Wheat-based foods are gaining ground faster than rice products across India, and bakery items that were once occasional treats are turning into everyday food. Biscuits, cookies, puffs, pizza and pasta now sit comfortably alongside traditional Tamil meals. Flour millers are being pushed to keep pace with this shift in taste.

B Dhiraj, Executive Director at Narasu’s Saarathy Enterprises Pvt Ltd, Salem, has seen the change up close. The company is a third-generation family business that manufactures wheat products and sells them across Tamil Nadu. Speaking to CMR India, Dhiraj said Western food habits are a major force behind the rise in maida consumption.

Young consumers make pizza and pasta a daily food

According to Dhiraj, younger Indians have adopted pizza and pasta as quick, instant meals, even in working families. Many bakers and food entrepreneurs have also travelled to the UK,

Switzerland and Italy to learn the craft, and they return to India wanting to replicate those products in their own businesses. This directly affects flour makers. “Indian pizza and Italian pizza are so far apart,” Dhiraj said, explaining that bakers who return from Italy ask for a flour that can reproduce the same result at home. Millers then have to develop it for them.

Jaggery cookies and millet breads bring Tamil flavours to bakery

Dhiraj said the trend is not a simple copy of the West. Tamil consumers are looking for a fusion that suits palates raised on local food. Cookies made with cane jaggery, atta biscuits and atta pasta are already arriving in the market, and Narasu’s has received enquiries from bakers who want to mix millets into bread for a healthier option.

He expects the trend to last. “A lot of regional products are going to come into the bakery industry,” Dhiraj said, adding that this will bring many new flavours to the market.

R&D team handles every customer request

To meet these demands, Narasu’s runs its own research and development team, which Dhiraj heads himself. Every consumer request is passed to the team immediately. Bakers also give regular feedback on what they want added to a flour, and the company works with a panel of scientists to develop new products.

Smaller towns lead consumption

Dhiraj said the common belief that Chennai and Coimbatore hold the greatest potential has changed in the last couple of years. Cheaper internet access after Jio’s rollout, the popularity of reels and YouTube videos, and greater travel have exposed people in smaller places to new foods.

“It is no longer the case that you have to go to a city to eat a freshly baked pizza,” he said, pointing to towns such as Thanjavur and Kumbakonam, where localities returning to their hometowns as students and tourists are starting new bakery ventures. Visitors from small towns at the expo, he noted, kept asking which products they could use to innovate. Improving last-mile connectivity and more transporters serving these regions are helping the growth.

In his view, tier-one cities already have the knowledge, while the real growth lies in tier-two and tier-three centres. Narasu’s is focusing on them now.

Capacity to double in ten years

Narasu’s is a century-old company, and its flour-milling operation began in 1989. The plant has been expanded twice in recent years and is now close to full capacity. The company has bought additional land for further expansion and plans to double its capacity in about ten years.

For now, the focus stays on Tamil Nadu. “We want to help our Tamil people get a lot more of our products,” Dhiraj said. Manufacturing units in other states will follow later.

Trucks, distributors and online channels

On delivery, Narasu’s uses its own fleet of trucks for last-mile supply, along with a distributor network and business-to-consumer online channels. Dhiraj said buying flour from the neighbourhood grocery shop is no longer the only route, and the combination of channels lets the company make its products available anywhere in Tamil Nadu.