Most Sold Item in India: Top Food Products That Dominate the Market

When you ask what the most sold item, a food product with the highest volume of daily purchases across India is, the answer isn’t what you’d expect from a grocery shelf. It’s not exotic spices or imported snacks. It’s something simple, affordable, and eaten by millions every single day—paneer, fresh Indian cottage cheese made from milk and acid. Every morning, dairies across Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, and Maharashtra produce tons of it. Restaurants, home cooks, and street vendors use it in curries, tikkas, and snacks. It’s the backbone of vegetarian meals in a country where over 30% of the population doesn’t eat meat.

But paneer isn’t alone. Right behind it is jalebi, a deep-fried, syrup-soaked sweet made from fermented batter. You’ll find it sold by the dozen at temple gates, bus stops, and roadside carts from Delhi to Chennai. Unlike festive sweets like gulab jamun, jalebi is a daily treat—cheap, quick, and addictive. It’s not just dessert; it’s a cultural constant. Then there’s urad dal, a black lentil essential for dosa and idli batter. Millions of households soak it every night. Factories grind it in bulk. It’s the silent engine behind South India’s breakfast economy. These aren’t trends. They’re routines. They’re what people buy without thinking—because they’ve always bought them.

What makes these items top sellers? Not marketing. Not packaging. It’s function. Paneer lasts a few days in the fridge and works in dozens of dishes. Jalebi stays crispy for hours and costs less than a bus ticket. Urad dal ferments reliably with local temperatures and needs no fancy equipment. They’re all made from ingredients India already grows in abundance—milk, wheat, lentils. No imports. No complex supply chains. Just local, scalable, and deeply rooted in daily life.

Behind every one of these products is a manufacturing story. From small units churning out paneer in village dairies to automated plants grinding dal for national brands. You’ll find guides here on how to make paneer at home, why soaking urad dal matters, and how restaurants get their curry so thick. You’ll also see why jalebi outsells every other sweet—not because it’s fancy, but because it’s always there, always fresh, always affordable. This isn’t about what’s trendy. It’s about what’s trusted. What’s bought. What’s eaten. What follows.