Millet 2.0: India’s Forgotten Grains Are Getting a Tech-Powered Makeover

As urban India grapples with chronic disease and nutritional gaps, startups, policymakers, and agri-tech innovators are betting big on millets—ancient grains reborn for a digital age

At a millet café in Bengaluru’s Koramangala neighborhood, a young couple sips ragi lattes while scrolling through a farm-to-table app that lets them trace their grain back to a tribal cooperative in Karnataka. A few years ago, this scene might’ve raised eyebrows. Today, it’s becoming part of India’s new food identity—an urban wellness revolution with millets at the heart of it.

In what experts are calling the “millet renaissance”, these small-seeded grains—once staples of rural diets but long overlooked in favor of rice and wheat—are making a comeback. But this isn’t a nostalgia-driven revival. It’s a calculated response to India’s looming nutritional crisis, made possible by smart logistics, data-driven agriculture, and a digital-first approach to health marketing.

Nutritional time bomb in urban kitchens

India’s cities, brimming with ambition and food delivery apps, are also where diet-related diseases are quietly spiraling.

Despite economic growth, urban Indians are eating worse than ever before. Refined carbs, trans fats, and sodium-heavy packaged foods dominate plates, while essential micronutrients are alarmingly scarce. The consequences: metabolic syndrome, early-onset diabetes, cardiovascular disease—and a swelling national healthcare burden.

“Millets offer precisely the nutrients that are missing from most modern urban diets—iron, fiber, magnesium, and complex carbs,” says Dr. Veena Kothari, a nutrition epidemiologist at the Indian Institute of Public Health. “But they’re invisible in the marketplace unless we change how we market and deliver them.”

Tech meets tradition: building smarter millet supply chains

Much of that change is now being engineered behind the scenes by a cohort of agri-tech startups and supply chain disruptors who are rethinking how millets move—from soil to spoon.

Companies like Nouriture, Agrowave, and Loopworm are using predictive analytics, cold-chain mapping, and even blockchain to bring transparency and traceability to millet logistics. The goal? Make these grains both reliable for institutional buyers and aspirational for young consumers.

Bullet points: What’s driving the digital millet push

• Blockchain-traced sourcing: Ensures ethical and high-quality millet farming, builds trust in premium markets.

• Farmer-focused platforms: Apps like DeHaat and Krishify give millet farmers better market access and agronomy advice.

• Smart storage tech: Prevents post-harvest losses, a major problem for millets due to their moisture sensitivity.

• E-commerce partnerships: Health brands like Slurrp Farm and Wholsum Foods are rebranding millets with influencer-driven D2C campaigns.

Table: Urban Millet Consumption vs Nutrient Deficiency Prevalence in India (2024)

The marketing makeover: From ‘coarse grain’ to clean superfood

Millets used to be labeled “coarse grains.” That branding, though historically accurate, is now getting a 21st-century upgrade.

“Call it the quinoa effect,” says Meghana Narayan, co-founder of Wholsum Foods and a former Rhodes Scholar. “People don’t want boring food. They want superfoods with stories.” Narayan’s company sells millet-based pancakes and high-protein blends under the brand Mille, backed by Bollywood actor Anushka Sharma. They’ve doubled revenues year-on-year.

Others, like Eatopia and The Better Flour, are tapping into India’s D2C health-food boom, rebranding jowar, bajra, and ragi as gluten-free, low-glycemic saviors for the modern palate. Swish packaging, startup-led storytelling, and high-margin SKUs are helping millets become “cool” again.

Government’s quiet pivot: Policy nudges, loud results

While the startup crowd innovates, the Indian government is giving a silent push.

In 2023, India led the United Nations’ International Year of Millets. Since then, dozens of millet-focused schemes have rolled out under the National Food Security Mission, including millet inclusion in mid-day meals and army rations.

Public-private partnerships are also scaling up. The Indian School of Business (ISB) recently launched a millet innovation accelerator, aiming to unite agri-scientists with entrepreneurs for scalable business models.

Still, many say more is needed.

“Subsidies for millet production are fine, but we need to modernize procurement and allow for tech integration in mandis and rural FPOs,” argues Apoorva Rathi, supply chain lead at AgNEXT. “Digitized MSP and real-time logistics data could triple farmer income from millets.”

The next frontier: Urban education and behavioral change

Supply-side reforms can only go so far. Urban consumer education remains the critical bottleneck.

The problem? Millets are still seen as ‘rural food for poor people’ by many urban middle-class families. That perception, more than anything, is what startups and nutritionists are trying to rewire.

Pilot projects like the Millet Mission in Mumbai Schools, backed by Tata Trusts, are using storytelling and games to teach kids about micronutrients. Cooking shows, millet influencers, and millet-themed cafés are doing their part too—but the cultural shift remains slow.

Will the grain gamble pay off?

India’s millet revival isn’t just about healthier meals. It’s about climate resilience, economic empowerment, and tech-led agricultural reform. Millets use 70% less water than rice and require fewer pesticides, making them ideal for India’s warming climate. Yet they still account for only 7% of total grain consumption in the country.

The question isn’t whether millets are good for us. It’s whether India’s food economy, culture, and infrastructure can collectively reinvent how we see—and eat—them.

For now, in cafés and cloud kitchens, in school meals and superfood bars, the experiment continues. The next big thing in Indian food may just be 5,000 years old.