Does India’s famous Karachi Bakery have links to Pakistan? Why was it vandalised?

As India and Pakistan engaged in hostilities on Saturday (May 11) — with Islamabad launching drones and missiles across the border — the famous Karachi Bakery in Hyderabad was vandalised by right-wing elements, demanding that the confectionery store change its name.

Notably, this isn’t the first time that the brand, which is known for its fruit and Osmania biscuits, has been at the receiving end of hyper-nationalists in India, who repeatedly question the store owners’ allegiance to the country.

Amid this new controversy, we take a look at what happened at Karachi Bakery on Saturday, just hours before a ceasefire was announced between India and Pakistan, and the history of this brand.

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Right-wing elements attack Karachi Bakery

On Saturday (May 10), an outlet of Karachi Bakery in Hyderabad’s Shamshabad was vandalised by an angry mob of right-wing activists. Visuals of the incident show a group of men hitting the bakery’s signboard displaying the work ‘Karachi’ with sticks and shouting slogans of ‘Pakistan Murdabad’ and ‘Jai Jawan’, alluding to Indian troops and Operation Sindoor.

Men calling themselves nationalists vandalising an Indian owned Karachi bakery in Hyderabad.

It's a 6-decade old Indian brand founded by founded by Khanchand Ramnani.

Poor Karachi bakery that has nothing to do with Pakistan becomes the victim of idiocy every single time. pic.twitter.com/XDkmtMnkgp

— Anusha Ravi Sood (@anusharavi10) May 11, 2025

Confirming the incident, K Balaraju, inspector, RGI Airport Police Station, said, “No employees at the bakery were harmed. No serious damage was done. We were on the spot within a few minutes of the incident and could disperse the members.”

This incident comes just days after another Karachi Bakery store in Hyderabad was embroiled in a India-Pakistan protest. At the height of the conflict last week, protesters were seen planting tricolour flags at the Banjara Hills Branch of the bakery.

Moreover, a group of people protested outside Karachi Bakery’s outlet in Vizag, Andhra Pradesh. A video of the protest showed members demanding the name be changed, claiming it was unacceptable to name an Indian business after a Pakistani city. The police intervened just in time, preventing protesters from tearing down the signboard.

These incidents led to the owners of Karachi Bakery to reiterate its love for India. On Instagram, the owners of the famous store posted a message, asserting that it was “proudly Indian”. “Our name is part of our history, not our nationality,” it added.

When Karachi Bakery felt the heat

This isn’t the first brush with trouble for the famous Karachi Bakery. In fact, each time there are war clouds over India and Pakistan, the confectionery store has faced trouble.

In Mumbai, following the 26/11 terror attacks of 2008, both the Shiv Sena and Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) took turns targeting the bakery. A video posted by Shiv Sena’s Nitin Nandgaonkar’s Facebook page showed him speaking to the owner of the store in the Mumbai suburban area of Bandra. The Sena leader asked the shop owner to change the store’s name to “something in Marathi”.

The MNS even issued a legal notice in 2020. Eventually, under financial strain and continuous pressure, the Mumbai branch shut down in 2021. The MNS claimed victory with the party’s vice president Haji Saif Shaikh writing on X, “After massive protest for its name, Karachi Bakery finally closes its only shop in Mumbai.”

Then again, in 2019, after the Pulwama attack — in which 40 Central Reserve Police Force troops were killed — Karachi Bakery’s Indiranagar branch in Bengaluru was forced to cover the word “Karachi” on its signboard following threats from a group of agitators.

What’s in a name? The history of Karachi Bakery

But what’s the history behind the famous confectionery store? Does it have any links to Pakistan?

Karachi Bakery, founded in a bylane near the outlet in Moazzam Jahi Market in Hyderabad, began in 1953 by Khanchand Ramnani, a Hindu Sindhi who migrated from Karachi during Partition.

Ramnani’s grandsons recount how the move occurred amid the horrific days of the great divide. According to them, Khanchand, who had a food and bakery business in Sindh, decided to move to India along with his four sons. At the time, armed with just a few recipes and the memory of his city, Karachi, Khanchand decided to name the store as ‘Karachi Bakery’ as an ode to the city he was forced to leave behind.

As current promoters Rajesh and Harish Ramnani were quoted as saying, “Our grandfather named it after his hometown. Karachi was where he came from, Hyderabad is where he rebuilt his life.”

In the initial years, Karachi Bakery sold bakery and food items sourced from third parties. However, in 1960, the owner began selling handcrafted fruit and Osmania biscuits, which became an instant favourite of the people of Hyderabad.

It was only in 2007 that Karachi Bakery opened a second store in Banjara Hills, Hyderabad. Today, years after being established, Karachi Bakery operates over 36 outlets across India in major cities such as Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, and Gurugram. It also exports its products to more than 20 countries including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and those in the Gulf.

And even as some attack the famous store amid heightened India-Pakistan tensions, there are those who condemn it. One X user wrote, “Every time something happens with Pakistan, this establishment is targeted by radicals. They are from Sindh, Karachi was once our land. Let’s make it that way again rather than targeting poor Sindhi Hindu owners of this iconic bakery for cheap politics.”

Another added, “This is next-level stupidity. There are Sindhis, Parsis who all moved out of Karachi during partition. In fact, there are people with the Karachiwala surname. That doesn’t mean you end up attacking people. Let our armed forces deal with our enemies at the border and just pray for them.”

With inputs from agencies