Nov 22, 2012

Negative media publicity dampened festival business for Andheri sweetmakers

MUMBAI: The increasing concern over adulteration of milk and milk products spelled boom for chocolates and dry fruits industry leading to higher sales this Diwali leaving sweets makers bitter.

Wary of consuming traditional sweets due to negative media reports, many families and corporates in Andheri opted for chocolate or dry fruits. According to Andheri-based Abhiru Biswas, sales and technical advisor, Barry Callebaut, their company witnessed a double-digit growth over the years and the rise was particularly prominent this Diwali reaching a remarkable growth of over 20 percent.

Barry Callebaut distributes chocolates and compounds of European brands in India. According to Biswas, Indian chocolate market has grown tremendously in the last four years leading to increase in sales volume over 20 percent.

Biswas says, "Chocolates being costlier than mithais was not a deterrence for the chocolate industry as customers now looked for deliverables like a longer shelf life and better taste which mithais did not readily offer."

Jagmohan Gupta, director of MM Mithaiwala, renowned sweets maker in Mumbai said, "The media reports shifted consumer inclination from buying sweets to dry fruits and chocolates. We saw an impact of around 5 to 10 percent on Diwali sales, however, we could make up the gap from the sale of dry fruits."

Gupta added, "It is only 0.1 percent of the industry indulging in malpractices but all have suffered its impact." For luring its customers, MM Mithaiwala introduced options like Cadbury Nagina, Cadbury burfi, Cadbury pedas that coat sweets with chocolate powder.

SWEET & SOUR

Many sweets makers in Mumbai though are pointing at the media reports on adulteration for a slump in the business in the festive season.

Just four days prior to Diwali, the greater Mumbai wing of Food and Drugs Administration (FDA), Maharashtra, reported to have seized 1050 kg of khoya worth Rs 2,10,000 from the godown of M/s Khandelwal Mawawala in Kurla.

Also, Kalakand (popular sweet made out of solidified, sweetened milk) of the Krishna Sweets brand worth Rs 1,26,000 was seized.

Besides, there was continuous media reporting on adulteration throughout the year the most shocking of all being the survey conducted by the apexBSE 0.00 % food regulatory body, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, stating that most of the milk distributed in India was adulterated to some extent.

Such news reporting triggered the business of the chocolate and dry fruit dealers and dampened the business prospects of sweetsmakers in the country and the dwindling Diwali sales was a case in point.

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