New Delhi, Nov. 7 -- When Vimal Sharma was growing up in Ba, a small town in Fiji in the 1970s, he would eagerly wait for his family to return from Australia because they'd bring back boxes of chocolates from duty free. The 54-year-old founder and CEO of Smoor remembers snacking on Rocky Road, the nutty treat coated in melted chocolate, usually associated with Australia's Gold Rush from the 1850s. "It was sort of an early addiction to chocolates," he says.

After studying business management in Melbourne and working with F&B chains, Sharma moved to India to venture into the chocolate business. In 2016, he launched Smoor (previously Bliss Chocolates), having noticed that chocolate was largely an occasional indulgence for Indian consumers. ...