Future, HUL to enter instant pasta market

After noodles, the Rs 100-crore pasta market is becoming a fresh battleground for FMCG companies.

The latest entrant is the Kishore Biyani founded Future Group which is launching pasta under the brand “Tasty Treat”. The company has partnered with Disney for leveraging Disney characters “Mickey Mouse” and “Donald Duck.”

Just a few months after Nestle launched Maggi Nutri-licious Pazzta in the Indian market, Hindustan Unilever is also planning to do the same under the Knorr brand. HUL entered the noodles market a couple of months back and has created quite a stir through soupy noodles.

All the three, however, will have to compete with ITC’s Sunfeast Pasta Treat which is the market leader and has a whole wheat based range (Masala, Tomato Cheese, Cheese and Sour Cream, Pizza style, Chicken and Tangy Tomato).

Devendra Chawla, Business Head – Private Brands, Future Group, says Future will enter the pasta and jam categories. “The idea is to grow consumption by participating in under-branded (few brands) and under-penetrated categories like instant pasta where modern trade has a large role to play,” he says.

Predictably, Future Group will market the product on the health platform. Tasty Treat pasta is made of suji, which is considered healthier than maida. It will be available in variants like masala, cheese and pizza style and will be priced at Rs 12-15 a packet. Existing brands are also in the same price range.

Almost all instant noodles in India are positioned as health products, as they are often criticized as unhealthy or junk food.

That’s something which all companies want to avoid. For example, Nestle is also playing up the suji angle to communicate to consumers that the product is healthy.

On the association with Disney, Chawla says instant pasta is targeted at kids and the partnership will help in last mile marketing. But the going may not be easy as Future will face competition from other brands like Feasters from retailers such as Aditya Birla Retail.

Analysts say pasta is set to grow as the next big category after noodles. Purnendu Kumar, associate vice president, Technopak, says as the instant food market is growing fast due to the busy lifestyle of consumers, more companies are likely to join in. And since there are not many established players in pasta, the early entrants will have an advantage.

According to a study by Ernst & Young, the marketfor pasta and noodles will grow 25 per cent per annum to over Rs 1,400 crore in the next five years.