MUMBAI: When Scott Price, president and CEO of Wal-Mart Asia, visited India last month, he talked about helping the country become food basket of the world and sourcing $1-billion worth of goods from here.
Perhaps he drew inspiration from the growing presence of Indian specialty food brands in the shelves of global retailers such as Wal-Mart, Tesco, Ralphs and Safeway.
Companies such as Bajaj Food Products, Nikasu Frozen Foods and Priya Foods have reported a spike in overseas demand for frozen foods, peanut butter and other products in the last couple of years, triggering hopes that the country will turn into a food outsourcing hub.
“After recession, we are getting a lot more inquiries from global giants of developed market,” says the owner of a Pune-based manufacturer of garlic paste and dry fish powder. “Outsourcing from India is lot cheaper due lower labour and infrastructure cost,” adds the person requesting anonymity on the grounds of the firm’s contract with retail chains.
Sanjay Bajaj, MD of Ahmedabad-based Bajaj Food Products, says that besides cheaper labour India also enjoys easy availability of raw materials. “India has diverse agro-climatic conditions and large raw material base suitable for all kind of food processing companies,” he says.
Bajaj Food supplies specialty food products such as peanut butter and instant powder drink under ‘Savory’ brand to Canada-based retail major Dollorama and French retail giant Carrefour.
Companies such as Bajaj Food, Nikasu, Priya Foods, MTR Foods, Gits Foods, Deepkiran Foods, Foods & Inns, Agro Tech Foods, ADF Foods, Kohinoor Foods and LT Foods have seen their exports grow at a rate of anywhere between 15% to 60% over the last three years.
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