India’s export of final consumer food products such as Ready to Eat (RTE), Ready to Cook (RTC), and Ready to Serve (RTS) under the APEDA basket has registered significant growth in the last decade.

With the Ministry of Commerce & Industry laying thrust on Value Addition of products for exports, the food products under the RTE category have registered a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 12 per cent in the last decade and the share of RTE in APEDA export has increased from 2.1 per cent to 5 per cent during the same period.

The export of products under the Ready to Eat (RTE), Ready to Cook (RTC), and Ready to Serve (RTS) segments have registered a CAGR of 10.4 percent from 2011-12 to 2020-21. India exported more than $ 2.14 billion worth of final food products in 2020-21. Since final food products are time-saving and readily available, the demand for food items under the categories of RTE, RTC, and RTS has increased manifold in recent years.

The export of products under RTE, RTC, and RTS categories rose by more than 23% to $ 1011 million in April – October (2021-22) compared to $ 823 million reported in April – October (2020-21). In view of this, the export of RTE/RTC and RTS for the last three years is placed in the below graph.

According to the latest Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics data, India exported final food products which include RTE, RTC, and RTS, worth $ 5,438 million in the last three financial three years (2018-19 and 2020-2021).

In 2018-2019, India recorded RTE exports of $ 766 million, which rose to $ 825 million in 2019-20 and $1043 million in 2020-21. Meanwhile, the RTC food products recorded export of $ 473 million in 2018-19, $ 368 million in 2019-20, and $560 million in 2020-21. A comparative analysis of RTE/RTC and RTS for the current year, April–October (2021-22) against previous years for the same periods are placed in the below graph. Export value of RTE/RTC and RTS has increased in 2021-22 against the previous year.

The RTS food category registered an export of $ 436 million in 2018-19, $ 461 million in 2019-20, and $ 511 million in 2020-21.

The products covered under the RTE category, include Biscuits & Confectionery, Jaggery, Breakfast Cereals, Wafers, Indian Sweets and Snacks, Pan Masala & Betal Nuts, etc. The Biscuits and Confectionery and Indian Sweets and Snacks constitute a major share of 89% in the RTE export in 2020-21.

The share of each category in RTE export is 52.32% (Biscuits & Confectionery), 1.52% (Jaggery), 4.11% (breakfast cereals), 1.73% (wafers), 37.04% (Indian sweets and snacks), and 3.28% (Pan Masala and Betal nuts).

The growth rate of RTE in 2020-21 against previous year was 26% while growth in Biscuits & Confectionery category recorded at 28.87%, Jaggery at 48.18%, Breakfast Cereals at 4.24%, Indian sweets and snacks at 29.75%, Pan Masala and B’nuts at 4.2% for the same period.

Notably, more than 56% of RTE food products were exported to the top 10 countries in 2020-21. USA is the top importing country in four categories of RTE products such as Biscuits & Confectionery ($79.54 million), Breakfast cereals ($ 5.33 million), Indian sweets and snacks ($ 99.7 million), Pan Masala & Betal Nuts ($ 5.95 million) while the remaining two products under RTE are significantly imported by Malaysia and Nepal. Malaysia imported Jaggery worth $ 5.09 million and Nepal imported Wafers worth $ 3.5 million in 2020-21.

The major destination of RTE export as per 2020-21 data are U.S.A (18.73%), U.A.E (8.64%), Nepal (5%), Canada (4.77%), Sri Lanka (4.47%), Australia (4.2%), Sudan (2.95%), U.K (2.88%), Nigeria (2.38%), Singapore (2.01%).

The RTC food products have been growing at a CAGR of 7 per cent in the last decade and the share of RTC in APEDA export has increased from 1.8 per cent to 2.7 per cent in the same period. The major categories of food products covered under RTC are ready to cook, papad, flours and milled products, and powder and starch. The category-wise share in RTC export is ready to cook (31.69%), papad (9.68%), flours and milled products (34.34%), and powder & starch (24.28%).

The growth rate of RTC in 2020-21 against the previous year is 52 per cent while the category-wise growth rate of RTC is highest for powder and starch (174%) followed by Flours and Milled Products (36%), Ready to Cook (35%) and Papad (19%) in 2020-21 against the previous year.

Above 74% of RTC food products were exported to top 10 countries in 2020-21 and USA is the top importing country of Flours and Milled Products and Ready to Cook from India in 2020-21 while two countries namely the UK and Indonesia are at the top in importing of Papad and Powder & Starch during 2020-21.

The major exporting destination for RTC export in 2020-21 is the U.S.A ($ 18.62 million), Malaysia ($11.52 million), U.A.E ($ 8.75 million), Indonesia (USD 7.52 million), UK ($ 7.33 million), Nepal ($ 5.89 million), Canada ($ 4.31 million), Australia ($ 4.2 million), Bangladesh ($ 3.43 million) and Qatar ($ 2.76 million).

In the category of RTS, the export has been growing at a CAGR of 11 per cent in the last decade. The major final food products under the RTS category include jellies, squash & juices, other beverages, energy products/drinks, and ice cream, soups, sauces, pasta, and seasoning. The share of RTS has increased from 1.1 per cent to 2.5 per cent in the last decade.

The growth rate of RTS in 2020-21 against the previous year (2019-20) is 11 per cent while the category-wise growth rate of RTS is highest for Energy Products/Drinks (31.10%) followed by Ice Cream, Soups, Sauces, Pasta and Seasoning (19.34%), other beverages (14.12%).

The rise in export of agricultural and processed food products has been largely due to the various initiatives taken by APEDA such as organising B2B exhibitions in different countries, exploring new potential markets through product-specific and general marketing campaigns by the active involvement of Indian Embassies.

APEDA has also taken several initiatives to promote geographical indications (GI) registered agricultural and processed food products in India by organizing virtual Buyer Seller Meets on agricultural and food products with the major importing countries across the world.

In order to ensure seamless quality certification of products to be exported, APEDA has recognized 220 labs across India to provide services of testing to a wide range of products and exporters.

APEDA also assists in the up-gradation and strengthening of recognized laboratories for export testing and residue monitoring plans. APEDA also provides assistance under the financial assistance schemes of infrastructure development, quality improvement, and market development for boosting the export of agricultural products.