Biscuits enjoy universal appeal – their popularity reflected in the steady rise in product launches over the past five years.
While already an indulgent category, potential exists for premiumisation through elevated experiences. This Report examines what defines a premium biscuit in consumers’ eyes, outlining key attributes to consider.
In a competitive marketplace where differentiation is a challenge, this Report analyses key purchase drivers to help cream biscuit brands stand out.
The healthy snacking trend is trickling into the biscuit category, with a quarter of biscuit consumers cutting down their sweet biscuits & cookies intake. While sugar-free innovation is emerging and bringing permissibility, success depends largely on how brands address consumer scepticism about sugar alternatives, and their preference for healthy ingredients over low/no-sugar claims.
This report looks at the following areas:
- Consumption frequency of packaged biscuits & cookies
- Key features that define a premium biscuit or cookie
- Flavours of interest in biscuits & cookies
- Key factors for driving differentiation in cream biscuits, using key driver analysis
- The consumer dilemma around low/no-sugar biscuits
Premiumise biscuits with melt-in-the-mouth textures and novel flavour. Natural ingredients and cream content are crucial to drive satisfaction in cream biscuits.
Anamika Banerji, Senior Research Analyst – Food and Drink, India
Market Definitions
Includes: Sweet biscuits/cookies: cookies, digestive biscuits, butter cookies, wafers, some chocolate-covered biscuits/cookies and sandwich cookies. Savoury Biscuits/Crackers: savoury/unflavoured cream crackers, and cheese crackers. The products can be baked or fried, and are usually grain flour-based.
Excludes: toasts, unpackaged/unwrapped biscuits/cookies, and non-retail sales (ie those sold in cafes/made into other products such as desserts).
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
- Mintel’s perspective
- Key issues covered in this Report
- Overview
- Unlock premiumness with melt-in-the-mouth texture and new flavours
- Graph 1: features in packaged biscuits/cookies for which consumers are willing to pay more, 2025
- Peanut butter and butterscotch catch the fancy of flavour enthusiasts
- Naturalness and higher cream content can accelerate growth in the cream biscuits segment
- Wariness of sugar substitutes drive consumers towards biscuits with healthier ingredients
- The outlook for the Indian biscuits category
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KEY TRENDS AND MARKET FACTORS
- What you need to know
- Novelty emerges as a path to indulgence
- Mintel Trend: Rule Rebellion
- Flavour curiosity boosts interest in unorthodox behaviours
- Flavour crossover sparks excitement in baked goods
- Flavour spotlight: Kunafa and Dubai chocolate redefine pistachio’s role in sweet treats
- Dubai chocolate and Kunafa captivate on social media
- The story behind Dubai’s viral Kunafa Chocolate
- Chocolate brands celebrate the interplay between chocolate and pistachio
- Biscuits & cookies are poised to get a choco-pistachio makeover
- Sugar concerns are set to drive future innovation
- Consumers worldwide are looking to prevent the onset of diabetes
- Sugar aversion is on the rise in India
- Graph 2: % of consumers who cite ‘low in sugar’ as a top-three factor when shopping for food, 2021-24
- The reduction and elimination of sugar is taking root; the bakery category has significant share of low/no-sugar launches
- Graph 3: select food categories’ share of total launches of low/no/reduced-sugar, no added sugar and sugar-free foods, 2020-25
- Graph 4: food & drink launches featuring select sugar-related claims, 2020-25
- The growing emphasis on healthy ageing will continue to fuel the need for low/no-sugar options
- Biscuits are well-placed to cater to the untapped demand for healthy ageing
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WHAT CONSUMERS WANT AND WHY
- What you need to know
- Premiumise via texture and flavour
- Biscuit consumers are willing to pay more for melt-in-the-mouth texture and new flavours
- Graph 5: features in packaged biscuits/cookies for which consumers are willing to pay more, 2025
