Multi-grain, high-fibre and diabetic-friendly bakery products are the latest fad. This was stated by Chetan L Hanchate, chief executive officer, Centre for Processed Foods, food processing consultantand president, Association of Food Scientists & Technologists (India), Bengaluru chapter.

Latest trends in bakery products

He added, “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.”

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 and fruit-flavoured hard-boiled candies to liquid-filled bubblegums, every top-selling bakery and confectionery item is on the menu of the restless, always-on-the-move crowd.

The key factor driving the growth in the two sectors is the population, which 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 sectors sell taste, texture and appearance.

The bakery industry is mushrooming in the urban areas, with lot of entrepreneurs jumping into the fray. However, today, the industry is more vibrant compared to the earlier days, because of its concentration on healthy bakery products.

“The products serve as convenient and ready-to- serve foods, and hence,are gaining much importance in the present-day busy lives of the people,” observed S V Suresha, coordinator,Bakery and Value Addition Centre,University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS), Bengaluru.

“Bakery products are becoming popular with the rural masses, and hence, the industry is making inroads in to the rural areas, and it is a positive indication that the sector has got a lot of growth opportunities even in rural and remote areas. This has broadened the base of the bakery sector in the state ‘s processed food industries,” pointed out Suresha.

The Indian bakery industry holds the third position in generating revenue when it comes to the processed food sector. The Indian biscuit 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 between Rs 2,500 and Rs 3,000 crore. India’s per capita consumption of biscuits is pegged at 1.5kg, pointing to tremendous potential for the industry to grow.

Over 900 million – 50 per cent of the Indian market – constitutes the unorganised sector, with the market growing at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6-7 per cent.

“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, chief executive officer, Australian Food India Pvt Ltd.

Traditional bakeries competing with modern units
No more is the bakery industry 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 capacities, give adequate importance to the standards of food safety regulations with due consideration to cleanliness and hygiene with minimum manual handling of the raw materials and finished products,” noted Suresha.

Due to mechanisation, equipment like dough dividers (bun dividers), dough sheeters, dough rollers, proofing chambers with digital display, etc. reduce manual handling of the products.

In spite of this, traditional bakeries have 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.

“Owing to the increased awareness of public due to the efforts of mass media, both print and electronic, the traditional bakeries are under great pressure to cope with the food standards and compete with the modern units,” stated Shamshad Begum S, assistant professor (food science and nutrition), Bakery Training and Value Addition Centre, UAS, Bengaluru.

With the rapid growth and changing eating habits of people, bakery products have gained popularity among the masses. The sector, typically, constitutes biscuits, breads and cakes. The bakery industry has achieved the third position in generating revenue among the processed food sectors. The bakery industry in India is estimated to be worth approximately Rs 30,000 crore.

The per capita consumption of bakery products in India, as it stands today, is one or two kg per annum, which is comparatively lower than the advanced countries where consumption is between 10 and 50 kg per annum. The growth rate of bakery products has been tremendous in the both urban and rural areas. The sector has indicated promising growth prospects and has been making rapid progress.

Operational efficiencies and value addition are major issues to maintain industry profitability and the growth. There are some key issues the industry is facing. These include improvements in technology and availability of skilled manpower.

Lack of technology, upgradation in manufacturing and packaging have been factors affecting the growth of the industry. The continuous availability of skilled manpower at all levels has been a major issue with bakery industries.

”All our bakeries are either manual or semi-automatic. Currently, we are deploying on an average 11.25 man days per tonne, while in developed countries, the average is 1.28 man days per tonne. The bakery industry has large employment potential,” said Raj Kapoor, managing director, Assocom Institute of Bakery Technology and Management (AIBTM).

Increased competition and changing customer choices have made the bakery business operators to move towards sophisticated baking equipment and technology to sustain growth and improve standards. The growth of retail bakery chains will continue to grow. Same time, mergers and acquisitions in organised bakery sectors are expected in the next few years.

Key segments of bakery industry are bread, rusks, biscuits and cakes. Bread and biscuits constitute 70 per cent of the production. The predominantly-consumed bread varieties are white bread in the north and sweet bread in the south.

In the last decade,the demand for health and wellness segment breads has increased substantially. Popular varieties are brown bread, atta bread and multi-cereal/grain bread. Bread is the cheapest and basic instant food available for ready consumption. Though bread is not a staple food in the country, its consumption has increased over the years.

India is already on the path of innovation, and the growth of the bakery industry and the presence of many multinational playerswill further add wings to the growth of the bakery industry in India.

India is a major manufacturing house for bakery products, and is the third- largest biscuit manufacturing country after the United States and China (NPCS, 2013). The Indian bakery market is valued at Rs3,295 crore, and out of this, bread and biscuits hold 82 per cent of the share.

The bakery industry has achieved third position in generating revenue among the processed foods sector in India. The first and second segments are wheat flour processing and fruit and vegetable processing.

The bakery industry comprises organised and unorganised sectors. The unorganised sector accounts for about 67 per cent of the total biscuit production and 80 per cent of the total bread production and around 90 per cent of the other bakery products, which include pastries, cakes, buns, rusks and others (NPCS, 2007). Though the bakery industry of India has been in existence for a very long time, it attained prominence only in the later part of the 20th century.

A study conducted by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII, 2008) revealed that at present, Indians spent half of their household expenditure on food items. With a population of over 1.2 billionand 350 million-strong urban middle-class,the Indian processed food market has a huge potential yet to be tapped.

The Centre for Agriculture and Rural Development (CARD and CACL Report, 2009) reported that the youth is educated and wants to splurge earnings on quality stuff. The availability and ease of use are progressively becoming the chief criterion for purchase, and the trends of eating out and buying packaged food, which are relatively new phenomena, have witnessed an unprecedented rise.

Nemat Sheereen S, assistant professor, School of Legal Studies, Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT), Kerala, in his article on the Indian market has a huge potential for bakery products.