Startup Deep Dive : Naturals Ice Cream — bootstrapped for 40 years, still India’s real-fruit ice cream bet

Naturals Ice Cream has never taken a rupee of venture capital or private equity, and the founder’s family still holds every share of it, four decades after the first scoop was sold from a 350-square-foot shop in Juhu. Yet the Mumbai chain’s group operating income touched ₹374.20 crore ($39 million) in FY24, according to a CRISIL Ratings note dated February 2025 — a number the family itself put closer to ₹294 crore in an interview with Forbes India the same year, and neither account explains the gap.

What is not in dispute is where it started: a fruit-seller’s son who left school after Class 10, borrowed four lakh rupees from his brother and a handful of relatives, and bet that Mumbai would pay a premium for ice cream made from real fruit instead of flavouring. That bet now runs about 175 stores across 15-plus states, survived a pandemic that halved its revenue in a single year, and still refuses the one thing every other Indian consumer brand its size eventually takes: outside money.

Quick facts

What they do

Naturals makes and sells ice cream built on a three-ingredient promise — milk, sugar and real fruit, with no artificial colour or flavouring — through its own parlours, franchised outlets, cloud kitchens and, more recently, retail mini packs sold via quick commerce. Its catalogue runs past a hundred flavours built around Indian fruit that global chains rarely bother with: chikoo, sitaphal (custard apple), tender coconut, jackfruit, and seasonal regional variants such as kubani in Hyderabad. The customer is deliberately broad — from the family walking into a neighbourhood parlour for a Sunday cup to a Swiggy order for a tub at home — but the positioning has stayed constant since 1984: a premium, recognisably Indian alternative to both artificial-flavour mass brands and international chains like Baskin Robbins.

The origin

Raghunandan Kamath grew up in Mulki, a village near Mangalore, one of seven children of a fruit seller who leased trees by the season and rarely earned more than a hundred rupees a month. He left school after Class 10 and moved to Mumbai in his teens to work at his elder brother’s Juhu eatery, Gokul Refreshments, which served South Indian food and a homemade ice cream on the side. Watching customers respond to that ice cream more than to the food gave him the idea that would become Naturals: ice cream made with actual fruit pulp and pieces, at a time when nearly every Indian brand used synthetic flavouring instead.

He tested the idea cautiously, folding it into the family restaurant’s menu before betting on it outright. To start on his own, he negotiated a one-time payout of one lakh rupees from his brother in place of a continuing stake in the family business, and raised roughly three lakh rupees more from friends and relatives. With that capital — and his wife Annapurna, who backed the decision to leave a steady job for a fruit-ice-cream shop — he opened Naturals’ first 350-square-foot store at the Juhu Ville Parle Development Scheme in Andheri West on 14 February 1984, selling around ten flavours out of six tables. The shop sold 1,000 cups on its first weekend, according to an account of the launch published by The Weekend Leader.

The struggle years

Growth was not a straight line. As Naturals expanded through franchising in the 1990s and 2000s, the model began to outrun the company’s ability to police it: quality and service varied sharply from one franchisee’s parlour to the next, diluting the brand promise the whole business was built on. Around 2014, the company made the unusual decision to pause new franchising altogether rather than keep adding outlets on shaky foundations — a multi-year retrenchment (2014 to roughly 2017, per Naturals’ own account carried by Tracxn) spent writing standard operating procedures, retraining existing franchisees, and opening more company-owned stores it could control directly. Growth resumed only once that groundwork was in place.

The bigger blow came in 2020. Naturals’ entire product is perishable — cups and tubs with a shelf life of roughly fifteen days — which meant that when the pandemic forced Indian retail to a standstill, the company had no way to bank inventory and wait it out. Parlours shut for more than three months, deliveries stopped, and revenue fell from ₹166.85 crore in FY20 to ₹93.14 crore in FY21, a 44% collapse in a single year, according to figures the company gave Forbes India in August 2024. For a business with no external investor to cushion the fall, that was as close to a near-death moment as Naturals has had.

The turning point

What pulled Naturals out of that FY21 trough was not a single rescue but a change in how the ice cream reached people. During the lockdowns the company pushed hard into products designed for a home freezer rather than a parlour counter — retail mini packs that, by the account Naturals gave Free Press Journal, now make up 8-10% of sales — and it leaned into cloud kitchens, running deliveries through Swiggy and Zomato via a partnership with Rebel Foods that has since grown to more than 70 locations. It kept expanding physical outlets through the recovery too: from 129 stores in FY20 to 169 by the close of FY24, per the figures cited to Forbes India, and on to roughly 175 across more than fifteen states by February 2025, according to CRISIL Ratings.

The numbers either side of that shift are stark. FY21 revenue of ₹93.14 crore had climbed to a CRISIL-reported ₹374.20 crore by FY24 — roughly a four-fold increase in three years — while operating margin held in the 12-18% band across FY22 to FY24 despite the expansion, and net profit rose from ₹24.65 crore in FY23 to ₹44.95 crore in FY24. A business that had no cushion against a three-month shutdown came out the other side larger, more profitable, and less dependent on any single sales channel than it had been going in.

