Asian influence in India is growing—but are we still chasing the West?

For decades, luxury and aspiration in India meant looking West—chocolates from Belgium, perfumes from France, cinema from Hollywood. But in 2025, the country’s compass is quietly shifting. The Asian influence in India is now everywhere—across food and drink, entertainment, beauty, and wellness. 

Take the matcha trend in India, for instance—an ingredient that most chai drinkers weren’t even aware of a decade ago. In India, the market for matcha tea was valued at USD 104 million in 2024, according to Grand View Research. This market is projected to grow to USD 167.8 million by 2030, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.6 per cent from 2025 to 2030. 

"The West came and conquered us, and we in India became tea drinkers," says Nitin Tewari, mixologist and founder of BarTrender & Bar Kala Academy. "India has always looked to the West, especially Scotland for whiskey, as well as countries like France for white wine. Concepts like speakeasies too became popular in London before they picked up in India," he says.

“For the longest time, Indians were starved for anything Western, when there was no McDonald’s (first introduced in India in 1996, Delhi), Coca Cola or Pepsi (1990s), Domino’s (1996), or Nirula’s (1977). About 25 years ago, when these brands were launched in India, people were obsessed with them. Today, we’re rediscovering the joys of our own culture, using Indian ingredients with East Asian techniques,” says Riyaaz Amlani, CEO and MD of Impresario Handmade Restaurants. 

Travel between India and other Asian countries along with increasing visibility on social media accelerated this trend. In 2022, most Indians travelled to Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand when departing to Southeast Asia. India is also caught in the ‘Hallyu’ wave, or the global Korean cultural movement that began with K-dramas in the late 1990s and exploded during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

A study by Sophia College found that 66 per cent of Indian respondents listen to K-pop music, watch K-dramas, and even follow Korean vlogs, crediting social media and OTT platforms like Netflix and Viki Rakuten for easy access. 

How K-pop broke the language barrier in India

For many Indians, artist PSY's Gangnam Style (2012) was their first brush with Korean culture. “Over the past decade, through global media platforms like social networking sites and OTT services, K-pop has become one of the major youth trends in the country," says Hwang Il Yong, Director, Korean Cultural Centre India (KCCI).

N-Sonic was the first K-pop band that came to India in 2014 to perform at the K-Pop Contest 2014 India finale in Delhi, organised by KCII. In 2020, a clip that mashed superstar band BTS's choreography for Boy With Luv and the Bollywood hit song Chunari Chunari went viral. 

The K-pop fandom in India runs deep,  fuelled by online communities, concerts, fan pages and language classes too. Indian youth also resonate with the journeys of K-pop idols—their hardships, dedication, and growth—which they find closely familiar to their own dreams and challenges. “K-pop treats fans not merely as consumers, but as vital members of a community. Idols maintain close relationships with fans through social media, YouTube, and direct communication, creating a strong sense of belonging and emotional connection," says Yong. And this works in the social media economy. 

KCCI has also hosted several events, including an All India K-Pop Contest in 2025, Rang De Korea, and K-Harmony Festa. They've also been pivotal in bringing K-pop groups to India. KCCI now sends Korean instructors to schools across Delhi, Noida, and Patna, while Duolingo ranks Korean as India’s most-learned language after English, Hindi, and French. 

"It's surprising how invested fans are in learning Korean. We always find crowds singing along at every show that we perform," says Abishek, 30, guitarist of Bengaluru-based cosplay band Daisuki (Japanese for "I really like you"), formed in 2020 over their love for anime and J-pop music. “Anime has always been a part of cosplaying in India, which became big in 2010,” he says. 

Cosplay has evolved in India since the first Comic Con held in the country in 2011. In 2024, Chennai’s first Comic Con had 32,000 visitors. Anime’s popularity, introduced via Cartoon Network in 2001, has grown into a cultural identity visible in the anime and cosplay communities in India today. 

Cardcaptors (a Japanese Manga series adapted into an anime television series revolving around a 10-year-old girl tasked with capturing a set of magical cards) was Ankita Kemkar's introduction to anime. The founder of an arts and crafts studio in Bengaluru, Kemkar was representing  Team India at World Cosplay Summit 2025 at Nagoya, Japan, she says, "It was only after 2020 that anime was more easily available online. The East has an understanding of aesthetics and visuals in storytelling, while the West is great with scripts and spontaneity." Cosplay clubs and Indian-produced anime now signal how local creators are owning the form. 

