Ready To Eat Food India

How to make India Ready to Eat:

Introduction: A brief look at the Indian RTE market (The beginning, customer preferences and limitations

The Ready to cook food product was first introduced in India in 1976 by MTR with its rava idli mix. It was not very popular at that time and was not booming in sales. The reasons attributed to the dim sales are:

During the 2000’s with the migration of human resources from rural to urban for jobs and with the floating population increasing in metros and tier 1 cities the demand for packed and prepared food increased. The ready to eat food market started looking attractive during this period of rapid growth of the Indian cities. Though the market was growing it was very miniscule in nature compared to the other

Freshness of food is another important factor influencing food consumption. Approximately 81% of diners prefer to eat fresh [8] The packed ready to eat food products are already cooked & come with a shelf life of 8 to 9 months that do not tangibly reflect that the food is fresh or newly prepared.

The Indian consumer assumes that RTE foods have chemical preservatives & perceive it to be unhealthy when compared to home cooked food.[6] The ingredients clearly specify the list of preservatives used but do not convincingly explain the harmless nature of the preservatives.

India being a very diverse country requires diverse needs. The north might require wheat based dishes and some may also prefer rice based dishes to have variety. Similar conditions may also exist in the south. Understanding such diverse and changing needs of the customers and appropriately charting distribution channels is a difficult

Work related nuclear families.

4. Students and young work professionals who have migrated to these cities.

5. People who would like to try new dishes which they do not know to make.

The major consumer affecting factors that will drive the food industry in the Indian market are as follows: (Factors influencing segmentation)

1. Large young population (High youth demographic dividend).

Figure – 2: The above report shows relative growth in the age group of(25-54) years [8]

As per the report on factors driving food consumption patterns [8]

The above figure clearly shows that the future growth in the food industry strongly depends on the growth of the youth adult population. The youth of the nation are high on innovativeness and would like to try out new things. The youth population doesn’t mind eating out often and do away with the traditional method of eating out occasionally. The next generation (Gen Z) have a reduced inclination to harness elaborate cooking skills.

2. Increase in disposable income: Figure – 3: Increase in disposable income forecast rate