By Sagar Malviya
Copyright indiatimes
Picture credits: Kellanova website
Cereal maker Kellanova, formerly The Kellogg Co, plans to leverage its scale, push deeper into snacking, and expand its labels into newer segments to grow its share in India’s breakfast market, amid increasing competition from direct-to-consumer startups offering localised, health-driven options at steep discounts.”We are operating a reasonably scaled business,” Prashant Peres, managing director of Kellanova India and South Asia, said, citing the firm’s operational scale, multiple factories, and that it has been operating in the market for many years. “I think the challenge is more for others who are coming in to grab a 3-7% share… Is that big enough to be a big bet or a play in the short term?”Peres said there is “a lot of new products, a lot of action” in the breakfast cereal segment. “Unfortunately, a lot of that translates sometimes into a lot of discounting and things like that. So, it’s not always purely expanding the category and, barring a few players, it’s not sustainable, really,” he told ET.ET BureauWith the breakfast market seeing increasing demand for traditional Indian offerings like upma, dosa and poha, Kellogg’s earlier test-marketed an upma product under its brand-a move that met with positive reception, though it was eventually shelved in favour of higher-growth segments.”It was a test market to test and see the acceptance for Kellogg’s as a brand in new formats,” Peres explained, adding that “the results were very good.”Live Events”There’s a different reason why we didn’t take it national. I think it was really a prioritisation behind what we saw as a much faster-growing segment in muesli, and putting our resources behind that,” he added.In India’s snacking market, especially the breakfast options segment worth ₹4,000 crore, consumers still largely prefer traditional or savoury ready-to-eat cornflakes and muesli alternatives.Over the past few years, companies including MTR, ID Fresh, PepsiCo and Marico, have driven the market as consumers switch to healthier options such as oats and whole-grain meals.Kellanova, however, said sweet products including biscuits are still the dominant choice in most Indian urban households and its strategy is driven to favour chocos, muesli, and cornflakes with milk. The company said it had a strong start to 2025 with double-digit growth, reversing last year’s trend of low single-digit growth.REGULATED INFLUENCEFacing increasing scrutiny on social media platforms, the American company also called out unregulated influencers who critique packaged food products. Kellogg’s, along with other food companies, has engaged with regulators to push for some form of accountability in the food and nutrition influencer space.”If you look at some other segments, let’s say the finance segment, anybody who’s giving investment advice, there’s a fair amount of regulation on who can say what. I think what we have over here is a bit of unregulated influences,” Peres said. “A lot of influencers who then turn out to have vested interest, start their own business or do their own app or things like that.”Globally, Kellanova is in the final phase of merging with Mars’ snacking division. While 27 of 28 regulators have approved the deal, the final clearance is still awaited, it said.Add as a Reliable and Trusted News Source Add Now!
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