(This story originally appeared in on Nov 05, 2013)

NEW DELHI: A few weeks ago, PepsiCo chief executive Indra Nooyi informed investors about a fundamental shift in consumer habits towards healthier food options. However, closer home, the New York-based company's Indian arm has come face to face with a stubborn adversary called the Indian food palate, which simply refuses to give up taste in preference to health. Caught in the crossfire are important brands in PepsiCo India 's portfolio.PepsiCo India's BFY (better for you) products, Aliva range of baked crackers and Lay's Baked potato chips, are the latest victims of low sales and are conspicuous by their absence from the market. It is learnt that PepsiCo India has stopped making Aliva products, which was launched with much fanfare around two years ago with Bollywood stars Chitrangada Singh and Vidya Balan as brand ambassadors. The Lay's Baked potato chips that was introduced earlier this year, keeping in mind the health conscious Indian consumer, is not available in most mom-and-pop stores.When contacted, a PepsiCo India spokesperson said: "Consumer demand is diversifying towards healthier products, but given low penetration levels and low per capita consumption in India, this is slow process and healthier products take a longer time to become part of consumers' consumption basket. While Aliva's performance was below our expectations, at a portfolio level, we will continue to innovate against this opportunity. But Lay's Baked does well with health conscious consumers and we will continue to invest behind it."However, PepsiCo India's other BFY offerings, such as, Kurukure Desi Beats, a variant of which flaunted wheat as one of the primary ingredients, had also met with a similar fate earlier despite having Kareena Kapoor as brand ambassador. This forced PepsiCo to withdraw the product from the market.Rachna Nath, leader retail and consumers at consulting firm PwC India, feels that Indian consumers are more concerned about taste than health. "Many brands have failed to crack the health segment here because it's tough to walk the tightrope between the unique taste and health preferences of Indian consumers. For instance, if you are famous for your pizzas and burgers, consumers might not come to you for salads. For health food, they would rather go to someone who specializes in it," she says.Even Nestle India is finding it difficult to push its Maggi Vegetable Atta Noodles, a BFY take on its popular refined-flour instant noodles. According to sources familiar with the situation, stocks of Atta Noodles are piling up, while packets of its less-healthy cousin are flying off the shelves. A Nestle India spokesperson did not respond to a questionnaire from TOI.Apart from PepsiCo and Nestle, FMCG companies like Parle and Marico also had their share of BFY failures. While Parle had launched its 'non-fried' Monaco Smart Chips with Aamir Khan as brand ambassador, Marico had introduced its baked snack under the name of Saffola Zest. Both products bombed and were promptly withdrawn.According to a PwC-Ficci report, nutrition foods, beverages and supplements comprise a Rs 14,500-15,000-crore market in India, growing at a CAGR (compounded annual growth rate) of 10-12%. The BFY category is the smallest (3-5% of the total market) and yet the fastest growing segment, with categories, such as, snacks, soups, beverages, biscuits and dairy among others.