A survey by Assocham (The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India) in 2015 predicted that India’s packaged food market would witness a quantum jump to $50 billion by 2017 from $32 billion at present due to increasing popularity of ready-to-eat packaged foods. In fact, more households in urban India have been associating ready-to-eat food with convenience, thus fueling the sale of packaged food at an average annual rate of 32.5% between 2010 and 2015. Rising disposable income and a younger demography of households in the top metros also mean that over the next two years, consumption will surge across categories of packaged food such as packaged beverages, dairy products, snacks, frozen foods, ready to cook/ready to eat and baked foods, with urban households accounting for 80% of these purchases.
More parents are opting for easy-to-prepare meals
The Assocham report says households with working couples and young children serve on average 10-12 easy-to-prepare meals a month. About 76% of the nuclear families feel they have less time to spend in the kitchen.