'Maharashtra largest consumer of low price biscuits'

Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Bengal consume most of the low price high nutrition (LPHN) biscuits in the country each year, an industry body has said.
Out of the total 36 lakh tonne biscuit consumed in the country annually, Maharashtra has emerged as the lasgest consumer of low price high nutrition biscuits, according to Biscuits Manufacturers Welfare Association (BMWA).
Maharashtra leads with annual consumption of 1.90 lakh ton glucose, marie and milk of LPHN biscuits every year, it said.
Maharashtra is followed by Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand (1.75 lakh tonne), Tamil Nadu (1.11 lakh ton) and West Bengal (1.02 lakh tonne) in the tally.

These states approximately consume one-sixth of the total LPHN biscuits sold in the country.
Other states that consume high volume of LPHN biscuits are Karnataka (93,000 tonne), Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh (80,000 ton), Gujarat (72,000 ton), Rajasthan, Bihar and Jharkhand (62,500 tonne each), the industry body said.

Besides, Andhra Pradesh consumes 52,500 tonnes, Odisha 45,000 tonne and Punjab and Haryana 39,000 tonne each.
"Low price high nutrition biscuits such as glucose, milk and marie are hygienically produced affordable snack which is retailed in packs with MRP of Rs 2 to Rs 5 in all states. Approximately, 6 crore packets are consumed per day and are popular in low income group and BPL families," BMWA President Haresh Doshi told PTI here.

According to the data association by the industry body, the domestic biscuit industry market size is Rs 37,500 crore including 26,500 crore in organised and Rs 11,000 crore in unorganized sector, respectively.
The sector provides employment to 72 lakh people direcly and indirectly. While LPHN biscuit market is growing, premium category segment of biscuits too is growing in the country.
The association estimates that 18.25 lakh tonne of LPHN biscuits will be consumed in 2017, whereas nearly about 16.75 lakh tonne premium category including cream, chocolate and cheese biscuits will be sold.
The biscuit manufacturers have also sought exemption of low price biscuits in good and services tax (GST).

The manufacturers say low price biscuits are item of mass consumption and higher taxes will have an adverse impact on production as well as demand.