This is the first time they are seeing a sustained decline in demand and dip in volumes. We have offered trade discounts and told our consumers that this is the best value you will get at this price, but it has not worked.īT: What are the wholesalers and the distributors saying? We have tried our best to ensure that we push our product more. The volumes of Parle-G have declined by 7-8 per cent.īT: What are you doing to prop up consumption?Įverything that was within our reach we have already done. From a growth of 25 per cent, they have dipped to 8-9 per cent, but they are still growing, whereas the likes of Parle-G are declining. The growth rate has tapered, but premium products are still growing. The government is not earning taxes and the companies are not getting sales either. It's a loose proposition for everyone, as the consumer is settling for an inferior product. They tend to buy something that is loose, not coming from the organised sector. The price hike impacted the demand and the mood of the economy didn't revive.īT: What are consumers saying, why aren't they buying something as basic as a biscuit?Ĭonsumers are saying that the pack size has become smaller, so, they would rather buy something else. These are extremely price sensitive categories and when demand went down, we tried to revive the demand. We were forced to take a price hike, as a result of which the demand dipped.

The government had promised that it would correct it but unfortunately nothing has happened. In the GST era, they clubbed both the categories together, and imposed 18 per cent tax, which is not fair. The ones below Rs 100 were earlier exempted from excise duty, there was lower tax (Parle-G, Marie etc fall in that bracket).

Biscuits are divided into two categories - there are biscuits above Rs 100 per kg and biscuits below Rs 100 per kg. We are asking for fairness in certain categories. Most players are asking for favours from the government. We are in a slightly different space compared to others. Mayank Shah: We are surprised, as the slowdown has continued. There seems to be more bad news now, what do you think has gone wrong? However, you were optimistic that sales will pick up once the new government takes over.

Business Today: When we discussed the consumption slowdown in May just before the new government took over, you had mentioned that sales of brands such as Parle-G and Monaco that usually witness a spike of 8-9 per cent in an election year (as lot of political parties buy them in bulk) did not see the same growth this time.

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