From packaged foods to breweries to restaurants, large companies including Nestle, ITC, Britannia, HUL, Tata Consumer, Bira 91 and Slurrp Farm are putting up ambitious plans to introduce millet-based packaged foods, beers and restaurant menus or boost their existing millet portfolios, tying in with the Centre’s recent announcements on making India a global hub for millets.

“We are innovating on functional ingredients by incorporating more of super grains, seeds, nuts and fruits with whole grains in our foods, actively engaging with partners and also looking for appropriate opportunities in this evolving space,” said Sudhir Nema, chief development and quality officer at India’s largest biscuits maker Britannia.

Nema said Britannia, which already makes packaged foods with millets, oats, seeds and herbs fortified products under its flagship NutriChoice biscuits brand, is doing backward integration with farming communities, millers and government institutions to escalate the millets association.

Millets will be promoted in a mission-mode this year, which has been declared the International Year of Millets, Union minister for agriculture Narendra Singh Tomar said recently.

Executives said the rush to integrate millets in their foods is to leverage first-mover advantage with consumers, despite challenges such as limited sowing capacity, hard-to-process grains and limited shelf life.

“We recently brewed a Bajra Brut India Pale Ale; the beer used local bajra (pearl millet),” said Ankur Jain, chief executive at beer maker Bira 91. “We are now brewing a Ragi Red Ale (using local ragi from Karnataka), which gives the beer a unique complexity.”

He said the company launched a millet beer in its Taprooms starting last month, adding that the use of millets also allows Bira 91 to make its beers gluten-free.India’s largest packaged foods maker Nestle, which makes Maggi noodles and KitKat chocolate, has already inked a tie-up to integrate super grains in its foods. A Nestle R&D Centre India spokesperson said a memorandum of understanding (MoU) has been signed between millets incubator startup Nutrihub, ICAR-Institute of Millets Research and Nestle’s R&D Centre, a subsidiary of the Swiss foods maker’s parent company Nestle SA.

“We are collaborating in science and technology to process millets, inculcate health benefits of millets in different product applications, build consumer awareness, and sustainability of millets by developing regenerative agriculture practices,” the spokesperson said.

In April 2018, millets were re-branded as nutri cereals and the government declared it the National Year of Millets, while the year 2023 has been declared as the International Year of Millets by the United Nations General Assembly, with the Indian government announcing that it wants to make India the global hub for millets.

Zorawar Kalra, managing director at Massive Restaurants, which runs multiple restaurant brands including Masala Library and Farzi Cafe, said its menu across brands includes assorted millets in salads and main courses now. “We are sourcing from different states, and have faced no such challenges. We are using assorted pearl millets, quinoa, dehydrated lentils and blueberry; and have also tried to make the underrated khichadi with millets,” he said.

HUL has signed an MoU with Indian Institute of Millets Research (IIMR), which has been named as a Centre of Excellence by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her budget speech on February 1, to make millet-based drinks under its Horlicks brand, executives aware of the developments said.

“Apart from being packed with nutrition and low glycemic index, millets require very less water, they can be grown in drought-prone areas. We are seeing a lot of interest from large companies as well as startups for association with millets,” said CV Ratnavathi, director at IIMR.