Hyderabad hosted 3rd WMNC on 9th-10th Jan 2020.
Hyderabad: Modernization of Indian Mithai and Namkeen industry has created an aura of immense competition and is giving a tough time to big industries and rivals like chocolate, ice cream, other desserts and foreign snacks companies. "The industry has crossed Rs.100,000 cr mark and will definitely show a double digit growth rate in the next decade year on year", informed Virendra Jain, President, Federation of Sweets and Namkeen Manufacturers-FSNM. Firoz H. Naqvi, Director of FSNM stated that this industry has been facing many issues related to different slabs of GST, food safety and other compliances and could have performed much better if these challenges were not there.
The Mithai and Namkeen industry is one of the oldest businesses in India serving the country since ages. "The time has arrived, gearing up this industry to modernize and upgrade itself and we can see the results shaping up in front of us. Today namkeen can be found in every nook and corner, from a small village to every mandir, dargah or gurudwara,'' said Firoz Naqvi, and also added that industry has more than 100,000 manufacturers across the country doing humongous business, even though a majority of them are not counted in the total turnover of organised business category.
Mithai and Namkeen Industry made a silver mark by crossing the Rs. 1L cr turnover. Automation has played a great role in the development of this industry. There are a number of snacks and namkeen manufacturers who had a very humble start, but today they are doing great business and are making hundreds of tons of namkeens and snacks per day. Companies like Haldirams, Balaji, Bikano, Bikaji, Yellow Diamond, Cornitos have already made their footprints not only in national market but also overseas.
The industry employs more than 1 crore people directly and many more indirectly. It is the biggest buyer of raw materials such as flour, besan, sugar, ghee, oils and spices in the country. In fact today, in India a modern sweet arcade is somewhat structurally similar to a big jewelry shop; indicating the growth of this industry in the premium league Almond House, Bikanerwala, Asha Sweets, Haldirams, A2B and many other brands have all invested hugely in the interiors of their showrooms to give world class experience to their customers.