In today’s world, when time has become a premium and most of the urban crowd is looking to catch up breakfast, lunch and snacks on-the-go, Bakery and Confectionery have become an integral part of an urban Indian’s choice for a quick munch option. From biscuits, buns, muffins, chocolate éclairs, fruit hard boiled candies to liquid filled bubble gums, every top selling Bakery and Confectionery item is on the menu of this restless, always-on-the-move crowd.
Interestingly, apart from this spiralling out-of-home consumption,the key factor driving the growth in Bakery and Confectionery category is the population who is willing to experiment. The young demographic population in the country is willing to splurge and plunge. There is also a growing in-home consumption where people are looking to eat effortlessly. In addition, this is an age of interest towards variety in taste. Both the Confectionery industry involves selling taste, texture and appearance.
According to Chetan L Hanchate, CEO, Centre for Processed Foods, consultant,food processing, and president, Association of Food Scientists & Technologists (India) Bengaluru Chapter, Bakery is a key component in the food processing industry. There is a profusion of new products and large-scale manufacturing. There are immense growth prospects for investing in dedicated bakery production lines, opportunities to put one’s creativity in designing of bakery products and related packaging concepts. Multigrain, high fibre and diabetic- friendly products are a fad.
Growth opportunities in the Bakery sector
The Bakery industry is mushrooming in urban areas with lot of entrepreneurs jumping into the fray. However, today, the industry is more vibrant when compared to earlier days because of its concentration on healthy bakery products. “The products serve as convenient and ready-to- serve foods and hence gaining much importance in the present day busy life of the people,” observes Dr S V Suresha, coordinator, Bakery and Value Addition Centre, University of Agricultural Sciences, Bengaluru.
“Bakery products are becoming popular with rural masses and hence, the industry is making inroads in to the rural areas and it is a positive indication to show that sector has got lot of growth opportunities even in rural and remote areas. This has broadened the base of Bakery sector in the state processed food industries,” points out Dr Suresha.
The Indian Bakery industry holds the third position in generating revenue when it comes to the processed food sector. The Indian biscuits market is estimated to be about 1.1 million tonne per annum and valued at Rs 50 billion. The penetration of branded players is pegged at around Rs 2,500 – 3,000 crore. India’s per capita consumption of biscuits is pegged at 1.5 kg, pointing to tremendous potential for the industry to grow. Over 900 million – 50% of the Indian market – is in the unorganised sector, with the market growing at a CAGR of 6-7%. “With a population of more than a billion and the largest middle-income population, India is a prominent market for global and domestic players alike,” states Anupam Saluja, CEO, Australian Food India Pvt. Ltd.
Traditional Bakeries competing with Modern Units
No more the Bakery industry is a traditional family business or a hereditary business. Now baking as a science is gaining momentum among the modern units.”The new units with large production capacity give adequate importance for the standards of food safety regulation with due consideration to cleanliness and hygiene with minimum manual handling of raw materials and the finished products,” notes Dr Suresha.
Due to mechanisation, equipment like dough dividers (bun divider), dough sheeter, dough rollers, proofing chamber with digital display etc. reduce manual handling of the products.
In spite of this, traditional bakeries are having a great market share because of their geographical proximity and availability of the products at the doorsteps of the consumers. Further, the personal rapport established by the traditional bakeries with the consumers is an added factor for the growth potential of the traditional bakeries. “The increased awareness of public due to the efforts of mass media, both print and electronic media, the traditional bakeries are under great pressure to cope with the food standards and compete with the modern units,” states Dr Shamshad Begum S, assistant professor (food science and nutrition), Bakery Training and Value Addition Centre, UAS, Bengaluru.
Latest advances in Bakery and Confectionery
A visible trend is that bakeries are moving towards healthy foods. Efforts to substitute maida with wheat and ragi, sugar with honey and jaggery besides use of vegetable oil over fats are fast emerging as a choice of the masses, according to a spokesperson in Amira Pure Foods.
