MegaBrands · Branded atta and flour

Aashirvaad: How ITC Turned Everyday Wheat Flour Into India’s Benchmark Atta Brand

Aashirvaad, selected as the Mega Brand for Branded atta and flour by the Business Intelligence Unit of WCRC, began as a single packaged atta in May 2002. Today ITC puts consumer spend on the brand, a retail value measure and not ITC revenue, at more than Rs 10,000 crore a year.

By WCRC Leaders Editorial · Published October 2026 · 8 min read

At a glance

Aashirvaad is the atta and staples brand of ITC Limited, the Kolkata-based company incorporated in 1910. ITC launched it in May 2002 as a branded whole wheat atta. The brand now spans more than 200 products, from atta and besan to spices, dairy and frozen breads, made across 66 facilities in India. ITC says consumer spend on Aashirvaad, measured at retail value rather than as ITC revenue, is above Rs 10,000 crore a year. It is the Mega Brand for Branded atta and flour in WCRC MegaBrands.

Aashirvaad took one of the most ordinary things in an Indian kitchen and turned it into a named brand. When ITC launched Aashirvaad in May 2002, wheat flour was largely a commodity. ITC set out to build a packed atta that families would choose by name.

That effort has grown into a large business. ITC said in September 2026 that consumer spend on Aashirvaad had passed Rs 10,000 crore a year, and that it now aims to reach Rs 20,000 crore within five years. Consumer spend is what shoppers pay at the shelf, including channel margins and taxes, so it is not the same as ITC’s revenue from the brand. The brand that started with one atta now carries more than 200 products.

WCRC MegaBrands covers 501 categories in India and selects one benchmark brand in each. It looks at brands through five pillars: Brand Positioning & Recall; Consumer Trust & Sentiment; Product, Innovation & Delivery; Sustainability, Governance & ESG; and Digital & Financial Soundness. Aashirvaad has been selected as the Mega Brand for Branded atta and flour by the Business Intelligence Unit of WCRC (World Centre for Research and Consulting). Here is how Aashirvaad’s record lines up with each pillar.

Pillar 1: How Aashirvaad Made a Commodity Memorable

Brand Positioning & Recall · weighted 28% in the MegaBrands framework · How MegaBrands measures this

Wheat flour is hard to brand. One bag looks much like the next, and the real test happens on the tawa. ITC’s own 2012 annual report described the Aashirvaad story as “creating a brand in a commodity market”. Its answer was to stand for something every cook understands: the roti served to the family.

That idea has given Aashirvaad a clear emotional territory. ITC describes the brand’s ethos as “Nurturing through Nature”, and its advertising has returned again and again to the person who usually makes the rotis. In July 2020, during the pandemic, the campaign “Maa Tujhe Maan Gaye” paid tribute to mothers as families shared the work at home. Vivek Kookkal, then Head of Marketing, Staples, ITC Foods, said the campaign “was powered by the inspiration to pay a rich tribute to all mothers”. The brand’s own site cites “the trust of millions of mothers”.

Recall also comes from variety without confusion. Every variant carries the same name, from the everyday Shudh Chakki atta to Multigrain, Sugar Release Control and Aashirvaad Select, which ITC presents as “Gehoon Ka Sartaaj”. In October 2024 chef Ranveer Brar became the face of Select.

Pillar 2: Why Families Trust Aashirvaad

Consumer Trust & Sentiment · weighted 26% in the MegaBrands framework · How MegaBrands measures this

For a staple eaten every day, trust is the product. Aashirvaad has worked to give shoppers more information at the point of purchase. In December 2023 it launched a “quality certificate” for Aashirvaad Shudh Chakki atta under the campaign line “Likh ke Le Lo”. A QR code on each pack lets a shopper open information about that pack, which the brand describes as a “Journey of Excellence from grain to atta”.

Anuj Kumar Rustagi, then Chief Operating Officer, Staples & Adjacencies, ITC Foods, explained the thinking at launch: “This certificate not only assures consumers of our quality standards at every step, but also empowers them with information to evaluate their current choices.”

The same approach runs through Aashirvaad Organic. Under its “Sach Much Organic” campaign, ITC says the organic attas and dals are certified under USDA organic rules and by INDOCERT under India’s National Programme for Organic Production, and that each product is tested for 217 pesticides. ITC says a QR code on each pack lets shoppers trace the product’s journey from farm to home.

The clearest sign of trust is what shoppers spend. ITC put annual consumer spend on Aashirvaad, measured at retail value, at more than Rs 10,000 crore in September 2026.

