Maggi is number 1 but competition is just two-minutes away

Nestle’s Maggi may have bounced back as the largest selling instant noodles brand in India within five months of its relaunch but the damage has been done.

Competition (Patanjali, Knorr, Yippee) has caught up and Nestle’s revenues from the prepared dish business (Maggi noodles is part of it) has lost more than two years’ worth of business.

ITC Foods' Sunfeast Yippee has closed the gap spectacularly and is now a close second with a 33% market share. 

Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali, too, has entered the fray. "Patanjali atta noodles will soon oust Maggi as the top noodles brand in the country. Currently from about a 100 tonnes, our production of atta noodles will be
increased to 300-500 tonnes," Ramdev had said during a press conference earlier this year.

Nestle produced 254.55 tonne of prepared dishes and cooking aids in 2014 before falling to a little over 100 tonne in 2015.

Amnish Aggarwal and Gaurav Jogani of Prabhudas Lilladher, in a report dated May 12, 2016 said that they believe that Nestle India would be able to reach CY14 (calendar year 2014) volumes only by the end of 2017.

Prepared dish and cooking aids business of Nestle registered a drop of 55.6% in value in 2015 after many states in India banned sale of Maggi Noodles after it failed lab tests and was found unfit for consumption.

The value of the business stood at Rs 29,613 million in 2014, dropped to Rs 13, 141 million in 2015. The two analysts said that they expect volumes to increase 68.3% in the current year taking the value of the segment to Rs 22, 117 million. However, it is only in calendar year 2017 that the business will be back to its pre-ban days.

They said, “Nestle has re‐launched Vegetable Atta Noodles and Oats Noodles under Maggi taking the total variants to four. The category has seen increased competition from “Patanjali” and recent launch of
Instant Noodles by HUL (Knorr). We believe that NEST would be able to reach CY14 volumes only by the end of CY17.”

Nestle originally controlled 70% of the instant noodles market before it was pulled off the shelves.