Biscuit manufacturer Parle aiming for a 20% share of the snacks market in India

India's top biscuit maker Parle Products is restructuring its snacks portfolio to emerge a significant player in the 4,000-crore market, a top official said.

"Snacks is one segment where we are trailing behind and not been able to cut much teeth in the last three years since we forayed,"Parle Products group product manager B Krishna Rao told reporters.

Parle Products, which recently beat Britannia to become the country's largest biscuit maker, hopes to become the second-largest snacks player with a one-fifth share in the market by the end of the year, he said.

The Mumbai-based company at present has only a 5% share in the snacks market dominated by PepsiCo Frito-Lay, which holds almost 60% market share with brands such as Lay's, Kurkure and Cheetos. Other top players in the market include ITC , Haldiram's and Balaji Wafers.

Parle Products relaunched Musst Chips and Musst Stix as Parle Wafers and Parle FullToss, respectively, in the last six months. It plans to relaunch and rebrand Monaco Smart Chips in another six months.

Rao said Parle Products plans to expand the snacks portfolio with newer products and may hire brand ambassadors too. "But the first priority is to consolidate presence to emerge as a frontline snacks company,"he said.

In the last three months, Parle Products has ramped up distribution for its snacks business, come up with several local flavours and even changed the production process to increase its share in a market growing more than 20% a year.