Pillar 3: The Engine Behind Every Aashirvaad Pack

Product, Innovation & Delivery · weighted 20% in the MegaBrands framework · How MegaBrands measures this

Good atta begins long before the mill. ITC’s 2012 annual report credited ITC’s Agri-Business with sourcing the wheat for Aashirvaad. That link has gone digital. In its results for the April to June 2026 quarter, ITC said that direct sourcing from farmer producer organisations through ITCMAARS, its “phygital” agritech platform, “has now scaled up to about 40% of the wheat sourced for Aashirvaad Atta and Agri Business, leading to procurement related efficiencies and quality enhancement.” In the same release, ITC said 95% of the wheat of requisite quality for Aashirvaad Atta had already been secured within the buying season.

From the field, the grain moves to a wide manufacturing base. ITC said in September 2026 that Aashirvaad products are made across 66 facilities in India.

The range has grown well beyond a single atta. Value-added attas such as Multigrain, Select and Sugar Release Control “posted healthy growth driven by superior value propositions”, ITC reported for the June 2026 quarter. Other variants include High Protein atta, organic atta, gluten-free flour and millet options. Around them sit besan, soya chunks, three kinds of rava, vermicelli, salt and spices, and the Aashirvaad Svasti fresh dairy range of pouch milk, curd, lassi and paneer.

Innovation now reaches the freezer and the fresh shelf. Aashirvaad sells ready-to-cook chapatis and frozen naans and parathas. In the April to June 2026 quarter ITC launched Aashirvaad Chana Sattu in select markets, and the product is available in Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.

Pillar 4: Aashirvaad, a Brand Rooted in the Farm

Sustainability, Governance & ESG · weighted 16% in the MegaBrands framework · How MegaBrands measures this

A wheat brand depends on the health of the farms that grow it. ITC’s move toward buying wheat directly from farmer producer organisations, which covers Aashirvaad Atta together with ITC’s Agri Business, shortens the chain between grower and miller. ITC links it to procurement efficiencies and quality enhancement.

The organic range adds a second strand. ITC’s own description of the line is direct: “Aashirvaad Organic is not just a promise to our patrons but also to our environment.” ITC points to recognised certification, testing for 217 pesticides and farm-to-home QR tracing as the ways shoppers can check that promise.

Aashirvaad also sits inside a parent with long-standing environmental commitments. ITC Limited says it has been “carbon-positive, water-positive and solid waste recycling positive for over a decade now”, and that nearly 51% of the energy it consumes comes from renewable sources. These are company-wide figures for ITC, not measures of the Aashirvaad brand alone.

Aashirvaad is run by ITC’s Foods Division within a listed company led by Sanjiv Puri as Chairman and Managing Director.

Pillar 5: Aashirvaad’s Growth With Financial Strength

Digital & Financial Soundness · weighted 10% in the MegaBrands framework · How MegaBrands measures this

ITC does not publish revenue for Aashirvaad on its own, so the brand’s scale is best read through consumer spend, the total that shoppers pay for its products at retail, including channel margins and taxes. That passed Rs 10,000 crore a year by September 2026, and ITC has set a target of Rs 20,000 crore within five years. Hemant Malik, Executive Director of ITC and Chief Executive Officer of its Foods Division, was plain about the ambition: “We will double in the next five years.”

The parent gives the brand financial depth. In FY2025-26, ITC’s FMCG segment revenue was about Rs 24,210 crore, and consumer spend across all of ITC’s FMCG brands was about Rs 37,000 crore. ITC’s FMCG products reached about 28 crore households that year. These are figures for ITC’s whole FMCG business, not for Aashirvaad alone, and the revenue and consumer spend figures measure different things.

For Aashirvaad itself, the most visible digital tool sits on the pack: the QR code that links a bag of atta to product information a shopper can open on a phone. The brand has also stepped into fresh food through ITC Aashirvaad Soul Creations, part of ITC’s cloud kitchen business.

The Aashirvaad Benchmark

Every category has leaders. A MegaBrand is the brand its category is measured against. Aashirvaad holds that place in branded atta and flour because its record is strong on every pillar at once. It turned a loose commodity into a named product, puts product information on the pack, is moving more of its wheat sourcing to direct links with farmer groups, sits within a parent with long-running environmental commitments, and has a stated plan to double consumer spend.

Above all, Aashirvaad shows that even the most basic staple can carry a brand promise. The test is the roti on the plate, and ITC’s bet in 2002 was that a trusted name could pass it at national scale. More than two decades later, the brand is still building on that idea.

Powerfacts

More Questions About Aashirvaad

About Aashirvaad

Aashirvaad is the atta and staples brand of ITC Limited, launched in May 2002 as a branded whole wheat atta. Run by ITC’s Foods Division, it now offers more than 200 products across atta, besan, rava, salt, spices, dairy, fresh and frozen foods, made across 66 facilities in India. ITC says consumer spend on Aashirvaad, a retail value measure rather than revenue, is above Rs 10,000 crore a year. Aashirvaad has been selected as the Mega Brand for Branded atta and flour by the Business Intelligence Unit of WCRC (World Centre for Research and Consulting).