Nilgiris 1905

The origin of this supermarket chain can be traced back to Muthuswamy Mudaliar of Erode district in Tamil Nadu. Muthuswamy Mudaliar was a mail runner for the British in colonial India. He carried letters and cheques for the British from Coimbatore to the hill stations of Ooty and Coonoor. As he was flooded with requests to carry dairy products and other items, he opened a small shop in 1905, after buying the butter business of an Englishman in Vannarpet and soon, "The Nilgiri Dairy Farm Ltd." was established.

In 1936, he moved his shop to Brigade Road, Bangalore. The Nilgiri Dairy Farm Ltd. specialized in dairy, dairy products, bakery and chocolates. In 1962 Nilgiris set up a specialized dairy plant in Erode. This pasteurization plant was used to manufacture Nilgiris' store brand of dairy product. The produce was supplied to Bangalore on a daily basis from Erode. Muthusamy's son Chenniappan expanded the company by setting up a modest store in Bangalore to sell Nilgiris' own brand of products. However, after Chenniappan's visit to the U.S. and Europe, he expanded the store into a larger supermarket. Though Chenniappan was influenced by the supermarket concept in the U.S. and Europe, he developed the Nilgiris supermarket to fit in with the local culture and set guidelines for its growth. Soon, the Nilgiris supermarket chain spread to Erode, Coimbatore and Chennai.

In September–October 2008, Actis, a UK-based private equity investor, invested US$65 million in the Nilgiris Group in order to strengthen the group's manufacturing and franchising operations in South India. This investment has given Actis a controlling interest (more than 51% stake) in the Nilgiris group. On November 21, 2014, Future Consumer Enterprises Ltd. acquired the 98% from Actis Capital and other promoters. With that, Nilgiris is a fully owned subsidiary under Future Consumer Enterprises Ltd(FCEL), which is a Future Group Company.

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