More Than Half Of Indian Households Okay With Low Sugar Variants Of Sweets: Survey

More than half or 55%, of Indian households expressed that they were comfortable with consuming sweets with 25 to 75% less sugar, according to a survey by local circles.

Brands that manufacture and market their products according to this trend may have an edge over their competitors in the market, with the festive season underway in India, the survey said.

"By lowering sugar levels for products where consumers find sugar to be excessive, brands can not only attract newer consumers; it can also prevent such products from getting classified as ultra-processed, HFSS (high fat, sugar or salt) or RED food," it said.

Apart from this, one in two urban household consumers surveyed is consuming sweets, packaged bakery products, chocolates, and biscuits every week.

The percentage of urban Indian households consuming traditional sweets several times a month rose 10% from 41% in 2023 to 51% in 2024, according to the survey.

There was an increase in the percentage of households surveyed that consumed traditional sweets every day, from 8% in 2023 to 10% currently. Households surveyed that didn’t consume traditional Indian sweets reduced from 13% in 2023 to 4% of respondents in 2024.

The survey also found that 51% of urban Indian households consume traditional Indian sweets three or more times a month. Around 27% of respondents indicated they do so 3–7 times a month and 39% said they do so 1-2 times a month.

The survey was conducted online and received 12,248 responses.

The survey received a total of 36,000 responses from household consumers located in 311 districts of India. Of this, 61% of the respondents were men, while 39% of the respondents were women. When it comes to cities, 42% of them were from Tier-1 cities, 29% from tier-2 and 29% of the respondents were from Tier 3 and 4 cities.

LocalCircles said that it will escalate the findings of this study with the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India and the Ministry of Health for their awareness and actions.