§1What this business is
Maida, soya flour, starch, vanaspati, sugar and water are mixed and kneaded, sheeted and cut on a rotary line, baked, cooled on a conveyor and packed in pouches. Wheat flour is short of the amino acid lysine; adding soya flour balances it — the profile says 30% soya flour raises the biscuit's protein by about 50%. The product follows BIS IS 7487:1986 for protein-enriched biscuits.
Capacity: 1,08,000 kg of biscuits a year (₹1.73 crore); sales are worked out on 9,000 kg a month at ₹155 a kg — ₹1.67 crore.
§2Is it right for you?
Who it is for
A food entrepreneur with bakery experience and a distribution network in small towns.
Who it is not for
Someone hoping to compete with national brands on price from day one.
Advantages
- Biscuits sell in every shop, and about 55% are eaten in rural areas (profile)
- Soya adds protein at low cost and gives a health angle
- Suits supply to nutrition schemes, schools and institutions
- Long shelf life compared with bread
Drawbacks
- Britannia and Parle together hold 61% of the market (profile)
- ₹91 L is a large first investment
- Oven and fuel cost are not in the profile's machinery list
- Soya taste must be balanced or buyers reject it
Skills you need
- Dough and baking control
- Soya blending without bitter taste
- Packaging and shelf-life testing
- Distributor and institutional sales
Why difficulty 3/5: Machine line and recipe are learnable; selling against big brands is the real test.
§3Market
Who buys
- Rural and small-town households
- Schools, hostels and nutrition programmes
- Tea stalls and shops
How it sells
- Distributors and wholesalers
- Kirana and general stores
- Institutional and government supply
Good to know
- The profile says India is the world's largest biscuit-consuming nation and that 'every shop is a market for biscuits'.
- Per-head bakery consumption in India is 1–2 kg a year against 15–50 kg in developed countries (profile).
§4Raw material & machinery
| Item | Qty | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Automatic continuous roller, 48-inch, with waste-return system and motors | 1 | ₹25,00,000 |
| Cooling conveyor, 24-inch | 1 | ₹6,50,000 |
| Roll sheeter, 24-inch, variable speed | 1 | ₹5,75,000 |
| Double-action horizontal mixer, 300 kg per batch, auto-tilting | 1 | ₹4,00,000 |
| Turn table between oven and conveyor | 1 | ₹3,00,000 |
| Syrup machine, stainless steel | 1 | ₹2,00,000 |
| Oil-spraying machine for salted biscuits | 1 | ₹1,75,000 |
| Automatic flour sifter | 1 | ₹1,50,000 |
| Sugar grinding machine, 30–50 kg/hour | 1 | ₹90,000 |
| Biscuit grinder, 5 HP | 1 | ₹60,000 |
| Brass rollers for rotary and roller cutting | 1 set | ₹25,000 |
| Utensils, mats, gloves and small items | lump sum | ₹25,000 |
| Working tables with SS/aluminium top | 2 | ₹12,500 |
| Platform weighing balance | 1 | ₹10,000 |
From: DC-MSME project profile — Nutritious Biscuits (MSME-DI Kolkata) (2021)
- Wheat flour (maida)6,000 kg a month at ₹25 a kg
- Soya flour, starch, vegetable fat, sugar, salt, soda, colours, flavours, preservatives3,000 kg a month, ₹4.50 L
- Packaging material₹2.50 L a month
From: DC-MSME project profile — Nutritious Biscuits (MSME-DI Kolkata) (2021)
Suppliers in Building Business Bazaar
Aroras Box and Cartons Pvt Ltd · Gurugram →Authentic Designer C-112 · Noida →Ghaziabad Printing and Packing Industry Pvt. Ltd · Meerut →Jain Packaging Products · Delhi →R.D. Singal and Co · Delhi →Rajat Electronics · Delhi →Reliance Engineering Works K.No · Chandigarh →Sembhi Engineers · Jalandhar →United Packaging · Delhi →Authentic Designer · Noida →Reliance Engineering Works · Chandigarh →
In our raw material database
§5Licences & registration
- FSSAI licence
- Udyam
- GST
- State Pollution Control Board consent (the profile says to approach the board)
- Legal Metrology registration for packaged goods
- BIS IS 7487 is optional (profile)
§6Schemes & subsidies
- PMFMECentralUnclear35% subsidy, up to ₹10 lakh
- CGTMSECentralActiveNo collateral, up to ₹10 crore
- Stand-Up IndiaCentralClosed₹10 lakh – ₹1 crore loan
PMFME (credit-linked subsidy for food processing), CGTMSE and Stand-Up India fit. At ₹91 L the project is above PMEGP's ₹50 L limit.
§7Money
How the investment is worked out: Fixed capital ₹60 L (machinery ₹51.73 L incl. 48-inch automatic roller ₹25 L, cooling conveyor ₹6.50 L, roll sheeter ₹5.75 L, mixer ₹4 L; electrification ₹5 L; furniture ₹1 L; pre-operative ₹2 L) + working capital for 3 months ₹31.08 L = ₹91.08 L. Building rented.
Working capital: Monthly running cost ₹10.36 L: raw material ₹8.50 L (maida 6,000 kg at ₹25, other ingredients ₹4.50 L, packaging ₹2.50 L), salaries ₹92,000, utilities ₹30,000, other ₹64,000. Three months are kept: ₹31.08 L.
Prepared March 2021. Its machinery list has no baking oven — get a quote for one, as it will add to the cost.
§8Export potential
Confirm the HS code in the DGFT ITC(HS) lookup before you export
Export council / board: APEDA
- Biscuits are an APEDA-listed processed food; register (RCMC) and hold an IEC before exporting.
- Confirm the 8-digit ITC(HS) line for salted biscuits with DGFT.
§9Risks — where people fail
- Maida, sugar and fat price rises
- Brand competition and retailer margins
- Breakage and moisture in transit
- Quality failures under FSSAI testing
§1030 / 60 / 90-day plan
A general plan that applies to any business. A plan for this business will be added after research.
- Days 1–30: Visit a working soya-fortified nutritious biscuits unit, ask 10 buyers about price and quantity, and get quotations from 3 suppliers.
- Days 31–60: Udyam and the licences you need (FSSAI licence, Udyam), a project report (DPR), and the scheme or loan file.
- Days 61–90: Space and machines, trial production, and first deliveries to 10 customers.
§11Who to connect with
Associations, clusters and training institutes — the directory is being built. Connect
§12Watch
There is no episode on this business yet. Shows are coming soon on the Podcast page.
Want to start Soya-Fortified Nutritious Biscuits?
DPR, loan file or registration — ask us on WhatsApp.
¶Sources
Data review: 6 October 2026. Spotted a mistake? Report it. For information only — not legal or financial advice.