India, July 4 -- In his consumer research in the past two years, Akash Agrawalla, co-founder of spices company ZOFF Foods, discovered that people are keen to compress their cooking time. Working women rushing to their jobs, homemakers keen to savour experiences other than gastronomy and men who turned home chefs during Covid lockdowns - all want home-cooked meals but seek convenience in food preparation. This prodded Agrawalla to join the growing number of big and small companies making ready-to-cook (RTC) food products. Last month, he launched gravies and marinades in partnership with Reliance Retail. "Convenience is addictive. Look at the success of quick-commerce services. Likewise, RTC foods, which simplify cooking, will grow sharply over the next 5-10 years," Agrawalla said. A proprietary survey by Fireside Ventures shows RTC product volumes have doubled in the last two years, driven by batters and semi-prepared meals. A June FMCG Pulse study by Kantar reflects similar data. The ready-to-cook (RTC) mixes doubled in volume in the last two years, adding 18 million new households in the period, it said. Category growth was led by batters and mixes. RTC curries added six lakh households in the same period. Batters are fastest growing "as they give you a dish on the table which is closest to what you would make fresh. It has the taste of home-made food and offers convenience," observed food scientist Rinka Banerjee, founder of Thinking Forks. She expects expansion of the batter category with the likes of "chilla" batter (made of gram flour or split green gram) entering the fray. Kantar study said that while RTC grew, the Ready-to-Eat segment - served directly after heating -- lost volume. Ready-to-Eat is losing out to fresh food delivery from restaurants and cloud kitchens, Banerjee said. "Why would I buy packaged palak paneer or dal makhani when I can get it fresh on the delivery platform in 30 minutes," she said. Adarsh Menon, partner at Fireside Ventures agreed that consumers like to be involved in the cooking process building a case for RTC. "Traditional home-cooking is still big but the affluent urban consumers are becoming time poor, hence, seeking ease of cooking. We are very bullish on the entire RTC category," Menon said. To be sure, RTC products are not new to India with several brands selling ginger pastes and idli-dosa mixes for close to 20 years. Yet the category lacked sizzle. That is beginning to change. "RTC is poised to take off pushed by more women joining the workforce and our large millennial and GenZ population looking to cook smarter," said Banerjee. With Indians experimenting with food, they're lapping up RTC aids for dishes from, say, Chettinad to Kolhapur, Banerjee said. "Besides, there's growing demand for preservative-free, cleaner labels which has been a deterrent for the category in the past," Banerjee said. Emergence of quick-commerce as a distribution channel has also become an enabler for category growth. "For RTC, the stars are aligned. The consumer is ready, the channel is established and food companies are giving what people want, that is, healthy and clean RTC products," Menon said. People want millet batters, high protein breakfasts and low oil curries and are willing to pay a premium for it, he added. Banerjee spots a bigger opportunity for RTC in frozen foods which have ventured beyond the routine snacks like fries to gourmet foods. Meat and seafood brand TenderCuts agreed that the RTC meals market is going through a transformation with customers seeking restaurant-like starters and gravies at home, without compromising on quality, hygiene or freshness of meats. It offers premium, preservative-free, all-natural marinated meats and plans to introduce fusion recipes designed for kids, and high-protein combos for fitness enthusiasts, the company said. Among emerging subcategories in RTC, Fireside Ventures expects proliferation of pre-cut ingredients, marinated proteins, global and regional meal kits, and frozen semi-cooked bundles-all designed to shave off preparation time while preserving the home-cooking experience. In the next three years, Fireside Ventures expects the RTC market to double and RTC products to become a mainstream pantry staple in urban kitchens. It is banking on urban consumers to start using RTC daily rather than weekly, with an increase in rural penetration as cold chains and price points improve. Agrawalla said he expects his pocket-friendly gravies to become a regular habit with Indian consumers as they speed up their homestyle cooking....