Why India is hooked on K-dramas

K-dramas aren’t just a means of entertainment, they act as a cultural bridge. Netflix reports Squid Game as its biggest-ever series launch, with 142 million households tuning in. In India, viewership for K-dramas rose 370 per cent in 2020.

A 2024 report found 84.5% of Indians liked the Korean cultural content they experienced, with India ranking second  with the most significant increase in interest in Korean culture. “K-dramas balance modernity and heritage, unlike louder, blasé Western cultures,” says food critic Kunal Vijaykar. “Respect for elders and other traditional elements are common to the cultures of India and South Korea, and most Asian countries. In a way, Indians are an aspirational society. It's easier to aspire to the East than the West." 

OTT platforms dubbing content into Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu have widened access, giving East Asian content in India a firm hold. Migration and trade also fuel this connection. South Korea is among India’s top ten trade partners, and Japan and India have expanded educational and digital collaborations. 

In addition to the major corporations, a number of smaller South Korean technology companies have entered the Indian market, further contributing to the expatriate population. The pandemic years prompted many South Korean firms to reduce their reliance on China and seek new manufacturing and supply chain hubs in India instead. Meanwhile, India and Japan have had multiple productive bilateral relations in the education sector, and exchange programmes, besides the Japan-India Digital Partnership in the last few years. 

How Asian flavours are reshaping India’s palate

When it comes to food, India’s palate has always leaned East. "Indians love bold flavours, given the usage of spices. We are culturally also big on sharing,” says Amlani. “We like to have it all together on a plate, not like the European course-wise style."

"Our palate is much closer to the East than the West,” adds Vijaykar. “Plus, everyone in Asia eats rice. That's when Indians go to a Japanese or Chinese or Malay or Thai restaurant. No part of India eats bland food." 

Chinese cuisine set the foundation for the current popularity of Eastern flavours in India. It began in 18th-century Calcutta, where Chinese workers settled along trade routes, and found early expression in Bombay’s now-shuttered Lokjun (1895) opened by a Japanese couple in Kamathipura’s Shuklaji Street and Calcutta’s still-standing Nanking in Tirreti Bazaar or Tangra (1924). “Forty years ago, the best restaurants in the country served three cuisines: Indian Mughlai, Chinese, and Continental,” says Amlani. This legacy paved the way for today’s love of sushi, ramen, and umami.

"The most surprising part has been how quickly guests have embraced umami, savoury, and ferment-driven cocktails,” says Ankur Adhana, Beverage Head at Kamei in Delhi. "Post-pandemic, the rise of Omakase-style bars (and Japanese izakaya and Korean karaoke bars) saw renewed interest in Japanese and Southeast Asian spirits like sake, shochu, and umeshu accelerate the movement," he adds. 

“Gurugram has clusters of Japanese and Korean communities, complete with karaoke bars too. Moreover, most Asians love eating and drinking out, besides being decent spenders—they spend ₹30,000-40,000 per person, while Indians will spend ₹3,000," explains Tewari. 

The Asian influence in Indiahas shaped bar design too, with flat bar counters where people can watch their drinks being made, inspired by Japanese cocktail culture and a preference for craftsmanship over showmanship. 

Indians are also increasingly reaching for Japanese single malts and other East Asian spirits. "For so long, rich Indians have been trying to impress each other via European brands, which got old at some point,” says Rusty Chowdhary, a lawyer based in Delhi and Japan. “It's now a bottle of Hibiki whisky or Umeshu Japanese liqueur, which is craft in itself. People are bored of things from the West. They need a new avenue to feed their consumerist needs, which the East is providing."

Design, discipline, and mindfulness

Opulence often means more and louder. The East does it with far more elegance. In interior aesthetics, Japanese minimalism and Korean functional design entered India via brands like MUJI (which opened its first Indian store around 2016-17).  "Post-pandemic, it turned into something deeper, an emotional need for calm, simplicity, and intentional living. As homes became sanctuaries, ideas like wabi-sabi and Ma (a concept highlighting the importance of spaces that create balance and bring calm) began resonating with Indians seeking balance over excess. At that point, it wasn't about adopting a foreign style, it was about recognising shared values. Both Indian and Eastern philosophies revere craft, material honesty, and restraint," explains Sneha Ostawal, Founder and Principal Architect at Source Architecture. 

By 2018–19, the Japandi movement—a blend of Japanese craftsmanship with Scandinavian warmth—made minimalism feel human again. “By the time it reached India, the trend had matured into a philosophy, one that aligned perfectly with our own culture's respect for handmade materials and spatial harmony," says Ostawal. 

