MAM
Bikano prepares for festive fun with new range of salty snacks
NEW DELHI: Packaged snacks brand Bikano today unveiled six new masala-based products ahead of the upcoming festive season to further boost its product portfolio through an aggressive product-line expansion. The brand is expecting a sales surge of up to Rs 75 crore with the addition of the new masala range aimed primarily at consumers in the northern Hindi speaking belt.
The new range of products includes multiple spice-based flavors to augment Bikano’s presence in the rapidly growing ‘traditional snack’ segment. With the launch of its new range ‘Aloo Bhujia-Lemon Chaska’, ‘Chutney-Sev’, ‘Chatpata Mixture’, ‘Manpasand Mixture’, ‘Lajawaab Mixture’‘Daal Mixture’ and ‘Dry Fruit Mixture’, Bikano expects to earn an additional revenue of Rs 75 crore. The brand is already worth over Rs 1000 crore.
The launch comes ahead of the festive season and aims to capitalize on the expected demand surge during Holi including that of festive gifting.
“The salty snacks market in India has witnessed a remarkable evolution and growth in recent years. With a wide proliferation of Indian flavoured packaged snacks, we have witnessed the introduction of multiple new product segments and diverse ethnic flavours. The bhujia category and mixture category are two of the most rapidly growing salty snack segments in India and our new product line aims to leverage this market trend. Offering new products on regular basis has been prime focus of the brand. Apart from this, the new range is expected to give us a sales surge of up to Rs 75 crore in the coming fiscal,” said Bikano director Manish Agarwal.
The packaged food segment continued to witness impressive growth in the post COVID period as demand for packaged food items grew particularly in urban areas. With a mass vaccination programme offering hope of normalcy and an economic rebound, the sector is optimistic about buoyant demand this year.
“With the Holi season upon us, the demand for in-home snacks is bound to increase as people socialise more and experiment with new savouries. Gifting of packaged salty snacks is another area that has gained prominence in recent years and we are also expecting to capitalize on the festive gifting season to boost the sales of our new product range,” added Mr Agarwal.
With an eye on the Hindi-speaking market in the initial phases, the company has made these products available through the country-wide network of GT outlets. Except Lajawaab Mixture, each of these products comes in a Rs. 5 and Rs. 10 pack. Lajawaab Mixture has been priced at Rs. 10 (40g), Rs. 109 (500g) and Rs. 55 (250g). Significantly enough, both Aloo Bhujia-Lemon Chaska and Chutney-Sev have the highest weight for this price point in this category offering true value for money.
Notably, the launch was attended by senior functionaries of the company including director Manish Aggarwal, CEO Pankaj Agarwal, and CFO Sunil Bansal.
The new masala snacks range:
Aloo Bhujia-Lemon Chaska: A noodle-shaped Aloo Bhujia with a sharp lemony twist. Made with potato and maize flour as two base ingredients, a single bite of this delectable savoury is enough to draw and induce the food lover into wanting it more and developing a chaska or addiction for it in no time.
Chutney-Sev: A spiced-up chickpea flour and maize flour-based savoury, this comes with a thick, strong and dry texture and a more piquant and peppery taste.
Chatpata Mixture: A hot spicy savoury snack with an added zing that a food lover would find it very hard to resist.
Manpasand Mixture: A mouthwatering and taste bud-tingling snack, Manpasand mixture comes with the goodness of maize flour, chickpea flour, lentils and peanuts.
Lajawaab Mixture: A premium category snack with high dry fruit quantity perfectly suited to the palates of those inclined to healthy eating yet want their nutrition wrapped in taste.
Dal Mixture: A high-on-protein snack offering a triple tadka of masoor, chana and moongdal packed in the same delectable savoury.
Dry Fruit Mixture: Premium delicious crunchy spicy mixture containing potato sticks with richness of almonds, cashew, raisins.
Digital
Content India 2026 opens with a copro pitch, a spice evangelist and a £10,000 prize for Indian storytelling
Dish TV and C21Media’s three-day summit puts seven ambitious projects before an international jury, and two walk away with serious development money
MUMBAI: India’s content industry gathered in Mumbai this March for Content India 2026, a three-day summit organised by Dish TV in partnership with C21Media, and it wasted no time making a statement. The event opened with a Copro Pitch that put seven scripted and unscripted television concepts before an international panel of judges, and by the end of it, two projects had walked away with £10,000 each in marketing prize money from C21Media to support development and international promotion.
The jury, comprising Frank Spotnitz, Fiona Campbell, Rashmi Bajpai, Bal Samra and Rachel Glaister, evaluated a shortlist that ranged from a dark Mumbai comedy-drama about mental health (Dirty Minds, created by Sundar Aaron) to a Delhi coming-of-age mystery (Djinn Patrol, by Neha Sharma and Kilian Irwin), a techno-thriller about a teenage gaming prodigy (Kanpur X Satori, by Suchita Bhatia), an investigative crime drama blending mythology and modern thriller (The Age of Kali, by Shivani Bhatija), a documentary on India’s spice heritage (The Masala Quest, hosted by Sarina Kamini), a documentary on competitive gaming (Respawn: India’s Esports Revolution, by George Mangala Thomas and Sangram Mawari), and a reality-horror competition merging gaming and immersive fear (Scary Goose, by Samar Iqbal).
The session was hosted by Mayank Shekhar.
The two winners were Djinn Patrol, backed by Miura Kite, formerly of Participant Media and known for Chinatown and Keep Sweet: Pray & Obey, with Jaya Entertainment, producers of Real Kashmir Football Club, also attached; and The Masala Quest, created and hosted by Sarina Kamini, an Indian-Australian cook, author and self-described “spice evangelist.”
The summit also unveiled the Content India Trends Report, whose findings made for bracing reading. Daoud Jackson, senior analyst at OMDIA, set the tone: “By 2030, online video in India will nearly double the revenue of traditional TV, becoming the main driver of growth.” He noted that in 2025, India produced a quarter of all YouTube videos globally, overtaking the United States, while Indians collectively spend 117 years daily on YouTube and 72 years on Instagram. Traditional subscription TV is declining as free TV and connected TV gain ground, forcing broadcasters to innovate. “AI-generated content is just 2 per cent of engagement,” Jackson added, “highlighting the dominance of high-quality human content. The key for Indian media companies is scaling while monetising effectively from day one.”
Hannah Walsh, principal analyst at Ampere Analysis, added hard numbers to the picture. India produced over 24,000 titles in January 2026 alone, with 19,000 available internationally. The country now accounts for 12 per cent of Asia-Pacific content spend, up from 8 per cent in 2021, outpacing both Japan and China. Key exporters include JioStar, Zee Entertainment, Sony India, Amazon and Netflix, delivering over 7,500 Indian-produced titles abroad each year. The top importing markets are Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, the United States and the Philippines. Scripted content dominates globally at 88 per cent, with crime dramas and children’s and family titles performing particularly strongly.
Manoj Dobhal, chief executive and executive director of Dish TV India, framed the summit’s ambition squarely. “Stories don’t need translation. They need a platform, discovery, and reach, local or global,” he said. “India produces more movies than any country, our streaming platforms compete globally, and our tech and creators win international awards. Yet fragmentation slows growth. Producers, platforms, and tech move in different lanes. We need shared spaces, collaboration, and an ecosystem where ideas, technology, and people meet. That is why we built Content India.”
The data, the pitches and the prize money all pointed to the same conclusion: India is not waiting for the world to discover its stories. It is building the infrastructure to sell them.
