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Karnataka: An emerging F&B hub
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Saturday, 26 May, 2007, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Nandita Vijay, Bangalore
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industry destination, according to experts in the sector. The reasons which attribute to the growth of the industry here is the access to fruits and vegetables, industry-friendly policies and the manpower availability.
The state also has the country's two leading food research centres based at Mysore: Central Food Technological Research (CFTRI) and Defence Food Research Laboratory (DFRL) are centres of excellence guiding food entrepreneurs to take off with promising projects which have proved to be financially rewarding.
Among the notable companies which have a presence in the state are ITC Foods, Britannia Industries, MTR, Calypso Foods, Clean Foods Limited, Jagdale Industries, UB Foods, Balan Natural Foods (P) Limited, Pagariya Foods, Abind Foods, Chenny's Creamery, Unibic, Mysore Fruit Products Pvt Ltd, Komarla Group, Health Magic Natural Foods, Naturo Food & Fruit Products, Tropicool Foods Pvt Ltd and Avesthagen to scores of other small scale enterprises like Food Associated Bangalore, Iyengar and Company, Mahila Griha Udyog supported under the AWAKE project.
Experts peg the turnover of the food and beverage sector in Karnataka to be Rs 1,500 crore growing at 20% annually.
"The state's 10 agro-climatic zones make it ideally suited for agro-processing. We have the agricultural universities and research institutions, that will provide technical inputs to entrepreneurs in the sector," said Karnataka minister for Horticulture Shashikanth Akappa Naik. The state could not only manufacture food and beverage products but also grow and export a variety of fruits and vegetables.
In order to encourage the growth of the food and beverage processing sector in the state, the government has invested in six Agro Food Parks at an investment of Rs 110 crore at Malur in Kolar district, Jewargi in Bagalkot, Kangrali in Belgaum, Maddur in Mandya, and Hiriyur in Chitradurga. Around Rs 17-20 crore is allocated for each of these parks. For the project Food Karnataka Limited, a government of Karnataka undertaking, will be the facilitator of these parks. In addition, the Union and State governments will also provide grants. The parks will see the emergence of production units for pulp, puree and juices apart from canned items from the fruits and vegetables sourced from farms strategically located in the vicinity of the six food parks. It will also manufacture snack foods and biscuits.
According to B A Channappa Gowda, managing director, Karnataka State Agricultural Produce Processing & Export Corporation Limited, Bangalore and the districts in the region boast a climate, which is congenial to the growth of high quality fruits, vegetables, and flowers. With many cashew farms located in the Dakshina Kannada region, vineyards at Bijapur and Bagalkot, mango groves in Ramanagaram, and horticulture farms in Kolar district near Bangalore, food and beverage processing businesses could only flourish here.
India can replicate its success in information technology and biotechnology in food technology too. The advances in IT and BT can be leveraged in R&D to make rapid progress in FT, according to Dr V Prakash, director, Central Food Technological Research Institute.
CFTRI, Mysore, has been working in the area of food research and automation and has made significant contributions in the sector, the benefits of which have reached both the services sector, civil sector and the private food and beverage industry. "The establishment of primary processing centres and agri business centres would go a long way in prompting the sector," added Dr Prakash.
Both DFRL and CFTRI have provided an impetus for the development of agro-based and food processing industries in the country with its research efforts.
DFRL has developed innovative technology in ready-to-eat, ready-to-cook and ready-to-reconstitute foods, which have been extremely useful for the armed forces. The products are nutraceutical functional foods, biologically modified nutrients and energy supplements. It has also helped many companies including MTR, Tasty Bites, Mysore Food Products in technology transfer of retort packaging for their ready-to-eat range of products.
A growing product in food processing is the ready -to-eat (RTE) products. The state is known for MTR range and the ITC brands, Aashirvaad & Kitchens of India. The primary factors showing growth in the sector is that Karnataka is known for its IT and ITES sector which is supporting larger number of women work force to stay away from home. Dual incomes, shortage of time and lack of inclination to cook are contributing to the growth of the sector, stated Mahadevan Sundarraj, founder director, Collaborant Incubators.
In India the RTE food market is approximately Rs 60-70 crore and the demand seems to be growing steadily. Though for a long time Indians were exceptionally attached to home-cooked meals, things have changed now.
Currently, MTR and ITC hold the sway in the state. But the buy-out of MTR early this year by a Norwegian firm Orkla for Rs 443 crore will see a range of different products from the company. Orkla is known for bakery, seafood, pizzas, pies, taste enhancers and snacks.
ITC brands, Aashirvaad & Kitchens of India have seen that the growth for ready-to-eat is increasing in time to come as the above trends disperse to a larger section of the society. In India the growth of the category has been rather steady over the past few years. However, the global consumers, both mainstream consumers and NRIs abroad, are showing a huge appetite for the Indian cuisines and as such the global markets will continue to contribute significantly to the growth of this segment. "Kitchens of India sees to that it satisfies to the taste of the consumers and customize the food to appeal to the preference of its consumers," stated the ITC official.
ITC Foods is also finalising plans to invest Rs 350 crore in the next three to four years for its foray into the snack segment. The plan envisages setting up three to four manufacturing plants across the country.
While there is so much of enthusiasm for the food and beverage processing sector, Karnataka Minister for Horticulture S A Naik informed that a lot more needs to be done as Karnataka only utilises 4% of its horticulture produce. The sector needs a boost as its performance is dismal compared to the progress in the US and South-East Asian countries. In this regard Karnataka would enter into a memorandum of understanding with Cornell University and Ithca University of the United States for obtaining know-how in establishing and managing food processing industries, harvesting, cold storage and marketing of products.
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