India Cooking Oil
Habits Report 2026

India's per capita edible oil consumption reached 19.7 kilograms per year as of 2020-21, according to NITI Aayog's August 2024 report "Pathways and Strategies for Accelerating Growth in Edible Oils Towards the Goal of Atmanirbharta". At this level, daily per capita consumption works out to approximately 54 grams per person.

The six-decade trajectory shows how significantly oil use has grown:

Per capita consumption has more than doubled in the two decades between 2000 and 2020. NITI Aayog's modelling projects per capita consumption reaching 25.3 kg per year by 2024-25 under a business-as-usual scenario.

At the national level, India consumed more than 23 million metric tons of vegetable oils in FY2023, placing it among the world's largest edible oil consumers. Despite this, domestic oilseed production meets only 40-45% of total national requirements. India imported 16.5 million metric tons of edible oils in 2022-23, with palm, soybean, and sunflower oils forming the majority of those imports.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) sets the same guidance: 20-30 grams of cooking oil per day for a healthy individual.

At India's documented per capita consumption of 19.7 kg per year (2020-21 data), daily intake calculates to approximately 54 grams per person: roughly 80-116% above the ICMR's upper daily limit for a sedentary adult.

NITI Aayog's own modelling reinforces this gap. The report states that if India followed ICMR-NIN consumption recommendations, the country would project a domestic edible oil surplus of 0.13 million metric tons by 2030. The current trajectory runs in the opposite direction.

What does this mean in a kitchen context? One tablespoon of cooking oil contains approximately 14 millilitres and adds over 100 calories. A person consuming 54 grams daily is using roughly 3.5 to 4 tablespoons, adding more than 400 calories from oil alone before any food calories are counted.

By total national volume, palm oil is the largest consumed edible oil in India, followed by soybean and rapeseed (mustard) oils. The shift away from traditional single-seed cold-pressed oils toward refined blended oils gathered pace through the 1990s and 2000s, driven by price and availability. That trend is now showing signs of partial reversal among urban health-conscious households.

Key market characteristics (2025 data, IMARC Group):

June 2025 marked a significant category signal: Marico Limited entered the cold-pressed segment with the Saffola Cold Pressed Oils range, including single-seed and dual-seed variants. This entry by a major FMCG brand signals category mainstreaming and validates the shift in urban consumer preference.

Air fryer adoption among urban Indian households is growing and is reshaping what consumers need from their cooking oil. The India air fryer market reached USD 48.8 million in 2025 and is projected to grow to USD 80.6 million by 2034, at a CAGR of 5.57%, according to IMARC Group's India Air Fryer Market report.

Key market characteristics (2025 data, IMARC Group):

Air fryers reduce oil use per cooking event by up to 80% compared to deep frying. However, they require a thin, even coating of oil across the food surface: a requirement that wide-neck pour bottles are poorly suited to meet. This is the functional gap driving interest in oil misting, spray, and measured-dispenser formats within the urban kitchen segment.