Veetee Foods enters ready-to-eat segment

Chennai, Feb 14 (UNI) Veetee Fine Foods Ltd, major producers and marketer of fine quality Basmati rice, today announced their foray into India's fast growing ready-to-eat segment.

The new range of ready-to-eat varieties would be available for the first time in India, in microwavable pouches, company CEO Aayushman Gupta told reporters here.

With the retail boom, change in modern lifestyle and emergence of nuclear families, the Indian food industry was expected to grow exponentially. Keeping this in mind, the importance of convenience food was catching on fast and becoming relevant.

''Keeping in line with its core philosophy of offering quality food stuff to our global consumers, we have strategically tapped the ready-to-eat segment as Indian cuisines are gaining immense popularity worldwide,'' he said.

Detailing the product category, Mr Gupta said ''we have a slew of ranges available under the delightful 'Curry Collection'. This will include 30 dishes in all comprising 16 curries, seven rice dishes, two soups, two desserts and three combo meals.'' The rice dishes were priced Rs 40, curries and soups at Rs 50, paneer dishes at Rs 60 and combo meals and desserts at Rs 70 onwards.

''We propose to launch these products on an all India basis with the thrust being Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata and Pune. We have made substantial investment of US Dollar three million and expect to sell two million pouches in the first year of operation,'' he added.

UNI GV GKT 1920