India’s insurgent consumer brands continue to outpace the market, reaching $7.5 billion in FY25—a 3.75 times increase compared with FY20. These brands are growing 1.5 to 5 times their respective categories and are building new segments at breakneck speed.
Written in collaboration with
Written in collaboration with
The leading brands, as measured by the “Insurgex” Index, i.e., brands with revenues above INR 100 Cr, a three-year revenue Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) above 30%, and capital efficiency of greater than 1.5, in FY25, were 39 in number, up 34% vs previous year. Scaling, however, continues to be challenging for insurgents; only 22% of Indian consumer insurgents over INR 100 Cr in revenue in FY25 crossed INR 500 Cr, demonstrating that sustained breakout growth is difficult.
Previous editions focused on defining the insurgent playbook:
- 2023: We defined what an insurgent brand is and established rules for what qualifies as profitable and capital-efficient scale.
- 2024: We launched the Insurgex Index and analyzed value creation in the food and beverage sector.
- 2025: We issued the Scaling Blueprint—the INR 75 Cr–500 Cr journey—and what scaling takes in terms of time, capital, and margins. We also did a deep dive into the beauty and personal care sector.
These editions defined the “Outer Game,” how insurgents outcompete others by focusing on consumer need gaps, leveraging innovation, new models of brand building, shoppability across channels, and business model innovation.
This edition focuses on how to keep the Founder’s Mentality alive while insurgents scale (the “Inner Game”). The winning behaviors and repeatable routines are anchored in six actions:
- Cut through the noise: Lock in the insurgent mission, and link your strategy to nonnegotiable capabilities and frontline behaviors.
- Master delivery and development: Run execution and growth agendas in parallel, balancing the founder’s time and bandwidth.
- Build a team of insurgents: Hire for intent over experience, and align organizational structure to talent.
- Embrace the vertical motion: Maintain leadership focus by breaking problems into smaller, focused battles.
- Fall back in love with process: Build systems that scale without bureaucracy.
- Embed capital discipline from the outset: Use profitability as a strategic lever rather than an outcome.
We interviewed the founders of four successful brands—Veeba, Farmley, Dot & Key, and Minimalist—to understand how they maintained insurgency while scaling. Specific organizational behaviors and disciplines set these businesses apart and kept their Inner Game alive as they scaled.