Oreo maker Mondelez flags slowdown in India's biscuit consumption

The maker of Cadbury chocolates and Oreo biscuits, Mondelez International has pointed towards a slowdown in consumer demand in India, particularly in the biscuits category, CEO and chairman Dirk Van de Put said during the Barclays Global Consumer Staples Conference 2025 on September 5.

The comments come at a time when chocolates and salty snacks are at the center stage of an evolving consumer behaviour in snacking.

"The Indian consumer clearly was slowing down, particularly in biscuits, which is a very basic category in India. We saw diminishing demand for a premium biscuit like Oreo, though chocolate has held up well despite price increases. Overall, growth has slowed down to solid single digits," Put said while addressing a question on growth in the emerging markets.

Oreo, introduced by the Cadbury maker in 2011, was positioned in the premium biscuits category but launched with an aggressive entry price of Rs 10 a pack, making it accessible to most Indian households. Experts have said that the recent slowdown is less about the brand and more reflective of a broader category decline, with evolving consumer behaviour and a wider range of options changing the buying pattern.