With the onset of vegan lifestyles, milk and dairy products are replaced with unsweetened almond milk, organic sugarcane, unsweetened apple sauce, dairy-free semi-sweet chocolate is used to make whole wheat pastries, according to an outlet Breads & Bakes.
Meanwhile, new generation bakeries opt for less fat and look for replacing sugar. Subsequently this should lead to preparation of nutritional bakery products. There is due consideration for promoting organic bakery products. “Another focus with the FSSA implementation, there is increased attention on cleanliness and hygiene in production place and sales counter,” notes Dr Suresha.
UAS value additions in Bakery
“Our Bakery Training Unit is constantly and regularly bringing in development in the field of Bakery and value addition training to the interested, specially to orient them to become entrepreneurs. Bakery and value addition as income generating activity is helping for the livelihood option of the rural and urban people,” states Dr Suresha.
“The centre has developed healthy and nutritional recipes keeping in view latest developments in the field of general health of the public - Millet-based products like ragi masala biscuits, ragi cake,ragi nippattu in order to enrich the nutritional quality of the bakery products. Further, the minor millets like Navane, Same, Bajra flours are also used in the preparation of Bakery products. Horsegram biscuits, cake are also prepared and they are in the process of standardisation. Oats cookies are prepared,” adds Dr Suresha.
Further, research is in pipeline to prepare Bakery products using jackfruit for preparation of cake and jackfruit seed based cakes and biscuits. The preparation of Bakery products using multigrain is in progress to enrich the nutritional value of the Bakery products without compromising with the taste.
“Recently new product was developed, namely byproduct utilisation of amlafibre (residue left after extraction of juice) to develop value-added products like amlafibre-coconut cookies, amlafibre-masala biscuit, amlafibre-sponge cake and coconut cake,” reveals Dr Suresha.
Bakery training is in great demand with both rural and urban people. The courses offered by the unit are need-based with an intention of promoting bakery as a home industry for homemakers and also as an enterprise for potential entrepreneurs. Further, the new courses are designed to cater to the specific needs of the people. Nowadays the training is gaining attention and popularity among college students who are enrolling for the courses in large numbers.”In addition, it is worth mentioning that hotel management students are taking the courses with the unit as a specialised training for academic and professional requirement,” states Dr Suresha.
Challenges in the Bakery industry
From an academic perspective, the challenge is to design specialised courses in Bakery industry to promote specialisation among the bakers like cake and pastry chef, cookies and biscuits, fermented products in order to bring in innovativeness in to the product development.
There is a need to impart skill-based hands-on-training programmes in different parts of the state. The sector needs to maximise the advantage of mass media platforms to create awareness on pursuing the business option in the bakery industry among the public to draw them to the industry as entrepreneurs. Creating awareness among school and college students on the preparation of healthy bakery products for home consumption is important. Social media platforms like WhatsApp and Facebook can highlight the importance of bakery training as a livelihood option. There is need for much emphasis on hands-on-training for the trainees to mould promising bakery course students into professionals as handling products will increase their confidence. India also needs to embark on research to develop suitable substitutes for maida, fat and sugar, according to Dr Suresha.
Convenience of Confectionery
Confectionery is the ultimate in an instant satiety of hunger pangs. The range which covers deposited candies, chewing bubble gum, chocolate éclairs, fruit hard boiled candies, liquid filled bubble gums are available in number of flavours and tastes. ITC’s Candyman range of confectionery led by Fruitee Fun range of assorted fruit flavours like the Orange Josh and Mango Delit', compete with Ravalgon’s Pan Pasand, Lacto, Mango Mood, Coffee Break and Chocoman, Perfetti’s Alpenliebe brand of Fruitfillz, Big Babol, Centre Fresh and Juzt Jelly.
Over 30 per cent of the Indian population is in the 0-14 age group, which is the primary target segment for Confectionery manufacturers. These will be the prime movers for growth in the Confectionery market in India, according to Gaurav Marchanda, a Datamonitor consumer markets analyst.
