ITC
Foods to enter chocolate business? After countering Britannia
in the biscuit sector, FMCG major ITC Foods is planning to
enter the chocolate market in India and counter leaders Cadbury
and Nestlé. The company has already launched Sunfeast
Sachin Kit Fit and will be introducing a homegrown chocolate
brand. It may also tie-up with Swiss brand Hershey’s,
which is keen to come to India. Says Jagdeep Kapoor, MD, Samsika
Marketing Consultancy, “To pump up volumes, all players
are now trying to grow the category by increasing the location
and occasion of consumption. The Rs 2,200-crore sector has
registered a 12 per cent growth in 2006. With increasing competition,
this sector will further grow in 2007.” ITC Foods is
currently busy expanding its distribution network, adding
50,000 more retail outlets to its two million existing ones...More>>
Pack
it up Food
packaging is vital to not only attract customers but also to provide
safe and edible food to them. GCP Ranga Rao discusses more about
the global frontiers of food packaging
Since
the last few months, Indian media has been buzzing with news on
the impending ‘retail boom’. Headlines like‘Reliance
to invest Rs 25,000 crore’; ‘Bharti ties up with Wal-Mart’;
‘US$ 412 billion nvestment in retail projected’, or ‘Reliance
Fresh launched’; ‘Tata, Aditya Birla and other biggies
planning forays’, have become too common. Organised retail,
which hardly comprises two to three per cent of the US$ 250 billion
Indian retail business, is expected to go up to at least 15 per
cent by 2010. As a result, in addition to consumers getting the
benefits of mass retailing, upgradation of technologies and practices
in the entire value chain is going to change the whole look of the
market-shelves. One major fallout of all this is the boost that
the packaging sector is going to get. With foodstuffs taking up
most of the shelf-space ranging anything between 60 and 80 per cent
of the area in a typical supermarket, food packaging will be the
most interesting area to watch out for. ...
More>>
Reading
Zone
Developments
in food science and technology Vinod
Huria reviews the ‘Directory of Current Research Projects in
Food Science & Technology in India’ for the Times Food
Processing Journal
Information
and knowledge are the key resources for any business activity, and
the information technology boom has made knowledge ubiquitous. Yet,
when one is looking for precise information on any specific subject,
one needs to approach institutions where it is likely to be available.
With the proliferation of institutions and rapid progression in
the velocity of information dissemination, the pace of knowledge
generation has accelerated. To keep abreast of latest advances in
technology is a challenge for a researcher and an entrepreneur...
More>>
Food
packaging is vital to not only attract customers but also to provide
safe and edible food to them. GCP Ranga Rao discusses more about
the global frontiers of food packaging
