For Indian youth, instant noodles was never ‘foreign’ food

by Anindita Sengupta

WHAT’S HAPPENING

The rising popularity of instant noodles could well make this Chinese culinary dish an Indian staple. The young generation increasingly associates noodles with home cooking and does not see it as foreign food. Noodle manufacturers offer readymade Indian flavours to encourage this notion.
To battle the main worry about instant noodles, its nutrition value, market leader Maggi has introduced wheat noodles and multi-grain noodles.
Analysts say that the Rs 1,300-crore instant noodles category is growing at a rapid 15% annually. The market is growing so fast that Maggi instant noodles, Nestle’s flagship brand which has dominated the Indian instant noodles market for nearly three decades, is losing market share on a monthly basis to newer entrants like GlaxoSmithKline’s Horlicks Foodles, Hindustan Unilever’s Knorr Soupy noodles, etc, according to data by market research firm Nielsen (EconomicTimes.com, 30 August 2010).

WHAT THIS MEANS TO BUSINESS

A new generation of Indian children that has grown up eating instant noodles seldom thinks of it as ‘foreign’ food. Consumers notice foreignness less especially when Indian elements are added to the dish. Most instant noodles packs come in Indian flavours.
In a time-conscious, instant results-craving world, consumers choose convenience even if it means compromising a little on nutrition, sometimes.

RESOURCES

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