
Started by a question
nobody could answer
Gauri Chincholkar kept asking her suppliers a simple question about the spices on her own kitchen shelf: what exactly is in this, and where did it come from? The answers were vague, and the more she looked, the clearer the picture became — a large share of what sells in the Indian market is adulterated, brightened with added colour, or carries pesticide residue nobody talks about. Honesty was the exception, not the rule.
So she built the alternative herself. In 2025 she founded Indigenex Global LLP and launched RIO — Real Ingredients Only — buying by variety and season, cleaning and grinding in small controlled batches, and lab testing every lot for pesticides and toxins before it is packed. Nothing is added to make a spice look better than it is. If a batch does not pass, it does not ship.
“If I would not cook with it at home, it does not get our name on it.”