Hyderabad: Hyderabad has emerged as the country’s caramel capital, with the city recording the strongest preference for caramel chocolates among all Indian cities, according to an analysis of online grocery delivery orders released by Instagram on World Chocolate Day on Tuesday, June 7.
The findings, based on Instamart’s order data between July 2025 and June 2026 across more than 130 Indian cities, showed that India’s chocolate habits are more than a simple sweet tooth, with a viral pistachio-filled chocolate from Dubai and a growing appetite for sugar-free and protein bars among the standout trends of the year.
Chocolate, once largely reserved for celebrations and gifting, has steadily made its way into everyday grocery baskets across the country, the data showed.
Dubai chocolate is the breakout star
Despite the growing appetite for experimentation, classic milk chocolate remains the nation’s top choice, accounting for four in every 10 chocolate orders, followed by chocolate-coated wafer bars, which made up roughly two in every 10 orders. Fruit and nut, caramel and hazelnut varieties rounded out the list of India’s most preferred flavours.
The standout trend of the year, however, was the so-called Dubai chocolate, the pistachio-filled, kunafa-stuffed bar that first went viral on social media, with orders for it jumping by a whopping 11,739 per cent, making it the fastest-growing chocolate trend on the platform.
The data also pointed to a parallel shift towards “healthy” indulgences. One in every five chocolates ordered was now premium or functional in nature, while sugar-free chocolate orders grew 85 per cent and dark chocolate demand rose nearly 50 per cent year-on-year. Protein chocolates also emerged as one of the fastest-growing categories, reflecting a growing preference for treats that combine taste with nutritional value.
Bengaluru snacks the most, Mumbai spends the most
Bengaluru emerged as the country’s biggest chocolate consumer, ordering nearly twice as much chocolate as the average metro, and also leading the pack in orders of sugar-free and protein chocolates, accounting for nearly a quarter of such orders nationally. Mumbai is close behind.
However, Mumbai has established itself as the country’s premium chocolate capital, recording the strongest preference for high-end chocolate purchases, while cities like Kochi and Kolkata were quietly developing a taste for hazelnut and white chocolate.
Valentine’s Day remains chocolate’s biggest moment
Unsurprisingly, Valentine’s Day continued to be the year’s single biggest chocolate-buying occasion, with orders surging 74 per cent.
But the data also suggested that chocolate has moved well beyond special occasions and into daily routines, showing up as a post-lunch indulgence, a late-night companion during movies or an impulse add-on during a regular grocery run, the data showed.
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