BENGALURU: India’s home appliances market is drawing a surge of new entrants from design-led startups to D2C brands, each trying to rewire how Indians cook, clean and live at home.
From glass air fryers and smart chimneys to app-enabled kitchen devices, a new crop of companies is targeting urban consumers who are upgrading their homes and are willing to experiment beyond established brands.
The surge is mirrored in early-stage funding. EDT, the maker of glass air fryers, raised $4 million from Fireside Ventures in August 2025.
Nuuk, which makes fans and vacuum cleaners, among other products, secured $2 million from Vertex Ventures and Good Capital in the same month, followed by chimney maker Beyond Appliances’ $4 million round in December. Temasek-backed Atomberg, known for its fans and mixer-grinders, raised ₹212 crore in December.
Signs of this shift towards innovative and smart appliances are already visible on online marketplaces.
“Small home appliances are one of the fastest-growing categories for us, expanding at over 30% year-on-year,” Karthik Subbarayappa, director (home, kitchen & outdoors) at Amazon India, told Mint. “Strong customer inclination towards smart, AI-enabled features delivering real benefits like energy efficiency, intelligent navigation and remote access is driving segments.”
Small appliances have more than doubled in demand over the past year on , driven by consumers seeking products that address health, energy efficiency and time-saving needs, a spokesperson said in response to Mint’s queries. The shift is widening beyond the metros.
“The maximum demand surge over the last 12-18 months has emerged from non-metros,” the Flipkart spokesperson added, noting that consumers in tier-2 and tier-3 cities are increasingly opting for premium, “future-ready” upgrades.
Still, when it comes to purchasing appliances, reliability and after-sales service outweigh novelty.
Chasing the new India
India’s is expected to reach ₹3 trillion by 2029, with 89% of consumers reporting higher spending on appliances and electronics, according to a February report by GI Group Holding. As appliances become lifestyle upgrades, the market is expanding fast enough to attract startups, but that may not be enough to displace incumbents.
For founders, the opportunity lies in the gap between how Indian homes are evolving and how appliances are still being built. Modern homes are smaller, more design-conscious and increasingly technology-driven, according to Naiyya Saggi, founder of EDT.
“Homes are modernizing but our appliances haven’t evolved to integrate design and technology,” Saggi said.
“Products were designed decades ago, when Indian homes and lifestyles were very different,” said Eshwar K. Vikas, CEO and founder of Beyond Appliances, pointing to issues such as installation complexity and poor design integration.
The response has been to rethink appliances from the ground up. Beyond Appliances has introduced chimneys that eliminate ducting and heavy installation, aimed at urban apartment dwellers. At Nuuk, the focus is on shifting expectations.
“A younger, digitally native generation now expects design, performance and products that fit how they actually live,” Gazal Kalra, co-founder of Nuuk, told Mint.
The opportunity is also shaped by how the market is structured. Much of today is concentrated in smaller appliance categories—air fryers, mixer-grinders and smart gadgets—where product cycles are shorter and experimentation is easier, according to Nitin Jain, managing director at consultancy Protiviti Member Firm for India.
The rise of these companies has been enabled by structural shifts in manufacturing and distribution.
Contract manufacturing and e-commerce have lowered entry barriers, allowing companies to launch quickly without heavy upfront investment. Online channels account for 30-35% of small appliance sales, enabling faster testing and scaling of new products, according to Protiviti’s Jain.
Consumer preferences
Consumers are also changing how they evaluate and purchase appliances. They are increasingly gravitating toward multifunctional products that solve specific problems, while also upgrading across price points where they see tangible value, according to Amazon India’s Subbarayappa.
At the same time, reviews, ratings and AI-led tools play a growing role in helping consumers navigate a crowded marketplace, Subbarayappa added.
Yet, this is not a level playing field. Large appliances such as refrigerators, washing machines and air-conditioners, for which installation capabilities, service networks and brand trust are critical, still account for more than 80% of the industry’s revenue and remain firmly dominated by incumbents, Jain noted. Scaling up, too, can be challenging.
“Many startups can launch products, but very few can build product, service and distribution simultaneously,” said Beyond Appliances’ Vikas.
Over time, the contest may hinge less on innovation and more on credibility. Sustaining consumer trust is hard. Many new companies are still early in building the service depth and brand recall that incumbents rely on.
“The brands that will endure will be those built on deep consumer insights and consistent product performance,” Nuuk’s Kalra added.