Years F&V Expertise
Tonnes Weekly Capacity
Peak Annual Turnover
Preservative-Free Science
Malgudi - Pioneering Fresh Produce Excellence
Malgudi is a leader in India's fresh fruits & vegetables ecosystem. Rooted in grassroots horticulture and backed by decades of scientific post-harvest handling, we bridge direct local farm sourcing in Maharashtra with state-of-the-art processing, unbroken cold chain infrastructure, and seamless omnichannel retail distribution.
From custom QSR processing for global quick-service restaurant brands to ready-to-cook Fresh-Cut retail ranges and value-added exports, Malgudi protects what the farmer grows to ensure the end consumer receives peak natural freshness and extended usable shelf life.
Partnering directly with Maharashtra farm networks, prioritizing cultivar selection, soil health, and ethical harvesting from the very start.
Field heat removal, ethylene-controlled ripening, and precise cold chain transport to maximize natural shelf life without chemical preservatives.
Cut-on-order processing, continuous sanitization, and modified atmosphere packaging engineered for complete consumer convenience.
Arun Sunder Kotian - Fruits & Vegetables Specialist
Malgudi Daily Fresh, renowned for exceptional quality, offers a diverse array of India's fresh fruits and vegetables. Upholding the country's rich agricultural heritage, we promote sustainable farming and source extensively from local farms in Maharashtra. Building on 20 years of wholesale experience, we've adeptly expanded into retail and e-commerce in the past four years, continually adapting to our customers' needs.
Three Decades of Transforming Fruits & Vegetables — From Farm to Fork
For more than three decades, Arun Sunder Kotian has worked across virtually every stage of the Fruits & Vegetables value chain—from scientific cultivation and harvesting to post-harvest management, processing, cold chain, procurement, food distribution, modern retail, Fresh-Cut, e-commerce and quick commerce.
His professional journey began in 1995, but the philosophy that eventually shaped Malgudi developed gradually through a rare combination of experiences: working directly on farms, understanding the science of produce, building food-distribution systems, learning modern retail technology and ultimately becoming an entrepreneur.
Arun began his professional career with Trikaya in 1995, working with exotic vegetables across approximately 150 acres of cultivation. This was where he developed his grassroots understanding of horticulture—not merely buying produce from farmers, but understanding how the product itself is created. He worked across cultivar selection, growing conditions, crop management, harvesting, processing and post-harvest handling.
McDonald's Lettuce Challenge: One of his important early assignments involved developing lettuce for the McDonald's supply chain. The challenge went far beyond simply growing lettuce. The product needed the correct cultivar, appropriate growing conditions, harvesting maturity, consistency, processing characteristics and post-harvest performance.
While continuing his work with Trikaya, Arun was appointed to head Trikaya McClean, a premium garment-care business catering to high-end customers. His studies in Chemistry contributed to his understanding of chemicals, fabrics, stains and cleaning processes.
The business operated an end-to-end premium service model: Home Pickup → Scientific Garment Care → Finishing → Packaging → Home Delivery. This taught him a fundamental business lesson: Understand the product scientifically, design the right process, maintain quality at every stage, and deliver an exceptional customer experience.
Dragon Fruit Experimentation: Around 1999, Arun undertook extensive experimentation with dragon fruit, eventually developing cultivation across approximately 25 acres when the crop was largely unfamiliar to the Indian mainstream market.
Thailand Lettuce Cultivation: In the same year, he travelled to Thailand and shared his practical knowledge and experience relating to lettuce cultivation in the Chiang Mai region, adapting global practices to Indian conditions.
Arun joined Foodland as Procurement Manager, learning the economics and infrastructure of procurement, trading, and large-scale food distribution. He was actively involved in developing the 9-acre Food Distribution Centre at Taloja.
Here, his understanding of the cold chain was solidified. For Arun, cold chain was never simply about putting produce inside a refrigerated room; it was a continuous system from harvest, field heat removal, processing, storage, transportation, all the way to retail.
At Shoprite, Arun worked as Trading Business Manager. He combined his understanding of produce with technology-driven procurement, inventory, replenishment, and sales systems (using his Java & E-commerce background from Boston Computer Institute).
Scale & Dignity: The F&V category exceeded 200 tonnes per week. Arun believed F&V deserved the same professional attention given to any sophisticated retail category. He introduced graded, processed, packed, branded, and merchandised formats to make produce highly convenient.
Ripening & Fresh-Cut: In 2006, he implemented controlled ethylene-based fruit-ripening (bananas, mangoes, papayas). He also led the development of Fresh-Cut ranges. Eventually, the business expanded into B2B supply relationships with Reliance, Star Bazaar, and Big Bazaar.
When Shoprite's India operations closed in 2010, Arun chose entrepreneurship. With just ₹2 lakh assembled from personal savings and pledged gold, Malgudi was born. Starting with processing F&V for leading Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) customers, the first-year turnover reached ₹80 lakh.
In 2012, Malgudi's retail Fresh-Cut business accelerated. In 2013, as online grocery expanded in Mumbai, Malgudi became an important fresh-produce partner. Digital commerce met Farm-to-Fork, leading to B2B, E-Commerce, and Quick Commerce partnerships built on commitment, consistency, and integrity.
By 2020, Malgudi reached a turnover of more than ₹70 crore, evolving through QSR processing, modern retail, Fresh-Cut, B2B, and value-added exports.
Founder & Managing Director, Malgudi | Techno-Commercial Fruits & Vegetables Specialist | Post-Harvest | Fresh-Cut | Cold Chain | Food Processing | Modern Retail | E-Commerce
“The farmer, processor, distributor, retailer and digital platform are all facilitators. The end consumer is the ultimate owner of the product. Our responsibility is to deliver it with maximum possible freshness, quality and usable shelf life.”
Arun describes himself as a techno-commercial Fruits & Vegetables professional. His education blends Chemistry (Elphinstone College), Food Technology (Saurashtra University), and E-Commerce & Java (Boston Computer Institute).
Arun's work focus is on extending natural shelf life and reducing food wastage without relying on artificial preservatives. Instead, he optimizes:
Every unnecessary hour or temperature excursion in the supply chain consumes shelf life. By optimizing from the consumer backwards, Malgudi reduces post-harvest wastage significantly.
Transforming Agricultural Produce into Value-Added Consumer Formats
Converting raw coconut into an attractive, convenient, professionally trimmed ready-to-consume consumer product under strict hygiene.
Hygienically separated pomegranate seeds processed for Gulf market exports, engineered for extended natural shelf life.
Precision shredded lettuce, diced onions, and custom sliced vegetables daily supplying major Quick Service Restaurant chains.
Scientific ripening technology for bananas, mangoes, and papayas delivering optimal eating quality, uniform color, and zero artificial carbide.
Trust Built on Uncompromised Quality & Consistency
Processing Centre, Cold Chain Hubs & Customer Touchpoints
Malgudi Central Processing
Turbhe MIDC, Turbhe, Navi Mumbai,
Maharashtra 400705, India
Malgudi Ulwe Outlet
Shop No 10-11, Anmol Sankalp, Sector 5,
Ulwe, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra 410206, India
Malgudi Chembur Outlet
Shop No 1, Acharya Commercial Complex, Vani Apartment,
Chembur, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400071, India