- Frequent consumers represent the key audience for premium biscuits with an indulgent and novel sensory experience
- Graph 6: willingness to pay more for select features in packaged biscuits/cookies, by frequency of consumption of biscuits/cookies, 2025
- Graph 7: willingness to pay more for select features in packaged biscuits/cookies, by city tier, 2025
- Crunchy dominates NPD, with room for melt-in-the-mouth experiences
- Graph 8: launches of premium and regular biscuits & cookies* with select textures, 2024-25
- Call out the premium ingredients that create a melt-in-the-mouth texture
- Leverage the popularity of cheese for melt-in-the-mouth magic
- Differentiate with multi-textured offerings, keeping melt-in-the-mouth indulgence at the core
- Fuse crunchy and melty textures for a richer experience
- Offering novel flavour in addition to melt-in-the-mouth texture makes a premium product attractive to six-in-10 biscuit consumers
- Flavour update: top and emerging flavours in the Indian biscuits space
- Emerging start-up brands are unlocking the potential of peanut butter in India
- Graph 9: sweet biscuit & cookie launches with peanut butter, as a share of total biscuit & cookie launches, 2020-25
- Capitalise on peanut butter’s rising popularity and its healthful, indulgent appeal
- Peanut butter filling can lend itself to both sweet and savoury flavour profiles
- Elevate indulgence by pairing peanut butter with chocolate
- Harness the wholesome, healthy appeal of peanut butter
- Butterscotch remains an untapped flavour in the Indian bakery launches
- Graph 10: food launches featuring butterscotch flavour, by category, 2023-25
- Satisfy butterscotch cravings in biscuits & cookies
- Rich notes of chocolate truffle can infuse novelty in the crowded chocolate space
- It’s time for chocolate truffle to make its mark
- Unlock chocolate truffle’s potential
- Mintel Spark envisions a decadent chocolate truffle cheesecake cookie
- Elevating cream biscuits’ appeal
- Overall satisfaction with cream biscuits remains strong
- Graph 11: overall satisfaction with packaged cream biscuits, 2025
- Drive growth with naturalness and higher cream content
- Key opportunities to stand out in cream biscuits
- Naturalness is a consumer pain point with untapped potential
- Graph 12: cream biscuit launches featuring select claims as a share of total cream biscuit launches, 2022-25
- Emphasise natural ingredients to make cream biscuits more blissful
- Satisfy consumers’ desire for creaminess by doubling the cream
- Quantify cream content
- Score brownie points with a decadent cream texture
- Boost engagement with playful filling
- Differentiate with a promise of long-lasting crunchiness
- Address sugar concerns brewing among cream biscuit users
- The consumer dilemma on low/no-sugar biscuits
- Sugar concerns crumble biscuit cravings for a quarter of consumers
- Graph 13: agreement with select statements about sugar concern and consumption of sweet biscuits & cookies, 2025
- Sugar concerns crumble biscuit cravings for a quarter of consumers
- Older Millennials are at the forefront of adopting low/no-sugar products
- Graph 14: willingness to pay more for packaged sweet biscuits & cookies with low/no sugar, 2025
- Graph 15: consumers who consume low/no-sugar biscuits & cookies regularly, 2025
- Wariness of sugar substitutes drives consumers towards biscuits with healthier ingredients
- Broaden horizons of low/no-sugar offerings by spotlighting universal wellness
- Secure repeat purchase to sustain the emerging sugar-free movement
- Graph 16: consumers who have tried low/no-sugar biscuits & cookies, but haven’t bought them again, 2025
- Graph 17: sweet biscuits & cookies launches featuring select claims, 2020-25
- Craveable and cost-effective treats can turn first-timers into loyal consumers
- Lead with healthy ingredients in low/no-sugar products
- Reduce sugar for permissibility, evading concerns over sugar alternatives
- Use the win-win strategy of silent sugar reduction
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APPENDIX
- Report definition
- Consumer survey methodology
- TURF analysis
- Key driver analysis – correlation analysis
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