Adani Wilmar announces to launch India’s first branded ready-to-cook Khichdi

Ahmedabad: Adani Wilmar Ltd, which markets rice, edible oils, pulses and other consumer essentials under ‘Fortune’ brand today announced to launch India’s first branded ready-to-cook Khichdi.

With this the company, a joint venture of Adani group and Singapore based Wilmar International Ltd, would made its foray in to the ready-to-cook segment in the country which is growing at a CAGR of 15 to 20% and projected to touch Rs 2000 crore size by next year.

Addressing a press conference here Head (Marketing) of the company, Ajay Motwani said that the Khichadi has been launched in three categories Punjabi, Gujarati and Bengali in 200 gm packs priced Rs 49/- each. Initially it has been launched offline only in Delhi and online in six cities Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, Hyedrabad and Chennai through four leading e-commerce platforms including Amazon, Flipkart and Big basket. Three more categories of such khichdi and another type of ready to cook snacks item would be launched within six months by when it would also be made available in Gujarat both online and offline. The company has set a turnover target of Rs 50 thousand or sale of 15 lakh packets per month in two years.

Khichdi, which is considered a healthy, wholesome and hassle-free food, is mainly consumed in Gujarat, Delhi, Punjab, West Bengal, and South India, where it is known as pongal. The right-cooked khichdi demands the correct proportion of rice and dal and spices, which differs from place-to-place. For people living away from home, it is usually difficult to find the local ingredients and spices of their region. This is the need gap which Fortune aims to fill through its latest offering,’ he said.

“By ensuring the right mix of authentic ingredients such as rice and pulses, we have made sure that the Fortune Khichdi is very nutritious. It contains local rice- Basmati rice for the Punjabi variant, Gobindo bhog for the Bengali variant, and jeerasar rice for the gujarati variant, hence it also tastes very good, which is not the case with most available healthy food options. Also, it contains superfoods like ragi, flax, sesame, jowar, bajra, so it is superior to regular khichdi made a t home. It is ideal for people looking for healthy and, at the same time, tasty food,” Motwani said.

He said that there was also a great export potential for this product and it would soon be launched in overseas markets like Dubai and Iran where the company has already marked a good presence. Motwani said that the company has in the past 12 months launched as many products including six of rice and planned to launch one product every month.