Sresta Natural sets shop in B'lore

The worldwide organic food market which has been estimated to be about $30 billion is growing around 13 per cent per annum.

In India too the growth is quite impressive and organic food is gaining in popularity, said Rajashekar Reddy Seelam, managing director, Sresta Natural Products.

Latest to enter the market in Bangalore is Secunderabad-based Sresta Natural Bioproducts Pvt Ltd. Sresta, which has been working on organic food for three years, claims to be the largest organised player in the organic foods market.

Sresta, that saw revenues between Rs 7 crore and Rs 8 crore in 2005, hopes to see its revenues rise to between Rs 30 crore and Rs 40 crore this year.

This increase will be powered by the multi-city foray. The foray into Bangalore market will see some four stores by the end of the year.

Sresta's outlet called 24 Letter Mantra, sells products certified and conform to European and American organic production norms and are certified by leading global certifying agencies like SKAL, IMO and Ecocert.

The International Competence Centre for Organic Argriculture (ICCOA) estimates the market for organic foods in India to be between Rs 800 crore and Rs 1,000 crore. This makes up some 3 per cent to 5 per cent of Indian retail food market that is estimated to be around Rs 6 lakh crore.

With the use of chemical fertiliser and non-degradable pesticide going up, there has been rising concern about the foodstuff that is sold in the market.

Hence, over the last few years there has been increasing customer preference for organic food.