Feb 1, 2021
The longing to be healthy has been the biggest trend this fiscal. There has been an actual shift than just talking the talk. Consumers are making more conscious choices,” Richa Arora, president, packaged foods – India at Tata Consumer Products. Consumer reports and data points studied over the last six months, overlapping with the pandemic, showed an increase in market share for the company.Edible Salt market will be 100% branded in the next 4-5 years and the market for value-added salt category, accelerated by the pandemic, will gain a lot more visibility now,Other domestic brands include ITC’S Aashirvaad, Surya Salt, Nirma Shudh, Annapurna Salt and Saffola Salt.
Tata consumers have currently a 30% market share but we will be growing aggressively to seize the share. We will enter new geographies and continue to focus on our value-added salt segment this year,” said Arora.
While Tata Salt, the country’s first iodized salt brand, was launched close to four decades ago, the company later expanded the portfolio with premium or value-added salt such as fortified salt and low sodium variant and more recently natural products such as black salt and rock salt.
In the second quarter ended September, the company had registered 100% growth in the value-added salt segment compared to the same period in 2019. In a follow-up analyst call, Tata Consumer had said that the company was looking to further expand the portfolio in salt to give a variety to consumers and in turn increase margins.
Consumers, especially youngsters, have become more health-conscious amid the pandemic. The Indian consumer is value-conscious but not price-conscious,” said Arora, adding,
The premium salt segment is driving the image of the brand. There is a lot of room for growth within the segment. These are not passing trends.Premiumization agenda will be percolating into the company’s overall food segment and not just salt in 2021, she hinted. The market for packaged iodized salt in India is estimated to be worth about Rs 22 billion.