A quick note on naming before anything else: what's commonly marketed as a "lotus seed snack" is, in the vast majority of cases, actually makhana — the popped seed of Euryale ferox, not the true lotus, Nelumbo nucifera. We're using "lotus seed snack" here because it's the term a lot of shoppers actually search for, not because it's the precise botanical name — see what fox nuts actually are if you want that distinction spelled out properly. Naming aside, the trend itself is real, and it shows up in places that don't lie: export figures, market-research forecasts, and a dedicated government body set up specifically to support the sector. Here's what's actually driving it.
The numbers behind the "trend" claim
India's domestic makhana market has been estimated at roughly ₹9.29 billion in 2025, with forecasts putting it near ₹19.95 billion by 2034 — a compound annual growth rate around 8.85%, according to industry research firm IMARC. Global fox-nut market forecasts run higher again, with one estimate (Future Market Insights) putting the global market at roughly US$1.7 billion in 2026, growing to around US$4.7 billion by 2036. Market-size forecasts always carry a wide margin of error and vary between research firms — we're citing ranges, not treating any single number as gospel — but the direction across multiple independent estimates is consistent: this is a category growing well ahead of the snack industry average, not a stable niche.
Exports are growing even faster than the domestic market
Trade data tells a similarly striking story. Reported makhana exports grew from around 6,700 tonnes in 2020 to roughly 25,130 tonnes in 2024 — a compound growth rate approaching 40% a year over that period, with 2024 exports valued at an estimated US$32.31 million. More recent partial-year figures for 2025–26 put exports at over 7,264 tonnes worth close to ₹193 crore. The United States is generally reported as the largest premium export market, with meaningful demand also coming from Gulf countries and the UK/EU — much of it tied to Indian diaspora buying patterns as well as the broader Western health-snack market discovering it independently. We cover the competitive side of this story, including China's role as a rival grower, in why China wants a piece of India's makhana market.
A dedicated government board is a real policy signal
Trends driven purely by marketing rarely get a dedicated government institution built around them. India's Union Budget for 2025–26 announced a National Makhana Board with roughly ₹100 crore in backing, which launched in Purnea, Bihar, in September 2025 — aimed at supporting growers, standards and market development for the sector. That's a genuinely different signal from influencer buzz: it reflects an assessment, at a policy level, that the sector has real growth trajectory worth institutional support. We go into what that kind of backing typically means in practice in India's Makhana Board: what it means for growers and buyers.
Why now, specifically
A few tailwinds are landing at the same time. Demand for gluten-free, vegan, plant-protein snacks has been climbing broadly across health-conscious shoppers, and makhana fits that profile without needing any reformulation — it simply already is those things. The 2022 Geographical Indication tag for "Mithila Makhana" gave the category a protected, traceable origin story, the kind of provenance narrative that resonates with buyers who care where their food comes from — see our GI tag explainer. And unlike a lot of trend snacks that get manufactured into existence, makhana already had centuries of cultural grounding in Bihar to draw on — we'd rather point to that history than pretend this is a brand-new invention; see before it was a superfood, it was prasad.
The supply-side ceiling that keeps this from being just hype
Here's the part most trend pieces skip: makhana's growth is genuinely constrained by how it's produced. Harvesting and popping are still entirely manual — there's no mechanised shortcut waiting to scale supply overnight — and post-harvest losses in the sector have been reported at over 25%. That's a real bottleneck, not a marketing footnote, and it's the subject of our piece on the industry's real constraint: human hands. In practice, that ceiling is part of why prices haven't collapsed even as demand climbs — see why good makhana isn't cheap — and it's a meaningful reason to expect this trend to be durable rather than a fad that fades once a marketing budget runs out.
Where this leaves the domestic market
Export growth and government backing are only half the picture — the trend is showing up just as visibly on Indian shelves, where D2C brands (including us) have helped shift makhana from a regional, festival-tied food into a mainstream everyday snacking category over the past decade. We've written about that domestic shift specifically, separate from the export story here, in how makhana went from regional staple to mainstream snack market.
Frequently asked questions
Are lotus seed snacks the same as makhana? In marketing, "lotus seed snack" is very often used as a nickname for makhana (fox nuts), which botanically come from Euryale ferox, not the true lotus (Nelumbo nucifera). We use "lotus seed snack" in this article because that's the term many shoppers actually search for, but if you want the precise botanical picture, it's worth reading our fox nuts guide.
Is makhana actually becoming more popular, or is that just marketing? Trade and market-research data both point the same direction: India's makhana market and makhana exports have both grown at a fast clip over the past several years, and a dedicated government body (the National Makhana Board) was set up specifically to support the sector — that's a real policy response, not just a marketing narrative.
Why is makhana trending now specifically? A combination of factors landing at once: rising demand for gluten-free, vegan, low-fat plant protein snacks; a 2022 GI tag giving Mithila Makhana a protected origin story; growing export demand, particularly from Indian diaspora and health-food markets in the US, UK and Gulf; and recent government attention, including a dedicated makhana board.
Which countries import the most makhana? The United States is generally reported as the largest premium export market, followed by demand from the Gulf countries and the UK/EU — much of it driven by Indian diaspora communities and the broader health-snack market.
Will the makhana trend last, or is it a fad? That's genuinely hard to call with certainty. What's different about makhana compared to some other trend snacks is that the supply side is still fundamentally manual and geography-limited — Bihar's ponds, hand-harvested and hand-popped — so growth is constrained by real production capacity, not just marketing spend, which tends to make trends more durable than they'd otherwise be.
About Makhana Box
We're part of this story on the small-batch end of it — real makhana, dry-roasted in Patna, Bihar, not manufactured trend-chasing. If the numbers above have you curious to actually try it, browse our six roasted flavours. Reach us anytime:
- Phone: +91 91559 97784
- Email: sales@makhanabox.com
Market and trade figures cited here are drawn from third-party research and government sources as reported at the time of writing, and are estimates rather than guaranteed outcomes. This article is for general information, not financial or investment advice.