Baba Ramdev Launches His Own Brand of Instant Noodles: Atta Noodles

At a time when the instant noodles controversy was at its peak, Ramdev announced that he'd be launching his own brand of noodles pretty soon. He also said that these won't be made with maida but with a healthier alternative. He also said that the noodles won't be harmful to a person and won't be addictive.The time has come when claims become reality. On Thursday, baba Ramdev launched 'Atta Noodles' his new brand of noodles that are made with wheat. At the launch of the noodles in this Hindu holy city in Uttarakhand, Ramdev said the noodles "will not have any maida (flour) and they will provide a healthy alternative to Maggi for children." The yoga guru said the noodles were completely safe and healthy for consumption, and he was promoting swadeshi products because they were natural and caused no harm.The Patanjali group owned by Ramdev produces and markets various ayurvedic products. It had a turnover of Rs.1200 crores in 2014 and a projected turnover of Rs.2000 crores in 2015. Another product Patanjali plans to introduce sometime soon is Powervita, a health drink for children that will compete with brands like Complan, Horlicks and Bournvita.Besides Baba Ramdev, the Punjab government has also deiced to manufacture instant noodles and proposed to launch them by September-end. This will make them the first state government to do so. These will be available in two vegetarian flavours and will be manufactured Asia’s largest marketing cooperative Markfed as Sohana Noodles. It is believed that the price of these noodles will be lower than the other brands in the market.India is the world's 5th largest instant noodles market and worth approximately Rs.3000 crore. Of this huge chunk, Maggi Noodles sat on almost 60-65 per cent of it, and it's been the case for a little over three decades. While Nestle India is struggling to get them back on shelves by the end of the year after the product was banned due to high levels of lead, this huge market share might be up for grabs and gives other brands an opportunity to take over.But the question that arises here is how healthy instant noodles are even when you swap ingredients? Since these are made to bear a longer shelf life, they are highly processed. They are low on nutritive content and with processed food there is always a danger of artificial colors, preservatives, additives and flavourings. The biggest problem that we face with such convenience foods is that people have started replacing wholesome meals with them as they are easy to cook and take less time.While some are eagerly waiting for the new breed of instant noodles, most long for the good old Maggi noodles and others call it yet another marketing gimmick. Here's what people have to say -