Characterised by creativity, presentation, novelty and reviviscence with each passing day; the bakery segment of food industry in India has stretched itself to the topgallant; in terms of business growth, its ameliorating quality and acceptability.
The bakery industry has been welcomed with open heart by consumers as well as industrialists, which thereby resulted in widespread growth and flourishing business of this segment of food industry.
Bakery, a crucial segment of food processing industry, is one of the oldest and traditional activities in India. The bakery products are widely accepted for enhanced nutrient value and also for range of affordability. The eating trends of Indian citizens have experienced heavy fluctuation and this along with foreign impact and emergence of large section of female working population have all contributed to the rapid rise in bakery products demand, which resulted significantly for bakery industry growth trajectory in India.
Consumers have been demanding newer options in bakery products and this demand is pacified by industry fortifying bakery products with the intention to satiate the rapidly increasing appetite of consumer aware with health concepts and nutritive value.
Bakery industry has launched various healthy products and this has been enlisting cumbersome popularity at intense level. The involvement of big business houses in bakery chain has further caused tremendous growth in the sector.
Growth rate in India
As per recent data available, it is believed that Indian cake industry would reach the market capital of around US$882 million by year 2024, with the CAGR of 12.5% during the forecast period 2019-2024. The Indian bakery market touched the huge value of US$7.22 billion in 2018 and is expected to reach US$12 billion by 2024 with CAGR of 9.3% during 2019-2024. (Source: imarc)
In the world of processed food industry, bakery has been the largest section and in that bread and biscuits comprises of around 82% of the entire bakery business all across the country. The business of biscuit manufacturing is so magnanimous in India that it is third-largest only after the United States and China. In simple terms, bakery segment can be clearly classified into three chief products: bread, biscuits and cakes.
Bakery business is also classified as organised sector comprising big firms producing bakery products and unorganised sector comprising small-scale industry. Both the organised and unorganised sectors are heavily dependent on hygiene factor and it is flourishing on this very aspect. With the entry of few big fish in the market producing bakery products in India, the Indian consumers have been switching their taste preference and liking as well. The mushrooming of new bakery cafe chains like Barista, Cafe Coffee Day and Monginis; the demand for premium cookies and few baked product is on the rise gradually. The organised sector in bakery industry contributes to 60% whereas unorganised sector contributes to 40% of the bakery industry in India. Organised sector in bakery industry comprises of around 2,000 small-scale bread manufacturers, 25-30 medium-scale manufacturing unit and two large-scale industries whereas the unorganised bread sector comprises around 75,000 to 85,000 bread bakers, mostly located in small towns.
The chief players in bakery industry like Britannia and Parle account for around 40% of the total business share of entire volume of branded biscuits available in India. It is expected that the baked goods will maintain the growth by constant value at a Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of almost 2% over the coming years.
Rapid growth and expansion of contemporary retail outlets have marked the market in urban areas of India. In recent years, India has witnessed many international brands entering Indian market in bakery industry with immense importance in industrial map of our country. Heavy revenue has been generated by bakery industry achieving third position in processed food sector.
In recent decade, new sophisticated equipment has been the trend in bakery industry. Not even bakery industry, but housewives have a great fascination for appropriate bakery equipment. Many have started keeping convection oven and Oven-Toaster-Griller (OTG) at their home places with the intent to bake certain easy to make and bake cookies. Pizza bases are purchased from the market and pizza is prepared and consumed at home. Few have started baking cakes as well for small events and treating guests with great gusto showcasing new flair for baking to the guest. This trend has added new dimension to the bakery industry.
Challenges for bakery industry in India
Apart from enormous growth, the other aspect of the same coin is that bakery industry has also been experiencing certain challenges and opportunities. The bakers have to face fluctuating government regulations, demand-supply chain, and increase in price of few raw ingredients like refined flour (chief ingredient of almost all bakery products).
Along with this, the packaging norms for bakery products are not regularised. Bakery products do not have high shelf life and hence this proves to be the biggest threat to all bakers. The chances of bakery product getting worst in quality seem to be a big probability due to this character. The rising cost of operational functionality is also a major challenge to all bakery segments and poses a big challenge.
The customers of any food products have been highly aware nowadays and they want the nutritional value to be mentioned on the packet of every bakery product. This comes as a big threat to the unorganised sector of bakery industry. They cannot mention the nutritive value to the preciseness and they have their own limitations.
Thus, it can be concluded that the world of bakery industry in India has endless scope for growth and India will undoubtedly experience enormous growth in recent upcoming years. This will prove beneficial to both the consumer and manufacturer. Consumers will have extraordinary bakery variant products whereas bakery manufacturer will have bigger-getting market. With certainty, bakery industry in India will overcome all challenges and threats; and will flourish with gigantic growth all across the globe.
