India is losing its sweet tooth now

From jalebis to rasgullas and gulab jamuns, Indians’ appetite for sugar is legendary, with sweets served at everything from weddings to festivals and celebrations of all kinds.

- Vijay C Roy & Dhirendra Kumar

Sugar consumption may rise only 1.42% this year.

(ISTOCKPHOTO)

However, the taste for sugar is beginning to wane, as a raging diabetes epidemic and a generational shift in dietary habits force a pivot away from the sweetener.

Consumption of sucrose, or table sugar, is expected to rise a mere 1.42% this fiscal year, according to the Indian Sugar and Bio-Energy Manufacturers Association (ISMA), an organization of private sugar mills. According to another industry body, consumption will actually begin to decline in the next fiscal year.

The outlook indicates a plateauing in consumption, given that sugar consumption grew at 4.1% annually in the pre-covid years in India, the world’s second-largest sugar producer.

India is slowing, with domestic consumption expected to increase only marginally to around 28.5 million tonnes in 2025-26 from 28.1 million tonnes in 2024-25.