Power Vacuum: ‘Kitchen Tech’ Startups Step Up To Fill India’s LPG Gap

India’s kitchens rarely change overnight. For decades, the LPG cylinder has been more than just a utility, it has been a deeply embedded part of everyday life. But over the past few weeks, the LPG crunch has begun to disrupt that stability, pushing consumers to rethink how they cook, what they cook, and increasingly, what they cook on.

What is unfolding is not merely a temporary spike in appliance sales. It is a rare moment where a supply-side shock is accelerating a long-pending transition from gas-dependent kitchens to a more diversified, electricity-powered cooking ecosystem.

As concerns around LPG availability began to circulate, households across India responded not by abandoning gas altogether but by hedging their bets. The result was a clear and measurable pivot toward electric cooking appliances, especially induction cooktops.

Retail data reflects just how sharp this shift has been. According to Tata-owned retail electronics chain Croma’s CEO and MD Shibashish Roy, the company is witnessing a surge in demand for electric cooking appliances, with induction cooktops leading the momentum. 

“Sales have increased dramatically, and March performance has accelerated sharply compared to the same period last year. Our highest single-day sale for induction cooktops has surpassed what we previously sold in an entire month,” Roy said.

This is not just a spike driven by curiosity or discounting cycles. It is being driven by a deeper consumer instinct, the need for reliability in uncertain times. Appliances that were earlier positioned as optional or lifestyle-driven are now being re-evaluated as essential backups.

The shift is even more pronounced online. An Amazon spokesperson told Inc42 that induction cooktop sales have increased 18X over the past few weeks, underlining how quickly consumer demand has scaled. What is notable here is not just the magnitude, but the speed – a transition that typically takes years is unfolding within a matter of weeks.

This moment is forcing a behavioural reset. Consumers are no longer asking whether electric cooking appliances are worth trying. They are asking whether they can afford not to have them.

Beyond Induction: A Broader Appliance Boom

While induction cooktops are the most immediate beneficiaries, the impact of this shift is spreading across the broader cooking ecosystem. Kitchen tech, which includes smart appliances, IoT-enabled devices, automation tools, and AI-driven cooking solutions, is seeing a surge.

At Croma, the demand surge extends well beyond a single category. “Rice cooker sales have tripled, and air fryers are experiencing robust, sustained demand,” Croma’s Roy said. This indicates that consumers are not just looking for emergency cooking alternatives but are beginning to reconfigure their kitchens around convenience and efficiency.

On Amazon, categories such as instant noodles, packaged meals, snacks, and beverages are seeing over 15% growth. The rise is even sharper in ultra-fast delivery formats. The company noted that demand for ready-to-eat and packaged food on its quick commerce platform has increased around 20% month-on-month, particularly in urban clusters like Delhi NCR, Mumbai, and Bengaluru.

This parallel rise of appliances and convenience food points to a deeper shift in consumer behaviour. Cooking itself is being redefined from a time-intensive, gas-dependent activity to something that can be modular, flexible, and often assisted by appliances.

According to Rakesh Patil, founder of Beyond Appliances, which recently launched a smart cooktop, this transition was something that was always technologically inevitable but behaviourally delayed. 

“Electric cooking is fundamentally more efficient, but adoption has always lagged because consumers don’t change habits unless something forces them to,” he said. The current LPG situation, in his view, is forcing this adoption.

He also emphasised that the shift is not just about replacing gas but about unlocking a different kind of cooking experience. “Once people start using these appliances, they realise it’s not just a backup. It’s faster, more controlled, and in many cases, more convenient than gas,” he noted.

What makes this moment particularly significant is its geographic spread. The demand is not limited to metros. Amazon highlighted that the growth is broad-based, spanning cities like Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Chennai, as well as tier II and III markets such as Haryana’s Sonipat and Goa’s Panaji. 

Supply Chain Under Pressure

With demand surging overnight, supply chains are now under pressure to keep up. Retailers and ecommerce platforms are already scrambling to respond. 

Croma, for instance, has proactively strengthened its supply chain by placing significantly larger orders with its brand partners to ensure availability across stores and online platforms. But scaling supply in this category is far from straightforward.

Unlike fast-moving consumer goods, appliances operate on longer production and distribution cycles. Manufacturing cannot be ramped up instantly without aligning multiple moving parts – from component sourcing to assembly line capacity. 

Many electric cooking appliances depend on imported components, which introduces additional complexity, especially in the current volatile global supply environment.

Beyond Appliances’ Patil also acknowledged this challenge, pointing out that demand-side shocks often expose the rigidity of incumbent supply systems. 

“You can’t just switch on supply overnight. There are manufacturing constraints, there are supply chain dependencies, and there’s planning that goes months in advance,” he said.

In his view, the real test for appliance makers is not just capturing demand, but sustaining availability without compromising on quality or pricing.

There is also the challenge of distribution. A significant portion of the current demand is coming from consumers who want immediate access. Ensuring that inventory is not just available centrally but distributed effectively across regions is a logistical challenge, especially in a market as fragmented as India.

This is where ecommerce platforms are attempting to step in with ecosystem-level solutions, especially for convenience food options. Amazon, for instance, has curated a dedicated “Ready-to-Eat Store” to cater to rising demand for convenience meals, while also leveraging its AI-powered assistant, Rufus, to help customers discover relevant products more efficiently. 

These moves indicate that the response is not just about increasing supply but about restructuring how demand is served.

Crisis That May Redefine Kitchens 

The key question now is whether this moment will leave a lasting impact. India is unlikely to move away from LPG entirely. The infrastructure, subsidies, and cultural familiarity associated with gas cooking are too deeply entrenched. But what this crisis may do is accelerate the emergence of a hybrid kitchen model.

The founder captured this idea succinctly. “This isn’t about replacing LPG overnight. It’s about adding another layer to the kitchen. And once that layer exists, it doesn’t go away,” he said. In other words, electric appliances may not displace gas, but they will increasingly coexist with it.

There are structural reasons why this coexistence could persist. Electric cooking appliances offer advantages in terms of efficiency, speed, and control. For certain use cases, such as quick meals, reheating or low-effort cooking, they may even become the default option.

At the same time, challenges remain. Electricity reliability continues to be a concern in many parts of the country. Cost perceptions also play a role, especially when comparing electricity usage with subsidised LPG. And perhaps most importantly, cooking habits are deeply cultural, and not all dishes or techniques translate seamlessly to electric formats.

Yet, moments of disruption have a way of accelerating change in ways that gradual evolution cannot. What the LPG crunch has done is force millions of consumers to try alternatives they might have otherwise ignored. And once this trial happens, behaviour rarely reverts completely.

For retailers, this is a moment of both opportunity and stress – an opportunity to drive category growth and a stress test for supply chain resilience. For manufacturers, it is a chance to convert short-term demand into long-term adoption. And for consumers, it is an unexpected introduction to a more flexible, multi-layered approach to cooking.

Edited by Vinaykumar Rai

The post Power Vacuum: ‘Kitchen Tech’ Startups Step Up To Fill India’s LPG Gap appeared first on Inc42 Media.