Sweets and snacks business roaring post pandemic; achieves Rs. 1.25 lakh crores in sales

With festival season knocking, the sweets and snacks sector is now doing a roaring business. The news is much more heartening after the COVID-19-induced pandemic had dealt a body blow to the sector.

After two long years of suppressed sales due to the pandemic, sweets and namkeen businesses have achieved as high as Rs. 1.25 lakh crores sales.

Director of the Federation of Sweets and Namkeen Manufacturers, Firoz H Naqvi, was quoted in the media saying the demand for modak and other sweets has also increased in the ongoing Ganesh festival and this trend is expected to continue in the forthcoming Dussehra, Diwali and Holi festivals.

All the previous year's figures have been crossed as the online sale and home delivery of these food products has increased according to Naqvi.

The sweets-namkeen industry has recovered from the setback due to the pandemic in 2021-2022 and a business of Rs. 1.10 lakh crore was achieved. The industry is now marching towards further improvement.

Discussing the impact of inflation on the common man’s pocket, Naqvi said that a common man may curtail their expenses on jewellery and clothes, but sweets and namkeen are an essential constituent of festivals.

The industry suffered a loss of Rs. 35,000 crores in 2020-21 when the total trade was reduced to Rs. 65,000 crores. Naqvi added that at present, the export of sweets from India is from Rs. 200- 3000 crore as there are regulatory hindrances in sending milk-based sweets to countries like the UK, Canada and New Zealand.

Among sweets, preparations like the 'Kaju Katli' made from dry fruits form a major component and it has a huge demand in Gulf countries, he said.

According to the Federation of Sweets and Namkeen Manufacturers, the industry provides direct and indirect employment to more than one crore of people in the country. Every year, salty snacks worth Rs. 50,000 crores are sold in the country, it said.

The Federation is the apex body of the Indian sweets, namkeen and snacks industry. All the major, medium and small mithai and namkeen manufacturers are enrolled as its members, making it the most powerful voice in the food industry. The federation keeps coordinating with different related ministries working for the benefit of the Indian food processing industry like the Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Ministry of Animal Husbandry and Dairy, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Ministry of MSME, etc. are the places with which FSNM is co-ordinating with.

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