• Investment World
• eWorld
• Catalyst
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest

Anjali Prayag

Just snip, heat and eat... From pastas to puliyogare, everything comes cooked ready in a pouch. So who's buying them?

Smitha Samuel, a product manager with an FMCG company, swears by the "genius that invented ready-to-eat foods". Her family gets to `snip, heat and eat' at least thrice a week. "Demands on time and energy have necessitated this dependence on ready-to-eat foods," she says, adding, "This is so convenient that even my 12-year-old has started making meals for us." It also helps that today there is a wider range of convenience food available, offering both ethnic and international choices.

While Smitha represents less than one per cent of the population that spends a significant amount each month on convenience food, there are others like Vidya Narayanan, a Bangalore-based software engineer turned housewife, who is wary of such quick-fix meals. "It's only noodles and pasta... that too once a week," she says.

She sees no reason why she should buy ready-to-eat food "when I can cook the same at home," thus adding to the disparity that's characteristic of the Indian market. Garima Agarwal, an HR consultant, adds another dimension to the picture when she says she only buys masalas, soups, pickles and preserves, but not the heat-and-eat type of pouches.

A cursory study of the modern Indian family's eating habits clearly shows a gradual move towards convenience foods, though this is still largely restricted to SEC A+ households in the metros and some `B' class cities.

Explaining the trend, K Vaitheeswaran, COO, Fabmall.com, says, "Though factors like lifestyle changes, easy availability and convenience have spurred the market for ready-to-eat food, it is also true that the market is tailoring itself to suit the new preference."

Earlier, the kirana stores (local grocers) did not proactively push branded products to customers. "Their main aim was to sell dal, rice, spices, etc. Now, not only do we have more supermarkets offering these products, but the shelf space at supermarkets has also grown." And with many of these products available online, shopping is much more convenient.

The manufacturers too are turning market savvy. Vaitheeswaran observes that pricing is more competitive now and, with the introduction of combo packs, packaged foods are set to boom in the Indian market.

However, Ravi Naware, CEO, ITC Foods, points out that the ready-to-eat concept is not new to India. Pickles and rice mixes have long been part of our tradition. And in the 1970s and 1980s, preserves, jams, and tinned pineapple slices, tuna fish and sardines found place in Indian homes.

"What is different now is the availability of a range of curries and mixed rice. Earlier, the packaging technology used was primitive, which meant the addition of natural preservatives," he says. The `retorting method' has done away with preservatives, and marketers claim that the packaged food can remain fresh for two years even without refrigeration. "What more could I ask for," says Suparna Rajan, a Bangalore-based interior designer.

A booming trend

Estimates show that the Indian ready-to-eat food market has crossed the Rs 150-crore mark and is growing 30-40 per cent every year. Interestingly, a study shows that in the South, families allocate about 10 per cent of their grocery spend on ready-to-eat food, while in the North it is close to 20 per cent, says Vaitheeswaran. Is it because there are more Tandoori and North Indian varieties available in pouches?

Naware brushes this off, saying modern Indian families have a pan-Indian palate. A South Indian family today is not unfamiliar or unexposed to dishes such as dal makhani, palak paneer, rajma masala or pav bhaji. Similarly, the North Indian appetite for idli, dosa, puliyogare or bisi bele bath is growing.

"Restaurants across the country offer multi-cuisine, multi-variety dishes. For example, butter chicken and chapattis have become pan-Indian dishes now." He adds that it's easier to sell idli or dosa mix to the North Indian and the dal makhani to the South Indian now. For both, the `South Indian variety' or the dosa/idli or upma mix are popular breakfast choices.

Suparna says that at least 10 per cent of her grocery bill goes towards ready-to-eat food. For Smitha, it's a 50:50 divide. "While my grocery bill is about Rs 1,000, I spend an equal amount on convenience food." This includes pickles, papads, preserves, breakfast cereals, dry masalas, and curry pastes.

Garima and Vidya, who are yet to warm up to the idea of serving a pouch of dal makhani, spend about Rs 150 per month on them. "But yes, we do buy instant soups as my two-year-old enjoys soups and it's easier to pick up a packet than make it at home," says Garima.

Says J. Suresh, CEO, MTR Foods, "Soup drinking is not a regular habit among Indians and hence this market is small and seasonal, with consumption going up during winter. The ready-to-use masalas are popular and command the biggest market size among processed foods." In his opinion, curry pastes have not taken off as they are not as convenient as ready-to-eat items and only marginally convenient compared to masalas.

So, have ready-to-eat options graduated to planned purchases rather than an impulsive indulgence on a tired evening or a lazy Sunday afternoon? Vaitheeswaran of Fabmall.com thinks so. "We persuade families to add these to their monthly lists.Even for us, these items used to be at the end of the shopping list, but we have moved them up our priority list," he says.

A reflection of consumer preference in the country today?

Picture by A. Roy Chowdhury

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
One for the taste buds

Copyright © 2005, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line