Sunstar Overseas Limited

“We had the right product from the right area with the right people.” That’s how Ajay Katwal sums up Sunstar Overseas Limited’s strategy for successfully marketing basmati rice worldwide. Ajay is the firm’s international marketing president.

In Sanskrit, the word basmati means “the fragrant one.” Once known as the food of emperors, this long-grain rice is famous for its aroma and flavor, along with two distinct preparation characteristics: a pronounced elongation of the grain that occurs during cooking, and a lack of stickiness once cooked. According to the BBC World’s India Business Report, more than 80% of the rice grown in India is exported. And even though there are 10,000 varieties of rice worldwide, basmati accounts for more than half the rice consumed in Europe and the Middle East.

Seizing this niche has been the New Delhi-based Sunstar Overseas Limited. This private, family-owned company produces organic and conventional basmati rice for export, while simultaneously working to expand its domestic market. A central part of its strategy has been to obtain as many certifications—kosher, organic, fair trade—as possible. Since 2001, they have partnered with thousands of small- scale farmers in northern India to create a group certification for basmati.

Although Sunstar’s conventional production still dwarfs their fair trade and organic products by a significant margin, the company has gotten international attention for helping its farmers grow certified rice products. Improving the lives of these farmers was not the original driver of Sunstar’s work, but it has certainly been an important outcome.