Nikhil Kamath cites Korea, says India can build global brands with Bollywood, food and yoga

Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath has suggested that India needs to look beyond exporting products if it wants its consumer brands to gain a stronger presence in global markets. According to Kamath, the country should promote its culture and identity alongside its products, taking inspiration from South Korea.

He pointed to Korea as an example of how cultural influence can help create global demand for a country's products and brands.

“Korea exported culture. Then the world bought Korean…India has Bollywood, music, food, fashion, yoga and Ayurveda, a cultural moat very few countries can replicate. Maybe we need to stop thinking only about exporting products and start deliberately exporting India. Consumer brands will follow,” he said on a social media post, along with a series of graphics.

Why does Kamath believe India needs to export its culture?

Kamath argued that the challenge is not a lack of international demand for Indian products, but the limited global brand value associated with India.

He compared India with Japan, noting that the two countries contribute a similar share to global GDP. Japan accounts for 3.5% of global GDP, compared with India's 3.3%. However, Japan represents 5.6% of global brand value, while India's share stands at 1.7%, according to the figures cited by Kamath.

India's products have had an international presence for centuries. Kamath highlighted the historical trade between India and the Roman Empire, noting that goods such as pepper and pearls worth around half a million coins were sold to Rome each year.

Indian textiles also gained significant popularity overseas. Their growing demand in Britain eventually led to restrictions on their import, according to the historical account cited in his post.

Several commonly used words also have links to Indian products, places or traditions. Cashmere is associated with Kashmir, calico with Calicut, while words such as khaki, pyjama and yoga have Indian origins.

However, Kamath's argument is that although these products and practices became known globally, India did not build a strong brand identity around them.

How can India's population help its brands go global?

Kamath also highlighted India's population of around 1.4 billion as an advantage for domestic consumer brands.

He said Indian companies can follow a path similar to businesses in the US and China, where a large domestic market allows brands to build scale at home before expanding internationally.

Countries such as Sweden, Switzerland and South Korea, with considerably smaller populations, have had to overcome greater limitations when building a large domestic consumer market before expanding overseas.

According to Kamath, India's global cultural offering extends far beyond yoga. He pointed to areas including speciality tea, premium fabrics, skincare, spices, Ayurveda, sustainability, luxury and wellness as potential areas for Indian brands to build an international presence.

His broader argument is that India does not necessarily need to create an entirely new playbook. Instead, the country could revisit and build on practices, products and cultural traditions that have already had international appeal.

About the Author

For about a decade, Livemint—News Desk has been a credible source for authentic and timely news, and well-researched analysis on national news, business, personal finance, corporates, politics and geopolitics. We bring the latest updates on all the listed companies on BSE and NSE, startups, mutual funds, Union ministries, geopolitics, and untapped human interest stories from around the world, helping our readers to stay informed on the latest developments around the globe. Our Coverage Areas 1. Companies: Comprehensive news and analysis on listed and unlisted companies, corporate announcements, corporate chatter, C-suite, business trends, hiring alerts, layoffs, work-life balance, world's top billionaires and richest and more. 2. Personal finance: Insights into mutual funds, small savings schemes like - PPF, SSY, post office savings scheme, stock to watch, personal loans, credit cards, top bank FDs, real estate, income tax and more. 3. Politics: Comprehensive coverage of general elections, state elections and bypolls, Lok Sabha, Vidhan Sabha, Parliament, PMO, PIB, finance ministry, home ministry, among other union ministries and government departments. 4. National News: From metro cities like Delhi, Mumbai, and e to untapped stories from rural India, we cover human interest, health, education, crime and courts, and law and order, among other areas of public interest. 5. Economy: In-depth analysis of India's macro and micro-economic indicators like- GDP, inflation, forex, fiscal deficit, current account deficit, interest rate cycle, economic recovery, RBI circulars, indirect taxes, GST, Insolvency and Bankruptcy imports, exports and everything that impacts Indian economy. 6. Geopolitics: Well-rounded and deeply researched coverage on US News, Oval Office European Union, Ukraine Russia War, middle-east crisis, royal families and global leaders like - Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un, Xi Jinping and premiers of other leading economies in the world. Meet the Team 1. Gulam Jeelani, Political Affairs Editor 2. Sugam Singhal, Senior Assistant Editor 3. Chanchal, Assistant Editor 4. Sanchari Ghosh, Chief Content Producer 5. Pratik Prashant Mukane, Chief Content Producer 6. Sayantani Biswas, Chief Content Producer 7. Ravi Hari, Deputy Chief Content Producer 8. Garvit Bhirani, Deputy Chief Content Producer 9. Akriti Anand, Senior Content Producer 10. Jocelyn Felix Fernandes, Senior Content Producer 11. Swastika Das Sharma, Content Producer 12. Mausam Jha, Content Producer 13. Riya R Alex, Trainee Content Producer

^{Get Latest real-time updates}

Stay updated with the latest Trending, India, World and US news.

HomeNewsTrendsNikhil Kamath cites Korea, says India can build global brands with Bollywood, food and yoga