Mumbai, Oct. 24 -- Norwegian conglomerate Orkla, which owns ready-to-cook and spices brands MTR, Great Eastern and Rasoi Magic, will stay focused on growing its brands in their home states and catering to local consumer preferences as their primary driver of growth, Orkla India's chief executive officer Sanjay Sharma said.

"Unlike large companies that tend to take their brands across multiple nations. we believe in 'local'," Sharma told Mint. "Even in Europe we've seen that tastes between Norway and Sweden change, even though they are very similar in culture."

Sharma said Orkla's success has been in recognizing growth opportunity in India's foods business by accepting that the country is a collection of many cultures that must be addres...