Unlike China, which underwent a dramatic diet change, Indian food habits are seen to be changing gradually. Indian customers are evolving faster than ever before as they continue to consume convenience food. Ready to cook foods are a staple diet for many urbanites now. One of the earliest products in the ready to cook food category was the instant noodles introduced many years ago by Nestle which gained immediate popularity. Consumer’s needs and attitude play a crucial role in the ready-to-cook category. For a tired and time-deficient consumer, a well-designed food packet not only connects at a price point level, it also creates a highly sensorial experience.

According to recently published report of Bonafide Research “India Ready-To-Mix Market Outlook, 2021”, ready to mix market was growing with a CAGR of 13.22% from last five years. Ready to mix market has four segments namely snacks mix, curry mix, dessert mix and others. Among all the four segments, curry mix is growing robustly in the country but snacks mix will continue to dominate the market. There are more than 60 plus products in the curry and snacks mix whereas dessert mix is a new emerging segment with limited products in the market. Others include rice and meals which are still at a nascent stage with handful of players operating in it.

Consumers come from varying socio-economic and cultural backgrounds, and food preferences are primarily dependent on this very fact. Preferences for specific flavours and prejudices present grave challenges to the food processor in creating a RTM brand to satisfy every palate. Hence the market is highly fragmented, to the extent of being unviable for large scale manufacture, and highly regional. MTR Foods, Gits, Kohinoor Food, ITC and Maiyas are some of the major organized players in the industry. Factors contributing towards the success of RTM players is increasing consumer awareness through advertising. They are also offering trial packages at low prices for the consumers to increase their brand exposure. Although the players spend more on TV advertising, a significant amount is expended on niche magazines such as Aval Kitchen, a food magazine by Chennai based Vikatan Group, where the share of ad spends from this category has been constantly growing.

Players are even coming up with their personal websites/e-stores to sell the entire range of products after tying it up with various grocery e-commerce sites to increase the availability. As the number of working couples will go up, RTM market too will grow. The industry being at its nascent stage, the consumers today are being more empowered. With traditional families breaking down to more and more nuclear families, housewives are more dependent on ready mixes. Furthermore, increase in overall disposable income and private label penetration is expected to strengthen the growth of the market in the next five years. India ready-to-mix market will become a mainstream product in Ready to cook food industry in the near future.