According to industry estimates, the company has just six per cent of the Rs 5,565-crore western snacks market, which is dominated by global giants such as PepsiCo, but is pinning its hopes on traditional Indian snacks. The Rs 9,000-crore company got into the snacks market in 2008 when it launched western snacks such as potato wafers and chips, and has since added traditional Indian snacks such as aloo bhujjia and moong daal to its product range. In the food category, snacks form one of the fastest growing categories, so it was natural for a company like ours to venture into the snacks market," says Parle Products Executive Director Ajay Chauhan, who has been in the business since 1989. "We already have a strong presence in biscuits and confectionary. With an increasing number of biscuit makers jostling for a share of the pie, the third generation of Parle's Chauhan family - cousins Ajay and Arup - has turned to the snack market and premium biscuits to stay ahead in the game. Although it is still the market leader in the Rs 21,213-crore biscuit market, shop shelves are groaning under the weight of a host of other biscuits - and consumers are biting. Parle may be synonymous with the ubiquitous glucose biscuits for many, but competition has been nipping at the biscuit manufacturer's heels. Across the country, many people wake up to the same ritual every morning: they dunk a crisp Parle-G biscuit into a hot cup of milky tea and quickly pop the soggy piece into their mouths before it disintegrates in the steaming brew.
For millions of Indians such as the Mumbai paan shop owner, the country's largest biscuit maker doesn't just make any other biscuit: it makes comfort food. "Just turn into the next lane and thereafter, the aroma of the Parle-G biscuits will automatically lead you to the factory," says a paan shop owner with a smile.Ĭhances are if you ask people anywhere in India about Parle, they will break into a similar smile. Ask any shopkeeper in Vile Parle for directions to the Parle Products factory and he won't think twice. For more than 80 years, it's been a popular landmark in suburban Mumbai.
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