian grocery items
offered in USA by Amazon is not as extensive as those of specialized
stores catering to the community.
However, given the wide reach of Amazon in the American market and
its extensive operations in India, the online store may soon step up its
offerings of Indian grocery items in coming days.
Indian Grocery in USA: Pros & Cons
While majority of persons of Indian origin settled in US would love
to get a taste of home, there are certain pros and cons involved in
buying Indian groceries online. Here we take a look at some of these
factors.
- America’s Food & Drug Administration (FDA) enforces strict
regulations on imported food to ensure they are free of contaminants and
harmful chemicals. Therefore, some grocery items you buy online in USA
may taste different than in India.
- On the other hand, groceries exported from India to the American
market are generally of superior quality since companies wish to earn
precious foreign exchange from this lucrative market.
- Indian groceries in USA cost more. This is due to various costs such
as logistics, storage and handling of products bound for sale in
America. Hence, the price you pay is fairly reasonable.
- Always check Indian products bought in the US for production and
expiry date when delivered. Unless they have long expiry from date of
purchase, do not accept them.
- Never accept broken or tampered packages of Indian grocery since they could be contaminated in transit from India.
- Read labels carefully when accepting deliveries of Indian groceries
since many do not contain warnings for people suffering from various
allergies.
Insight into Asian-Indians of USA
USA has attracted migrants from India since decades. Some migrated
directly on basis of their parent working and residing in the US. Others
arrived on shores of America as students and settled there after
completion of studies. A large number of people from India were hired by
US-based companies directly and call the new country their home, having
acquired American citizenship.
A visit to any part of the US will reveal that people of Indian
origin can be found anywhere. Predominant Indian communities living in
the US include those from Punjab, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Kerala,
Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and a large population from Tamil Nadu.
Understandably, there are people of Indian origin from other states too.
Hence, grocery products you get online in the US will be primarily for these communities.
More Online Indian Grocery Stores
There are few more online stores in USA that sell Indian groceries.
- Grocery On Wheels: Caters to customers in California state only.
- Pushmycart: Sells online groceries from India throughout USA.
- Bazaarprime: Claims quick delivery of Indian groceries in USA.
- Desi911: Online Indian groceries delivered across USA.
- Desiclick: Also sells seasonal Indian sweets, Yoga requirements and other ethnic products along with groceries from India.
In Conclusion
Any visitor to the US will be surprised by the number of
brick-and-mortar grocery stores that also sell India-made food stuff and
household requirements. They also offer online shopping for customers
residing within a small radius of the store.
You can find such stores in every major city and town in the US where
there are large concentrations of Asian Indian people. However, the
range of products these small stores sell would usually be very limited
and possibly geared for a specific Indian ethnicity.
Before concluding, we recommend you explore prices and free delivery
options offered by various online stores selling Indian groceries.
Location of their central warehouse also matters since delivery
schedules will depend upon its distance from your place.
In recent years, several Indian entrepreneurs are manufacturing
typical Indian products such as sweets, pickles and spice mixtures in US
itself to sell to the wide Asian Indian diaspora. Some online stores
selling Indian grocery items offer these excellent variants too at lower
rates.
