Hindustan Unilever plans to launch traditional South Asian breakfast options

Hindustan Unilever, the country’s largest consumer goods firm, plans to launch traditional South Asian breakfast options such as khichdi, upma and pongal.

According to media reports, the move is a departure from the company’s previous strategy to introduce consumers to a global menu. The new products will be launched under the company’s ayurveda brand Ayush. The products will be made of jowar, bajra and other millets.

The products will give competition to the ready-to-cook breakfast products of MTR, Kellogg’s, PepsiCo and Marico. The brand will also provide stiff competition to Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali, which plans to launch Indian breakfast products later this year, the report added. Patanjali already sells ready-to-eat oats and cornflakes.

The company will address consumers’ health concerns, which stem from the use of preservatives in packaged foods. In India, consumers have been shifting from breakfast cereals to traditional breakfast choices.

The size of  the breakfast market in India is about Rs 3,000 crore.