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By the end of this financial year, another five flavours will be added to the Aashirvaad bouquet.
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Naware believes his two brands have already captured between 15 per cent and 20 per cent of the ready-to-eat market. In the next two months, the products will also be available on shop shelves in Delhi and Bangalore. The Aashirvaad ready-cooked dishes have already been launched in five cities - Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata. ITC is hoping to serve itself big helpings with its new business. Says Ravi Naware, CEO, ITC Foods, "Aashirvaad will now be the ready-to-eat solution for the time-pressed family." The 285 gm pouches - called the Aashirvaad range - sell for between Rs 35 and Rs 40, putting them within reach of middle-class buyers. It has put together a range of five vegetarian flavours including aloo matar, rajma masala and navratan korma, packed in retort pouches and with a shelf life of 12 months. Now ITC is taking a shot at the middle market and trying to reach shop shelves around the country. But at Rs 150 for a 450 gm tin of dal bukhara (which feeds about three people) it was strictly a limited clientele. ITC won praise for its offerings and showed they could get the flavours right. Take a look at ITC Foods, which started turning out dishes for the top end of the market with its pricey Kitchens of India range. Top food companies say the market is currently worth around Rs 50 crore (Rs 500 million) but they confidently predict it will grow to around Rs 200 crore (Rs 2 billion) in the next one or two years. Indians proved remarkably attached to freshly cooked meals. The result: new menus that include everything from Punjabi kadhi pakora in a can to pure vegetarian navratan kormas in hi-tech retort pouches.īut it has been tougher to cook up a storm in the Indian market than anyone expected. As double-income nuclear families become the norm in urban India, everyone who is anyone in the food business has been eyeing the ready-to-eat food sector with considerable hunger. It's a food revolution that's been a long time coming.