If they don’t have bread, will they eat chocolates?
Cadbury’s hold on emerging markets such as India is part of the reason why Kraft wants the company so much, the Wall Street Journal said.
The paper points out that Cadbury estimates more than half of India’s more than 1 billion people have never tasted chocolate, providing an opportunity for growth.
That’s a big number, but not necessarily a huge market.
India measures poverty line in terms of daily calorie intake — 2,400 calories for folks living in rural areas and 2,100 for those living in cities. On that basis, the government estimates 27.5 percent of Indians lived below the poverty line in 2004-05. The measure might be conservative. As this New York Times report points out some say the number is at least 50 percent, and the actual caloric intake of the poorest 25 percent just 1,624 calories.
The World Bank has set a poverty line at $1.25 per day. Under that measure, 42 percent of India’s population, or 456 million people, lived below the poverty line in 2005.
A 200 gram Dairy Milk bar has more than 1,000 calories, and it costs about 250 rupees, which is roughly $5.
