Incense in The Wind: Nandita Fragrances of Mumbai

Monday, 7 May 2018

Nandita Fragrances of Mumbai

Nandita Fragrances of Mumbai offer a full range of natural incenses, including bakhoor and dhoop cups. They also do one of my favourite incenses, Nandita Wood Spice, so I am keen to explore further. The company was founded by Sri. K.Y. Acharya (1928-2010), and is based in Mumbai, with a retail store in Udupi, where Acharya was born.

I like Nandita incense. They do decent proper job masala with an aim to be eco-friendly. And there is something quiet and understated about them. The packaging is always neat and tasteful. They don't tend to do showy incense; they make fairly simple but attractive incense with quality natural ingredients. The scents are traditional in nature, unassuming, and tend to be rather attractive. Not harsh, not assertive, not too sweet nor too woody. Just right. They focus on masala incense in standard boxes, though perfumes/oils are used in the masala sticks.

Nandita are distributed to Western markets by the Shah family who own WonderIncense in the UK and WonderImports in Australia. The packets are made up for the Western market.

It's been pointed out to me that K. Y. Acharya founded Acharya Products, a popular chain of incense shops in Mumbai. Alok Pandey of Malaan Gaudhoop Co who make the awesome
Malaan Gaudhoop Swarna Champa says: "Nandita is a brand by 'Acharya Products' and they are a big retail chain business of incense sticks in Mumbai. They have around 5 stores in Mumbai. They are so famous that people line up in front of their stores. They are also one of the largest distributors of incense sticks in that part of the country. Acharya Products is as old as Satya and they used to be the largest exporters for Satya in the west. I am not sure of the current status, but they share an old affiliation to Satya."