The money behind it

Naturals is one of the few Indian consumer brands its size that has genuinely stayed outside the funding cycle. There is no venture capital, no private equity, and no disclosed valuation on record — the closest the company gets to outside capital is rated bank debt.

• Founding capital (1984): roughly ₹4 lakh in total — a ₹1 lakh one-time payout Raghunandan Kamath negotiated from his brother’s restaurant business, plus about ₹3 lakh borrowed from friends and relatives (The Weekend Leader).
• No institutional investors: 100% promoter-family owned; Siddhant Kamath told Forbes India (August 2024), “We didn’t build Naturals to sell it. IPO also not on our minds,” and said the company has turned away external capital and pressure to expand pan-India.
• Bank facilities, not equity: CRISIL Ratings upgraded the company’s long-term rating to “Crisil A/Stable” on 25 February 2025, covering ₹60 crore of rated bank facilities — working-capital-style credit rather than growth equity.
• Balance sheet strength: net worth of ₹188 crore and a gearing (debt-to-equity) ratio of just 0.14 times as of 31 March 2024, with unencumbered cash and investments of ₹130-133 crore as of December 2024 — a company funding its own expansion from retained profit (CRISIL Ratings, February 2025).
• Growth funded from margin, not fundraising: a 2019 Business Standard report on the company’s expansion plans similarly described the growth as internally financed rather than investor-backed.

How it makes money

The business is built around a single manufacturing plant in Charkop, Kandivali, Mumbai, that supplies every outlet — a structure that keeps quality consistent but also concentrates the company’s operational risk in one site.

• Money in — parlour sales: the bulk of revenue still comes from company-owned and franchised parlours (roughly 175 outlets across 15-plus states as of February 2025, per CRISIL Ratings), where the retail cup/tub price is the highest-margin channel.
• Money in — franchising: franchisees buy stock centrally from the company and pay to operate under the Naturals brand; the exact royalty or fee structure is not publicly disclosed.
• Money in — cloud kitchens and delivery: more than 70 cloud-kitchen locations run through a partnership with Rebel Foods, serving Swiggy and Zomato orders without needing a full storefront (Free Press Journal).
• Money in — retail/quick commerce: pre-packed mini tubs, introduced during the pandemic, now account for 8-10% of sales through retail and quick-commerce apps (Free Press Journal).
• Costs out — raw materials: milk, sugar and fruit together account for more than 50% of sales, the single largest cost line, per CRISIL Ratings — which is also why operating margin has swung between roughly 12% and 18% across recent years as commodity prices moved.
• Where the margin sits: operating margin was 12.18% in FY23 and rose to 17.71% in FY24, then to 19.05% in the first half of FY25, as the revenue base grew faster than fixed costs at the single plant (CRISIL Ratings).
• What people get wrong: Naturals is often assumed to be a large, VC-scaled chain because of its national visibility; it is in fact a family-run, debt-light manufacturer that has deliberately kept its retail footprint regional rather than chasing every metro at once.

The numbers

Two different sources give two different pictures of FY24, and it is worth showing both rather than picking one. CRISIL Ratings’ February 2025 rating rationale — based on the company’s audited financials — puts FY24 group operating income at ₹374.20 crore. Naturals’ own figures, as given to Forbes India in August 2024 and repeated by trade press including India Retailing and Agro & Food Processing in January 2025, put FY24 revenue at ₹294.02 crore. Neither publication explains the difference, which may reflect group-consolidated versus standalone-entity accounting that the company has not clarified publicly.

The trajectory both sets of numbers agree on: a sharp pandemic-year fall, followed by roughly a four-fold recovery by FY24, with margins improving rather than deteriorating as the company scaled back up — CRISIL recorded a further ₹200 crore of group revenue in just the first half of FY25 (April-September 2024), at a 19.05% operating margin, its highest in the period reviewed.

Where the money comes from

• Geography — Maharashtra dominates: the state contributes 45-50% of total revenue, per CRISIL Ratings (February 2025), making it by far the single biggest market even as the chain has spread to 15-plus states.
• Footprint — steady, not explosive, expansion: from 137 outlets (18 company-owned, 119 franchised) across 11 states as of April 2022, per The Hindu BusinessLine, to roughly 175 outlets across 15-plus states by February 2025 (CRISIL Ratings) — a deliberately regional pace rather than a pan-India sprint.
• Channel mix — parlours plus digital add-ons: physical parlours remain the core, supplemented by 70-plus Rebel Foods cloud kitchens on Swiggy/Zomato and retail mini packs that make up 8-10% of sales through quick commerce (Free Press Journal).
• The surprise: despite the national brand recognition, Naturals has resisted the tier-1-metro-first, funded-hypergrowth playbook every VC-backed dessert brand in India has followed; its stated plan, per India Retailing (January 2025) and Agro & Food Processing (January 2025), is to reach ₹500 crore revenue by FY27 and roughly 200 stores, largely by deepening its existing markets rather than blitzing new ones.

