He started in 1982 after a famine struck his village, after he had moved to the city in search of a job. A young man who earned Rs 3 a day working at a cinema hall, now heads a Rs 40,000 crore empire of one of India’s favourite snacks – potato chips.
Crisp on the outside, salty on the inside, Balaji Wafers revolutionised this game. And the mastermind behind bringing this epic snack to India was Chandubhai Virani. The managing director of the Balaji Group, Forbes estimates his net worth to be $1.1 billion. Today, the Balaji brothers, Chandubhai, Bikhabhai, and Kanjibhai, run the packaged foods business together.
Speaking to YouTuber Navan Jaiswal, with over 200k subscribers on YouTube, Chandubhai told him in January 2026 that he still honours the tradition of caring for cows his ancestors left behind. Even today, one of his factories has a cow shed attached as they take care of the cattle.
Forced out of their village for good in the mid-1970s after being met with deceit, the Virani brothers wrapped up the only thing they knew, agriculture. But that did not break their spirits.
In a candid conversation, the Managing Director of the Balaji Group opined that education is important, but not enough. “Education should be there, but not just education. Along with that, there should be practical knowledge, too – only then there will be fragrance in gold.”
‘They used to say kitchen ‘queen’, not ‘king”
The Jamnagar billionaire often employs women in his factories. But according to him, “They used to say ‘queen of the kitchen’, not king.” In 1989, Balaji turned high-tech, and factories went from handmade to automated in Rajkot to maintain the consistency and crunch. When Jaiswal asked Virani if he feared that technology would be a threat to their snack empire, the Balaji founder showed no sign of stress.
Instead, he showed faith in his conventional norms, unafraid of the fear of being irrelevant due to technology and that now it was up to the future generations to keep up.
Battling international competition
Going back to where he started, Mrunal Jhaveri, an investor, shared on LinkedIn that Chndubhai’s first breakthrough came from theatre canteens. From perishable sandwiches, he switched to potato wafers.
With a reported investment of Rs 20,000, Chandhubhai spotted the opportunity like a charm. Working for hours in a tiny shed, he soon started supplying wafers to local shops. In 2008, Balaji no longer remained a household name in Gujarat, but across India.
But handmade wafers stood too low in the food chain in front of global giants like PepsiCo, the company behind Lay’s, the potato chips monopoly dominating the world’s market, which even sued Balaji.
But as the market share declined with several Indian players entering the market, Balaji made a striking comeback. Launching single-serve packs, Balaji monopolised the Rs 5 market and soothed the appetite of customers from all backgrounds.
Today, it not only has wafers but also instant noodles and over 65 Indian snacks. In March 2023, Balaji Wafers reported Rs 5000 crore in annual sales in the fiscal year ending March 2023.
In the end, Jaiswal wondered if Virani was arrogant at all. He only believed in his moral values and said, “I was neither poor before, nor am I rich today.”