Parle G shuts down in Vile Parle

Another piece of history coming to an end. The 87 year old manufacturing plant of Parle, which makes Glucose biscuits, downed its shutters two months ago.

As such production from the factory was negligible and it thus made no commercial sense to carry on with the production. The plant had 300 employees, all of whom had taken VRS.

Set up in 1929, the Vile Parle factory used to first manufacture just candies. Sugarboiled candies initially came in glass jars and later wrapped in translucent plastic wrappers and were sold across `kirana' stores under the Parle brand. The factory began biscuit production in 1939. Parle Products has a 40% share of the total biscuit market and a 15% share of the total confectionery market in India.

The good news as of now - the Vile Parle unit has often thrown open its doors to neighbouring schoolchildren to help them learn about biscuit and candy-making processes.

The bad news – this factory is sitting on 10 acres of prime property, owned by the Parle family. According to realty experts, the going rate for residences in Vile Parle is between Rs 25,000 and Rs 28,000 a square foot. Obviously, very soon we will hear of property development there, bringing in more congestion to the city which has long ago burst at its seams.