Indian biscuits and confectionery manufacturer Parle Products will potentially lay-off almost 10,000 employees due to falling demand for its products.

According to an executive, the low demand for Parle’s products could lead to reduced production at the company’s facilities. The company may explore the option of job cuts.

Parle Products category head Mayank Shah said: “The situation is so bad, that if the government doesn’t intervene immediately, we may be forced to eliminate these positions.”

Shah said that sales and demand for its Parle biscuit brands have significantly declined after the introduction of goods and services tax (GST) in 2017, as a result of which heavy tax has been applied to biscuit packs costing as little as Rs5 ($0.07).

As a result of the GST, the company was forced to offer fewer biscuits in each pack, which has impacted the demand for the product from lower-income consumers in rural parts of the country, the executive said.

Shah further added: “Consumers here are extremely price-sensitive. They’re extremely conscious of how many biscuits they are getting for a particular price.”

Last year, the company officials also spoke with ministers in relation to the GST and urged them to review the tax rates.

Established in 1929, Parle operates ten manufacturing facilities, as well as 125 contract manufacturing facilities across the country and employs more than 1,00,000 people.

In 2003, Parle-G was reported to be the largest selling biscuit brand across the globe.

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