NABI To Focus On Streamlining Indian Bakery Operations

Ashish K Tiwari - Mumbai

Harish Nagda

National Association of Bakery Industry (NABI) has charted out aggressive plans for enhancement and upgradation of the Indian bakery industry. “This,” according to NABI president Harish Nagda, “will be done by way of undertaking various developmental activities for the association members, which will eventually benefit them in streamlining their operations besides getting ready to firmly establish themselves in the Indian market before foreign competition makes inroads into the country.”

Elucidating further on the subject of foreign competition in the Indian bakery industry, Nagda asserted, “We need to upgrade and enhance our bakery operations and bring it on par with the international standards. Besides, we also have to improvise our marketing strategies and expand our reach. This will ensure that there is no leverage for international players and enable us to have a hold on our market.”

In the last decade, the industry has witnessed rapid growth and the demand for bakery products has increased manifold. This is evident from the very fact that Mumbai alone has more than 20,000 bakeries, both in the organised and unorganised sector (the percentage is higher in case of bakeries in the unorganised sector). As a result of this increase in demand, quite a few bakers have shifted to mechanised operations and are using modern technology to make optimum utilisation of available resources and produce quality products. But the percentage of such bakers is still minuscule.

Reasons, bakery industry though very big, is restricted to a particular locality or a city as products offered are highly perishable in nature. Besides, majority of the players are not highly educated as a result getting into the hassles of applying for bank loans, incorporating latest technology in their operations, research and development etc takes a back seat. Besides dealing with this subject, NABI aims to play a vital role in creating awareness about the status of Indian bakery industry in comparison with the global scenario.

“This very aspect was discussed in detail at our recently concluded committee meeting. We also identified various ways and means to help our fellow bakers in streamlining their operations. Inviting bakery experts to hold seminars and workshops every second month is one of the steps in this direction. In all, we will be holding six such events at different venues throughout the country. I am quite certain that the association members will make good use of these seminars/workshops to their advantage,” confirmed Nagda.

Another step toward educating association members on latest practices and procedures is through restructuring the NABI newsletter. “We are changing the contents in the newsletter. The new editions would be completely subject-based. In-depth discussion will be done on individual subjects before moving on to the other one. This apart latest trends in bakery industry, innovations in terms of bakery products, latest technology etc would also be a regular feature of the newsletter.”