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Packaged foods in India have grown at approximately 7% per annum between 2000 and
2005, with Ready-to-eat foods (RTE) being the fastest growing category at CAGR 73%.
The Indian RTE foods market, canned/preserved segment is more popular, contributing to
approximately 90% of the market and growing at a CAGR of 63% between 2001 and 2006.
According to the report, the packaged foods industry in India has not experienced significant growth
due to inadequate demand arising from low household incomes and consumer preference for fresh
and home-cooked food.
Tata Strategic analysis of the Indian RTE market also put forth that the industry players would have
to significantly improve their price competitiveness with respect to other options such as domestic
help, eating out and ordering in, available to the Indian consumer. Besides price considerations, the
product range offered by industry players will have to be strengthened. At the moment the regional
cuisine and non-vegetarian cuisine markets are relatively under serviced with concentration on the
vegetarian North Indian meals.
Mr. Pankaj Gupta, Practice Head- Consumer & Retail, Tata Strategic further added, According to
our analysis, India provides an attractive opportunity for both Indian and International players with a
mix of demand and supply side changes. If consumer demands of affordability, availability and
enhancing acceptability are met, the RTE foods market has the potential market size of Rs 2900 Cr.
by 2015 from its existing Rs. 128Cr.
These packs come in the range of Rs. 15 (for lemon rice and the like) to Rs. 40 (Palak Paneer et al).
The `Buy two get one free' scheme of ITC has caught on very well with customers, store managers
say.
M. Chellayan, Director, the Nilgiri Dairy Farm (Nilgiris), says that with more disposable income on
their hand, many middle and upper middle class people are going in for these dishes. S. Prakash,
Senior Manager of Alankar Supermarket, agrees. "We've had to replenish our stock often," he says.
Though people are open to trying out new dishes, the fact that it is pre-cooked and packed rankles
some. But, one bite and they are hooked. "I opened a packet of MTR's Bisibela bhath bravely, but
wondered how it would taste. I refused to believe that something cooked a month ago and packed,
that too without any preservatives, would still be fresh. But, one spoon was enough to make me a
convert. I now buy packed subzis when I am in the mood to eat something nice without going
through the bother of cooking," says Leena, who works in the field of medical transcription.
Indrajit Basu
It took a while to catch on, but as the country's 15-year-old globalization process brings about rapid
changes in the lifestyles of urban Indians, ready-to-eat food is fast becoming a compelling
proposition. Over the past two years, the ready-to-eat packed food market has grown from an almost
insignificant number to become a US$20-million-revenue industry in 2004. Industry players say that,
considering the current 35% growth rate, revenues in this sector can easily touch $50 million in the
next three years.
Take the instance of Mumbai-based Ruma Banerjee, a 40-year-old market research professional, who
gets her ready-to-eat curry pastes or cooked packed meals from a grocery shop at the mall next to her
office. "It's not that I do not like to cook, but with a 70-hour work week, an equally busy husband and
a 10-year-old child at home, we have little time for regular cooking," she says. For Shruti Rajam, 23,
an insurance-industry professional living alone in Chennai on her first job, time is not really a
problem. Cooking is. Shruti never had to enter the kitchen in her life when she was with her parents.
But now that she is on her own, stuffing her kitchen cabinet with ready-made food seems to be the
obvious option. "It's cool," she says, "I have become an expert at this. Even my friends think I am a
great cook."
Ruma and Shruti are part of a rapidly growing tribe of urban Indians who are increasingly shunning
the painstaking job of chopping, slicing, dicing and mixing the right ingredients, to simply picking up
a pair of scissors and snipping open a pack of a two-minute everyday Indian meal. Indeed, readymade India curries that were unheard of even a few years back occupy the pride of place in Indian
kitchens now. Brands such as ITC Aashirwad, Kitchens of India, MTR Food, Tasty Bites and Currie
Classic are not only gaining acceptance in double-income nuclear families all over India, but are also
spreading rapidly globally.
and that is not because they seek thrill in doing, so instead sometimes they suffer to in
the form of not getting the expected quality and output from utilization of newly adopted
or switched brand.
The main constraints behind brand switching is manufacturers who are not able to keep
their promise to deliver better product at competitive price, marketers not able to put or
expose their product in better way and part of those producers who are not delivering
the qualitative product which makes customer looking at other brands or adopting
different brands to cater their needs.