One of India’s oldest and most popular biscuit brands Parle-G recently announced that it has recorded its highest sales in company history during the COVID-19-induced lockdown.
“We have grown our overall market share by nearly 5 percent... And 80-90 percent of this growth has come from the Parle-G sales. This is unprecedented.”Mayank Shah, Category Head, Parle Products, quoted in an Economic Times report
However, the success of the company has also brought criticism from Bollywood actor Randeep Hooda, who asked the company to switch from its plastic packaging to biodegradable material.
"My whole career is feuled by chai and Parle-G since theater days.. Can you imagine how much less single use plastic waste there will be if just Parle-G changed its packing to an alternate biodegradable material? Now the sales are up let’s see the contribution to a better Tom (tomorrow) too," the actor tweeted.
According to a report by The Economic Times, biscuits across price points have seen a massive surge in sales volumes over the past three months. Organised biscuit manufactures like Parle-G were allowed to continue operations within a short period of time since the announcement of the first lockdown on 24 March.
Parle-G on 25 March had also announced that it will be donating three core packs of Parle-G biscuits to people in need through government agencies.
According to a MoneyControl, the high sales record is owed to the biscuits low price point and also being a preferred component in food relief packages distributed by the government and NGOs during the lockdown. Panic buying and hoarding by consumers during the lockdown also helped boost the sales.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)