In the modern days where the life is at fast pace with the time very valuable to every person, ready to cook food plays an important role in everyone's day-to-day life. Ready to cook food means simple, fast and convenient food which is easy to prepare and requires minimum efforts. Ready to cook market consists of four categories namely instant noodles, instant pasta, instant soup and ready-to-mix. In India, there has been a major shift in food habits of the metropolitan consumers, as they prefer to have more instant food. The convenience factor has provided an impetus to the ready-to-cook industry in India over the past few years.

According to recently published report of Bonafide Research “India Ready-To-Cook Market Outlook, 2021”, the market for ready to cook food is expected to grow with a CAGR of 18.97% in the next five years. Among all the four categories, instant noodles have immense potential for future expansion due to its easy affordability by the common man across rural as well as urban areas. After instant noodles, the pasta and soup market is becoming a fresh battleground for FMCG companies. Instant pasta and soup are new categories marketed as being highly nutritious and rich in protein. The meal solution targets busy professionals willing to pay a premium for not just health but also convenience. Consumer base for these instant foods is also mounting just as it happened in the case of instant noodles.

While instant noodles have several players to make it even larger, instant pasta and soup have less number of players. However, multinationals diversifying into these new categories will heat up the competition along with the sales revenue. Noodles, pasta and soup are seen as western food in India but ready mixes have changed the perception of consumers with their desi attributes. Ready-to-mix is an emerging segment that has immense growth potential in the country as it will help consumers to get free from the age-old traditional method of grinding, cooking or fermenting for hours and hence making the work faster. This convenience food is preferred mainly by nuclear families where both husband and wife are working or by bachelors who wish to avoid hotel food or people who do not have time, patience or the expertise to prepare in a traditional method. Initially, most of the players in this industry started with export-based focus, but now changing consumer preferences have made the domestic market more lucrative.

In the modern era, the media - particularly electronic and print media are playing an important role in creating awareness of the products launched in the RTC market. Marketers are always on the lookout for ways to appeal to the customer and his evolving needs. In view of tapping RTC market, manufacturers will also identify potential opportunities in terms of novel product concepts and packaging formats. Flexible packaging will log faster gains based on advantages of greater cost effectiveness, space saving capabilities and lighter weight. In addition, small restaurants have also started to use this packaged RTC foods but this is still at a nascent stage; however expected to grow fast in future.