ITC joins the league for making millets mainstream

The push given by the union government to production and consumption of millet in its 2022 budget, triggered many food brands to enter the fray, the latest being the tobacco and FMCG giant ITC Ltd.

Launching its “Mission Millet”, the ITC Chairman, Sanjiv Puri, said that there is still an “inadequate appreciation” for the grains and they are a forgotten lot. He said that the intent of the mission was to mainstream millets in the consumer market, though the appetite for them in an acquired taste, accounting for the lack of demand. He also blamed the lack of technology applied to millet production was another barrier to their acceptance.

As it happens, since the last budget, several food majors have beelined to cash in on the support offered by the government and the market saw the entry of such players as Tata Soulfull, Organic India, Britannia and Wholsum Foods.

Like other FMCG brands, ITC is further developing a comprehensive millets-based portfolio, in the hope of tapping into a Rs 4-lakh-crore market. The product lines it is gearing to table include millet-based noodles and pasta under its YiPPee! brand, ragi vermicelli, multi-millet dosa mix, muti-millet and rava idli mix under its Aaashirvaad brand, 100% multi-millet-based cookies under Sunfeast, millet choco-sticks confectionary under Candyman Fantastik and millet-based snacks under Bingo!, he added.

ITC will build integrated millet value chains through farmer-producer organisations (FPOs) and is looking to work with 20 of them on millets. The company also revealed that 7,000 acres of crop area have been planned for the first round of the mission, which shall be expanded based on the demand. It is looking at direct procurement from farmers.

The company is currently focussing on two main varieties of millets including the major millets (jowar, bajra, and sorghum) and minor millets (foxtail, little millets), and sourcing them from three states - Karnataka, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. The company’s agri-business division has implemented two PPP projects, one each in Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh in partnership with the Indian Institute of Millets Research (IIMR), Hyderabad, and the Government of Andhra Pradesh respectively.

“From just basic millet-based aata to millet-based snacks to also having millet-based ice cream, we're seeing rapid innovation happening in this space,” said Akshay D' Souza, Chief of Growth & Insights, Bizom. Current market size is close to $50 million and this will rise rapidly in double digits over the next decade, he added.