From therapeutic nutrition to nut butters: How Nuflower built a ₹187 crore nutrition business

A 100-gram pouch of food may not sound like much. But for a severely malnourished child, it can provide the proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals needed as part of nutritional treatment. Manufacturing these specialised food products is what has helped Nuflower Foods & Nutrition build a ₹187-crore business, with customers spread across more than 49 countries.

Speaking to Fortune India, its founder Akshat Khandelwal said the company reported a revenue of approximately ₹187 crore in FY26, growing more than 37% year-on-year. More than 92% of its revenue comes from exports. It works with international public health and humanitarian organisations, including the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Save the Children International and Catholic Relief Services.

Nuflower's core business is the manufacture of lipid-based nutrient supplements (LNS), including ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) for children suffering from severe acute malnutrition and ready-to-use supplementary food (RUSF) for moderate acute malnutrition.

The products are made using a combination of peanut butter, milk powder, oil and vitamin and mineral fortification. The company also manufactures private-label peanut butter and other nut butters for international brands and retailers.

The opportunity, according to Khandelwal, was to bring the manufacturing of specialised therapeutic nutrition products to India, which had access to the necessary agricultural raw materials and technical capabilities.

"India has all the raw materials, right? You have the peanuts, you have milk, you have oil. And India also has a lot of food and pharmaceutical engineering talent. So it's a pretty obvious place to manufacture," he said.

The company began operations in 2017, with its first anchor client coming on board that year. What followed was a gradual expansion into international humanitarian markets. Today, its products reach more than 49 countries.

From humanitarian nutrition to supermarket shelves

Nuflower's business has since moved beyond specialised nutrition. Its second vertical involves contract manufacturing and private labelling of peanut butter and other nut butters for brands and retailers across markets. These include Lidl in Europe, Luna in Saudi Arabia and Members Value in the Philippines.

The move was partly about reducing dependence on a single source of demand and finding new applications for the company's manufacturing capabilities.

"One of the reasons why we started a commercial B2B nut butter business was to diversify our revenue sources and margin sources internally, and also get more areas of growth. The same team that is doing humanitarian aid can apply those skills to nut butters and other areas," Khandelwal said.

The two businesses also have different economics. Khandelwal said margins in humanitarian nutrition are higher because of the complexity involved in manufacturing the products. Nut butter manufacturing has slightly lower margins, but he said the company focuses on customers willing to pay for quality rather than competing only on price.

The company is now taking another step towards the consumer market with GoEarnest, its newly launched brand of low-carbohydrate, high-protein ready-to-eat snacks.

Khandelwal believes there is room for products that offer consumers a convenient protein-rich alternative to the carbohydrate-heavy snacks commonly available in India. Nuflower plans to build the brand while continuing to work with domestic nutrition companies and retailers through contract manufacturing and private labelling.

More capacity, but raw material costs remain a concern

The expansion comes as Nuflower prepares to increase its manufacturing capacity. Its existing facilities have total production capacity of around 60 metric tonnes a day. A new plant at Sector 7 of the Reliance Model Economic Township in Jhajjar district is expected to be commissioned later in November. The facility will add around 40 metric tonnes a day, taking combined capacity to an estimated 90–100 metric tonnes.

But scaling up production is not simply a matter of installing more machinery. When humanitarian demand rises sharply following a crisis, the company has to secure raw materials, arrange manpower and ensure its warehouses and quality-control systems can handle the additional volumes.

"We are able to manufacture around 45 metric tonnes of LNS a day, which is quite a lot. The real challenge when it comes to scaling is getting the manpower, the materials and the systems in place to allow for 24-hour functioning of the factory," Khandelwal said.

Groundnuts, particularly those sourced from Gujarat, are among the company's key raw material dependencies. Khandelwal said delayed monsoons in the state last year affected crop quality and pushed prices higher. Energy costs and disruptions to shipping routes have added to the pressure on an export-oriented manufacturer.

The company is responding by negotiating price increases with customers and tempering its margin expectations. Many of its contracts are long-term, which means prices agreed upon months earlier may no longer reflect the cost of production.

"We have renegotiated with quite a few of our clients. If you are looking for a long-term relationship with anyone, you need to account for these kinds of factors," he said.

"Squeezing one party doesn't work. You need to be sustainable at all ends of the supply chain."

For Nuflower, the next phase is about expanding both sides of the business: retaining its position in humanitarian nutrition while building a larger commercial operation.

"We are looking for sharp growth in the B2B business. At the same time, we want to retain our position in the humanitarian market as a quality-conscious and cost-efficient supplier to the whole world," Khandelwal said.