Food brands: Amul beats MNCs to be No. 1

Gujarat's Amul bagged the top slot with 7.2 per cent share, followed by Mother Dairy and Britannia Industries.

The year 2015 has been a good one for homegrown food brands like Amul, Britannia, Mother Dairy and Parle among others with a clear trend emerging in favour of Indian food brands over their foreign counterparts. 

In fact, only three international brands (Mondelez, PepsiCo and Nestle) have figured in the list of top ten players by market share across packaged foods, as per data from market research firm Euromonitor.

Gujarat's Amul bagged the top slot with 7.2 per cent share, followed by Mother Dairy and Britannia Industries.

In fact, Swiss food giant Nestle has actually slipped down the rankings table to seventh spot, as its market share dipped from 4.2 per cent in 2014 to 2.9 per cent in 2015.

This was primarily due to the ban on its popular instant noodles brand Maggi that lasted close to five months.

The Indian packaged food market grew by 15 per cent during the calendar year 2015 to Rs 2.57 lakh crore from Rs 2.23 lakh crore in 2014.

"Domestic manufacturers like Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), Mother Dairy, Ruchi Soya and many more dominated packaged food in 2015, whereas international players still have to understand the dynamics of the Indian consumer mind-set," Euromonitor said.

The report further said that domestic manufacturers are increasing their distribution and penetration into rural India.

By launching small packs at affordable price points, they have been able to get deeper into the market in 2015. Also many companies are expanding their product portfolios.

For example, ITC has launched packaged namkeens (traditional savoury snacks) and many others are getting into traditional snacks to grab a larger share of the market.

The local brands are scoring over their global counterparts by catering to Indian tastes.

The market shares, by retail sales value, include sale of fresh, packaged and prepared foods for home preparation and consumption.