When ITC Ltd. launched Aashirvaad in May 2002, it sold one thing — whole wheat flour. The brand now has more than 200 SKUs across staples, spices, fresh foods and frozen foods.

ITC wants to double what Indians spend on Aashirvaad to Rs 20,000 crore in five years. It said growth will come from two places: more premium atta, and new categories around the Indian kitchen. That makes the brand a test of a hard question in packaged food.

Can a name built on the purity of an ingredient win in the other segments and break out from its identity built around atta? Trust in the purity of flour may not translate into trust in ready-to-eat meals, where taste, consistency and repeat purchases matter more.

ITC itself has bought brands and built separate ones for some of these jobs.

A Big Target, A Soft Core

Hemant Malik, who runs ITC's foods division, told PTI the company expects spending on Aashirvaad to double from above Rs 10,000 crore. That figure is what shoppers pay, including taxes and trade margins. It is not ITC's revenue.

The push comes as the core product slows.

In the quarter ended June 30, ITC said atta was held back by heat waves, an LPG shortage and low wheat prices. FMCG-Others revenue rose 12%, or 16% without staples, and dairy, snacks, noodles and frozen snacks each grew more than 20%. Not all of that belongs to Aashirvaad. Snacks, noodles and frozen foods sell under Bingo!, YiPPee! and ITC Master Chef.

The wider backdrop matters too. ITC is trying to rely less on cigarettes, which now face a sharp rise in tax.

Devangshu Dutta, founder of consultancy Third Eyesight, said value-added ready-to-cook and ready-to-eat products earn better gross margins than staples.

Selling more of them would also help ITC use its factories more fully, he said.

ITC's recent annual report shows multigrain atta, vermicelli and besan have grown threefold over five years, and now make up about 16% of the staples portfolio.

ITC does not give a brand-level split between premium atta and new categories, or Aashirvaad's profit.

ITC's own Q1 FY27 release said atta performance was tempered by transient factors including heat waves, an LPG shortage and benign wheat prices. The FMCG-Others business grew 12% in the quarter.

The Easy Stretch

ITC said its value-added atta variants and staples-related products have grown three-fold in five years, and their share of the portfolio has doubled. They include besan, rava, vermicelli and soya chunks.

The newest addition is chana sattu, first sold in Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal, with a Rs 10 pack that carries 10 grams of protein.

Suumit Kapoor, a brand growth consultant, calls these safe stretches. Besan and rava barely change what a shopper expects, he said. They are "still about what's in the bag," so purity still answers the question.

The Harder Jump

Ready-to-cook and ready-to-eat food asks something different. "Purity is a raw material promise. Ready to eat is a finished experience," Kapoor said. Nobody buys a packaged curry because the dal was well sourced, he said. They buy it because they are hungry, short of time and hoping it tastes home-cooked.

ITC's recent launches show it knows this. Its ready-to-cook chapati comes in packs of 10, with no preservatives and a shelf life of five to six days.

The chutney and sambar range, launched in June, is made in small batches without preservatives and depends on a cold supply chain. At launch it was sold only in Bengaluru through quick-commerce apps.

The short shelf life answers a real problem. Dutta said many shoppers prefer freshly cooked, hot meals and are wary of additives that extend shelf life. Cold chains remain patchy even in big cities, he said.

A time-pressed household can also cook, order in, eat out or buy a packaged meal, and each choice is judged on price, convenience and taste.

Kapoor added a caution about ITC's own numbers. They do not show whether shoppers buy the new products because of the Aashirvaad name, or simply because those categories are growing. ITC's latest results release names ready-to-cook chapati in a list of products but gives no sales figure for it, or for ready-to-eat meals. That may reflect how ITC groups its figures, not a change in plans.

Why One Name Still Makes Sense

Dutta sees a strong business case for using one name. A familiar brand cuts the cost of getting shoppers to try something new, he said, because Aashirvaad is already in millions of homes. New items can also move through ITC's existing distribution, including modern trade and quick commerce, and retailers accept extensions from a leading brand more readily than unknown labels.

He also sees a defensive motive. Aashirvaad sits in everyday kitchen use, between ITC's older gourmet line, Kitchens of India, and its snack-led Sunfeast. A bigger range puts it up against MTR, Haldiram's and iD Fresh.

Tata Consumer said Tata Sampann grew 69% in Q4 FY26 with strong performance across categories. On the Q1 FY27 earnings call, CEO Sunil D'Souza said the core portfolio of pulses, spices, poha and vermicelli was growing at about 30%, with cold-pressed oils and dry fruits adding to that growth. Poha and vermicelli are the closest items to convenience foods, but Tata doesn't separate them out.

AWL Agri Business, which owns Fortune and Kohinoor, reported Q1 FY27 Food & FMCG revenue of Rs 1,726 crore, up 22%, with a segment EBITDA margin of 6%, and management said the Fortune and Kohinoor brands both grew at double-digit rates.

AWL's investor day deck also shows Kohinoor rising from Rs 150 crore in FY23 to over Rs 400 crore in FY26.

Not Betting Only On The Name

ITC's record suggests it does not rely on one brand for everything. It launched Kitchens of India in 2001 as a separate premium name, using the dishes of its hotel restaurants. It bought the spices brand Sunrise in 2020.

In February 2025, it agreed to buy Prasuma, a frozen and ready-to-cook company, starting with a 43.8% stake. Sproutlife Foods, the Yogabar business, became a subsidiary on April 1.

Mint reported in February 2025, citing two unnamed people, that ITC was in early talks to buy MTR Foods and Eastern Condiments from Norway's Orkla for about $1.4 billion. Orkla said it does not comment on rumours. ITC did not reply to Mint. No deal followed. Kapoor reads such moves as ITC buying skills it lacks, not as proof that Aashirvaad cannot stretch.

ITC is also putting weight behind fresh food. Its fresh food business, which includes a brand called ITC Aashirvaad Soul Creations, grew gross order value 90% in the quarter, passed an annual revenue run rate of Rs 300 crore and now runs 75 cloud kitchens in five cities.

What Comes Next

The company's position is strongest where the brand started. In July, ITC said it had already secured 95% of the wheat of the quality needed for Aashirvaad atta, but it also warned that monsoon rains were short and El Niño could hurt growth.

Value-added atta variants and staples adjacencies have grown three-fold over five years, and Aashirvaad Svasti dairy is among its fastest-growing categories, but neither is a meal category.

The newest meal-type launches, such as ready-to-cook chapatis, frozen naans and parathas, and fresh chutneys and sambar, have no disclosed sales or repeat-purchase data.

ITC launched Aashirvaad ReadyMeals back in 2003 and still describes ready-to-cook as a new bet, and it markets other finished-food lines under separate brands (Kitchens of India, ITC Master Chef, Prasuma), which suggests it doesn't simply assume the Aashirvaad name carries into every meal category.

Management frames success around product innovation and differentiation, not brand trust alone.

The larger test is on the shelf. Kapoor said staples-linked products can keep drawing on Aashirvaad's purity, but anything close to a finished meal has to earn a name for taste and consistency. Whether shoppers will pay for that under the Aashirvaad label is what ITC's Rs 20,000 crore target depends on.