27 November 2007 – Indian giant ITC has announced that it aims to treble the turnover of its packaged food operations and to become the overall leader of the Indian packaged food sector by 2011.
The cigarette giant’s food units are growing at a rate of 68.17% annually.
Examples of ITC’s success include its Bingo brand of potato chips snacks, which captured an 11% share of the Indian market within six months of its launch, and its Sunfeast brand of biscuits, which currently accounts for 10% of biscuits sales in India. As reported on FLEXNEWS, Mint-o-Fresh, ITC’s cough lozenge brand, secured a 17% share of the relevant market between July and September 2007, thus taking the number one spot off Perfetti.
ITC first entered the packaged food market in 2001 as part of its diversification strategy. The company calculated that USD 130 to 150 million were spent on food in India annually. Whilst in some countries the packaged food sector accounts for 80 to 85% of food consumption, in 2001 it accounted for a mere 5.5 to 6% of India’s food consumption. ITC now intends to capture a 5 to 6% share of the fast-growing packaged food market within four years.