Biscuit case 13

Biscuits Industry is the largest among all the food industries and has a turnover of around Rs.5000 crores. India is known to be the second largest manufacturer of biscuits, the first being USA. It is classified under two sectors: organized and unorganized. Bread and biscuits are the major part of the bakery industry and covers around 80 percent of the total bakery products in India. Biscuits stand at a higher value and production level than bread. This belongs to the unorganized sector of the bakery Industry and covers over 70% of the total production. with an annual output of 1.95 million tons, India is the third largest producer of biscuit, after the US and China. Per capita consumption of Biscuits in the country is only 1.8 kg, as compared to 2.5 kg to 5.5 kg in South eastern countries and European countries & USA respectively. The annual growth in the Biscuit Market is witnessed as below:

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Annual Growth %

The growth has been stagnating during the last 4 years but it is expected to pickup momentum during the year 2007-08, mainly on account of exemption from Central Excise Duty on biscuits with MRP up to Rs.100/per kg, as per Union Budget for 2007-08. Indian Biscuit Manufacturers’ Association (IBMA), instrumental in obtaining the excise duty exemption, estimates annual growth of around 17% to 18% in the current year (2007-08). Growth in biscuit marketing has been achieved, mainly due to improvement in rural market penetration.

According to the IBMA (Indian Biscuits Manufacturers’ Association) the penetration of Biscuit into –

Rural Market :- 50% to 65%

Urban Market :- 75% to 85%

Biscuit Industry is broadly categorized into various different segments:[pic]

Glucose forms the highest % amongst all with products such as Britannia’s Tiger & Parle’s Parle-G, while the glucose biscuits are popular in Rural India, Urban market prefer Cream biscuits.

As per IBMA (Indian Biscuit Manufacturing Association) sales of the Biscuit Industry has been divided into four parts according to the consumption pattern, that is Northern Zone, Eastern Zone, Western Zone & Southern Zone.

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MAJOR PLAYERS (Company Wise)

Biscuit Industry is considered to be the biggest industry in the Food Industry. It is being always dominated by the Big Players such as Britannia, Parle, ITC, Nutrine, HLL Kissan, Kwality and even international brands like Kellogs, Nestle, Sara Lee and United Biscuits. Some of the other brands which try to dominate the local market are Veeramani, Bonn, Bhagwati, Raja, Champion,Sobisco,Madhabi,

Within the sector, Britannia has become aggressive with its Tiger brand with variants to compete with Parle's Parle-G in the glucose biscuits category. Britannia and Parle dominate in branded biscuit segment with Britannia having business of Rs 4500-crore p.a.. The Surya Food and Agro Private Ltd with its Priya Gold Brand has come out of the local fold. ITC Foods Ltd has expanded network and is promoting its Sunfeast biscuits across 1000 schools in the country. Foreign players like United Biscuits and McVities have also entered the fray. However, these players have concentrated themselves in the super-premium and premium segments. The companies have added new variants into the existing brands as done by Britannia in Good Day brand. Parle G and Hide & Seek with addition of flavors like butter, badam, pista and cashew, HLL in Kisan Grudy biscuit brand. The focus on urban markets has also contributed significantly to the growth of the biscuit industry. Market share of the major players are like :-
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MAJOR PLAYERS (BRAND WISE)

Glucose biscuits account for about 35% of the overall domestic biscuit market at Rs 2,000 crore. Parle is the clear market leader with more than two-thirds market share with brand Parle-G, followed by Britannia with about 20% share through its brand Tiger. A CAGR of 35% over the last three years aided by the increasing buoyancy in the cookies segment has seen Good Day emerge on top with approximately 20% share of Britannia's biscuit revenue pegged at around Rs 1,500 crore. Britannia has identified the key micronutrients critical during the growing phase of a child as vitamins (B1, B6, B12 and D), iron, iodine and calcium. Using these four essential ingredients Britannia has created a 'Smart Nutrients Mix' and has fortified its Milk Bikis range of products with this mix for providing nutrition at an affordable price. Back in 2003, nobody thought Sunfeast would have consumers eating out of its hands. The company says that achieving 7% in less than three years is something that they could have only dreamt about. Importantly, industry barometer AC Nielsen has indicated that both Parle and Britannia are losing market shares. According to the AC Nielsen retail sales audit in March 2006, both Britannia and Parle have lost volumes. Britannia's shares have dropped from 35.8 per cent in 2004-05 to 30.5 per cent in May 2006 (volumes). Parle's shares have also dropped from 42.2 to 38.4 per cent in the same period. Indian biscuit market is estimated to be around 5000-crore. The market is dominated by Parle and Britannia. Parle is the volume leader with brands like parle- G, Krackjack and Monaco while Britannia is the value leader with brands like 50: 50, milk bikis, Tiger, Goodday etc. The biscuit market has now moved from the core Glucose base to more value added categories. The key markets are UP, Maharashtra, and Tamilnadu.