Japanese wellness made its way into homes when Marie Kondo’s Tidying Up with Marie Kondo (2019) popularised her KonMari method of intentional living. It reframed tidiness as therapy, resonating with Indians seeking calm, clarity, and emotional order in their spaces.

Even ways of seeking leisure have gone East. Mahjong, introduced in India by British Army families in the 1940s, is now resurfacing among urban millennials. “Earlier, it was women in their 40s-50s [playing Mahjong]. Today, those in their 20s and 30s are playing it,” says Sabina Pathak, a Delhi-based curator. “Mahjong works because it’s a constructive community game played offline, similar to the concept of playing cards,” adds Pathak. Mahjong’s revival in India isn’t just about play; it reflects a growing appetite for mindfulness and community.  Zen Diamond India turned it into a statement of intent, creating a luxury Mahjong set with diamond-inlaid tiles. “Immersive wellness concepts and experiences rooted in Eastern traditions are becoming popular in India,” says Ankita Sonawala, Brand Head at Zen Diamond India. 

How Asian beauty and wellness is taking root in India

Japanese wellness has long defined simplicity and ritual. In 2025, as wellness expands to include sexual health, Japanese brand Okamoto—present in India since 2012—is launching ultra-thin 0.02mm condoms made with Japanese polyurethane technology. 

Meanwhile, popular culture has been one of K-beauty’s most effective marketing tools. The global success of the series Crash Landing on Youturned the Korean beauty aesthetic in Indiainto aspiration. "The show didn't just entertain, it brought Korean aesthetics, skincare rituals, and the 'glass skin' ideal into Indian living rooms. That visibility turned curiosity into aspiration. The first gateway was sheet masks from brands like Innisfree and The Face Shop, followed by sunscreens and serums powered by ingredients like snail mucin and niacinamide," says Radhika Ghai, Founder & CEO of Kindlife. 

The K-beauty movement works because it fills a gap. For years, Indian consumers toggled between Ayurveda-inspired beauty and clinical Western formulations. "K-beauty bridged that divide,” says Ghai. “[It] introduced the idea of preventive skincare and barrier repair, rather than reactive treatment, and made ingredients like snail mucin, niacinamide, and cica part of everyday routines. Korean skincare is also far more advanced compared to that of other countries," she adds.

Korean skincare also redefined what innovation meant—from advanced suncare filters to packaging that emphasised ritual and texture. And while the West may have legitimised K-beauty through retailers like Sephora and Ulta, its steady rise in India reflects something different: a shift toward products that feel both gentle and high-tech, traditional yet forward-thinking. 

Why India’s Eastward shift still seeks Western approval

India’s turn East still, however, follows a familiar pattern—waiting for the West to look first. “Buddha Bar in London (2008) and Paris (1996) were big before Nobu came along (1994, New York), and made sushi fashionable in the West. Oriental food has huge demand in Europe as well because flavour bombs are taking over worldwide,” says Amlani. “Bars like Kwānt in London and Double Chicken Please in New York have long used ingredients such as yuzu, miso caramel, and fermented rice bases,” says Ankit Tayal, Director, Truepalate Hospitality.  

Cinema and pop culture follow a similar script. Parasite’s historic Oscar win in 2020 mainstreamed K-thrillers; cosplay and K-pop collaborations only became aspirational in India after gaining a stamp of approval from the West—think Blackpink’s Rosé performing with Bruno Mars.

“Psychologically, Indians have always looked up to the West and felt inferior to it,” says Vijaykar  “We’ve never felt that way about the East. We have judged them, looked down upon the Thai because Indians have the habit of trampling over people that offer great service—like the Thai and people from other Asian countries. While we may have a superiority complex with the East, we do feel closer to it than to the West. But we aren’t going to give up looking towards the West.”

Yet, as Tewari points out, the most meaningful ideas were borrowed from the East itself. “The concept of an umami flavour profile comes from the East. The West has always been very technique-centric, which is where we got molecular gastronomy and caviar from. The East told us to be proud of what we have,” says Tewari.  

After all, India has always resonated with the East spiritually. Whether it was via Feng shui, the Chinese system of geomancy, the Indian architectural ways of Vastu Shastra, or the practice of keeping The Laughing Buddha at home for good luck. If the West appeals to India’s intellect, the East speaks to its instincts.