The risks

• Raw-material cost swings: milk, sugar and fruit make up more than 50% of sales, and CRISIL Ratings (February 2025) attributes the company’s operating-margin swings — from 12.15% to 17.75% across the years it reviewed — directly to commodity price movements the company cannot fully pass through to consumers.
• Single-market concentration: with Maharashtra alone generating 45-50% of revenue (CRISIL Ratings), any state-specific demand shock, regulatory change, or local competitive push would hit the business disproportionately hard.
• Perishability and single-plant dependence: every outlet is supplied from one factory in Kandivali, Mumbai, and the product’s roughly fifteen-day shelf life leaves no room to stockpile — a vulnerability the pandemic exposed directly when a three-month shutdown in 2020 helped cut annual revenue by 44% (Tracxn; Forbes India, August 2024).
• A fragmented, competitive category: CRISIL Ratings describes the Indian ice-cream industry as fragmented, with organised players such as Amul, Havmor and Baskin Robbins alongside a long tail of unorganised local brands — meaning Naturals’ premium pricing has to keep earning its place against both ends of the market.

The takeaway

Naturals’ clearest lesson is about the trade-off it chose and has stuck with: by refusing external capital, it also refused the pressure that comes with it — to expand faster than its supply chain can support, or to chase valuation over margin. That discipline meant a brutal, uncushioned pandemic year, but it also meant the company answered to no one but itself when deciding how to rebuild, and it rebuilt with margin improving rather than eroding. The founder’s own instruction to entrepreneurs, as he put it in an account of his life published by The Weekend Leader — to apply what you learn rather than just memorise it — reads, in hindsight, like a description of the business itself: a simple three-ingredient idea, executed patiently for four decades, scaled only as fast as the company could fund and control it.

Frequently asked questions

Who owns Naturals Ice Cream?

Naturals is wholly owned by the Kamath family through Kamaths Ourtimes Ice Creams Pvt Ltd, incorporated in 1998. Founder Raghunandan Kamath and his sons Siddhant and Srinivas Kamath serve as directors; there are no external institutional shareholders on record.

How much revenue does Naturals Ice Cream make?

CRISIL Ratings (February 2025) reported FY24 group operating income of ₹374.20 crore ($39 million) with a net profit of ₹44.95 crore. The company’s own figures, given to Forbes India in August 2024, put FY24 revenue at ₹294.02 crore — the two accounts have not been reconciled publicly.

Has Naturals Ice Cream raised venture capital or private equity?

No. The company has no disclosed external funding round or valuation. Siddhant Kamath told Forbes India (August 2024) that Naturals was not built to be sold and has turned down outside capital; its only rated external financing is ₹60 crore in bank facilities via CRISIL Ratings.

How many Naturals Ice Cream outlets are there?

CRISIL Ratings (February 2025) counted roughly 175 outlets across more than 15 states. That is up from 137 outlets (18 company-owned, 119 franchised) across 11 states in April 2022, per The Hindu BusinessLine, and from 169 outlets at the close of FY24 per company figures cited by Forbes India.

Is Naturals Ice Cream planning an IPO?

No. “IPO also not on our minds,” Siddhant Kamath said in the August 2024 Forbes India interview, adding that the company was not built to be sold. Its publicly stated near-term goals instead are roughly ₹500 crore in revenue and about 200 stores by FY27, per India Retailing and Agro & Food Processing (January 2025).

Sources

Figures are as of September 2026. Currency converted at $1 ≈ ₹96.0 as of 18 September 2026 (Trading Economics).

• CRISIL Ratings, rating rationale for Kamaths Ourtimes Ice Creams Private Limited, February 2025
• Forbes India, “We didn’t build Naturals to sell it. IPO also not on our minds: Siddhant Kamath,” August 2024
• Wikipedia, “Natural Ice Cream” (citing The Hindu BusinessLine, April 2022, and Business Standard, January 2019), accessed September 2026
• Tofler, company financial extract for Kamaths Ourtimes Icecreams Private Limited (CIN U15205MH1998PTC115326), accessed September 2026
• Tracxn, company profile for Naturals Ice Cream, accessed September 2026
• The Better India, “Naturals Ice Cream: How a Fruit Vendor’s Son Built a Rs 300 Crore Empire,” July 2021
• The Weekend Leader, “Fruity growth” (founder profile of Raghunandan Kamath), accessed September 2026
• Free Press Journal, BrandSutra, “For Naturals, the biggest marketing tool is our stores: Siddhant Kamath,” accessed September 2026
• India Retailing, “Naturals Ice Cream eyes scooping Rs 500 crore revenue by FY27, touch 200 stores by FY25,” January 2025
• Agro & Food Processing, “Naturals Ice Cream Targets ₹500 Crore Revenue by FY27; Plans 200 Stores by 2025,” January 2025

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