UNORGANIZED SECTOR

According to the Federation of Biscuit Manufactures of India (FBMI), the biscuit industry in India in the organized sector produces around 60% of the total production, the balance 40% is contributed by the unorganized bakeries. The production by organized players is estimated to be 1.3 million tonnes, for the year 2005, which means if we include the unorganized sector the total tonnage should be at least 2,500,000. The industry consists of 3 large-scale manufacturers, around 50 medium scale brands and 2500 small-scale units in the country. The unorganized sector is estimated to have approximately 30,000 small & tiny bakeries across the country. The unorganized sector was producing around 10 lakh tonnes manufacture a total of approximately 25 lakh tomes which translated in about 850 million packets. Over 70 percent of the famous biscuit market has been captured by Britannia and parles through ITC’ Sunfeast.

GOVERNMENT POLICIES

Taxation: On behalf of the industry, IBMA has been pursuing the issue with the Chief Ministers/Finance Ministers of all States and also with the Chairman of the Empowered Committee on VAT, seeking reduction in the rate of VAT on biscuit to 4%. IBMA estimates annual growth in the range of 15% to 20% during the next five years, in the event of reduction in the rate of VAT on Biscuits to 4%. The biscuit industry, particularly those in the small and medium sector, is burdened with the steep increase in prices of raw materials like wheat flour and vegetable oil. Biscuit is a price sensitive high volume low margin industry. Gujarat and Kerala have recently imposed 10% surcharge on VAT and many states were charging local levies like entry tax, purchase tax and local development tax. West Bengal and Tamil Nadu have resorted to differentiating biscuits made by registered and unregistered units under Factories Act and also between branded and unbranded biscuits. Such measures are unjustified. Biscuit industry witnessed a growth of 17% in 2007-08 after stagnating around 13-14% growth rate in the last 4 years. It picked up momentum in the first half of 2007-08 on account of exemption from central excise duty on biscuits with MRP up to Rs 100 per kg. In the first six months of 2007-08 biscuit production was 944,000 tonne. In 2006-07 production was 1.416 million tonne. About 15% of the production is exported, according to IBMA data.

IMPORT/EXPORT

An export of Biscuit is estimated to around 10% of the annual production during the year 2006-07. Imports of biscuits into India have not shown any significant growth during the last two years and have not affected production/sales by the Indian Biscuit industry.

PRESENT & FUTURE

According to the IBMA (Indian Biscuit Manufacturing Association) the production figures are continuously increasing with an average rate of 14%. The production for last 4 years are :-

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While the growth rate has been stagnating during last 4 years, it is expected to pick up momentum during 2007-08, mainly on account of exemption from Central Excise Duty on biscuits with MRP up to Rs.100/per kg, as per Union Budget for 2007-08. Indian Biscuit Manufacturers’ Association (IBMA), instrumental in obtaining the excise duty exemption, estimates annual growth of around 17% to 18% in the current year (2007-08). Growth in biscuit marketing has been achieved, mainly due to improvement in rural market penetration. In spite of the raw material prices going up, in order to grow volumes, many organized players maintained the prices. This has forced many unorganized players to close down their business as they do not hold financial muscle and brand power to sustain in the market. On the other hand new entrants like ITC are spending huge amounts on advertisements, which has helped the entire market to grow rapidly. These new players along with Britannia Industries have introduced a lot of new variants and products in different pack sizes. As the unorganized players are not able to introduce new variants or continue advertising spends, they are losing their business to organized players like Britannia Industries and ITC. Due to the growing economy, rising income levels, growing nuclear families ready to eat segment will grow as faster rate. As of now biscuit is the only established category in ready to eat segment apart from potato chips and wafers. Biscuits are considered to be more nutritional than wafers and they do enjoy better acceptance among children.