Economic impact of GI tagging on hanuman Garhi laddu manufacturers in Ayodhya district of Uttar Pradesh

Introduction

Geographical Indication (GI) tagging had emerged as an important intellectual property right for protecting regionspecific traditional products and enhancing their market value, authenticity, and economic sustainability. In India, GI tagging had played a significant role in preserving indigenous food products, promoting rural entrepreneurship, and generating employment opportunities for local communities. Hanuman Garhi Laddu, a renowned traditional sweet associated with the religious and cultural heritage of Ayodhya district in Uttar Pradesh, had gained recognition for its unique taste, preparation method, and strong association with the Hanuman Garhi temple. The GI tagging of Hanuman Garhi Laddu had been expected to improve product identity, strengthen market competitiveness, and provide economic benefits to manufacturers and traders engaged in its production and marketing. However, despite the growing importance of GItagged products, limited empirical studies had been conducted to assess their actual economic impact on local manufacturers. Therefore, the present study had been undertaken to examine the economic impact of GI tagging on Hanuman Garhi Laddu manufacturers in Ayodhya district of Uttar Pradesh. The study had focused on analysing changes in income, employment generation, production practices, market expansion, price realisation, and livelihood improvement among the manufacturers after GI recognition. It had also attempted to identify the major constraints faced by producers in the production and marketing process and to explore the opportunities associated with GI-based entrepreneurship and sustainable local economic development.

Research Methodology

The selection of the district, block, villages, respondents, markets, and market functionaries had been undertaken through a combination of purposive and random sampling techniques. Uttar Pradesh, comprising 75 districts and 18 divisions, had been considered for the study, out of which Ayodhya district had been purposively selected because of its significant concentration of GI-tagged food products, particularly GI-tagged Besan Laddu, along with the presence of associated raw material traders and traditional sweet product clusters. The district had also exhibited rapid growth in GI-based entrepreneurship, which made it suitable for assessing the major challenges and opportunities related to the production and marketing of GI-tagged food products. Among the 11 blocks of Ayodhya district, Bikapur block www.extensionjournal.com had been purposively selected due to its notable presence of GI-tagged food producers, traditional sweet-making units, and small-scale processing enterprises. The favourable socio-economic conditions prevailing in the block had further supported its selection for analysing production and marketing issues associated with GI-tagged products. A complete list of 136 villages under Bikapur block had been obtained from the Block Development Office and arranged in descending order according to the number of producers engaged in GI-tagged Besan Laddu production. Thereafter, five per cent of the total villages, comprising seven villages, had been selected randomly to ensure proper representation of GI-tagged Besan Laddu manufacturers. From each of the selected villages, a comprehensive list of GI-tagged Besan Laddu producers had been collected from the Block Development Office and local cooperative or producer groups. Subsequently, ten per cent of the total producers had been selected randomly for the study. The selected respondents had been categorised into five groups based on their scale of production, namely marginal (less than 50 kg/week), small (50-100 kg/week), semi-medium (101-250 kg/week), medium (251-500 kg/week), and large (more than 500 kg/week). For the marketing study, two types of markets had been selected purposively, namely Bikapur market as the primary market and Gija market as the secondary market. A list of market functionaries had been prepared with the assistance of officials from the selected markets, and from the total number of market participants, 10 wholesalers, 5 retailers, 10 producers, and 5 consumers had been selected randomly for the present investigation. Primary data had been collected through personal interviews using a well-structured schedule from middlemen, producing respondents, and channel partners associated with GI-tagged Besan Laddu, whereas secondary data had been obtained from magazines, published papers, books, journals, government records, and the Block Development Office. The collected data had been analysed using appropriate statistical tools, and the findings pertained to the agricultural year 2025-2026.

Analytical Tools 1. Likert Scale:

A Likert scale is a rating scale used to assess opinions, attitudes, or behaviors. To collect data, you present participants with Likert-type questions or statements and a continuum of possible responses, usually with 5 or 7 items. Each item is given a numerical score so that the data can be analysed quantitatively. It was observed that income levels of all categories increased significantly after GI tagging, with marginal producers experiencing a 33.3 percent rise, while medium and large producers recorded the highest increase of 50 percent. The absolute income gain was highest among large manufacturers (₹45,000), followed by medium producers (₹30,000), indicating better economic benefits for higher-scale units. The demand index also showed a positive trend, increasing from lower levels among marginal producers (2) to the highest level (5) among medium and large producers, reflecting improved market demand. Additionally, product prices increased across all categories, though the increment gradually declined with scale. Employment generation also improved, as all categories reported higher workforce engagement after GI tagging. Overall, the findings revealed that GI tagging had a substantial positive impact on income, demand, pricing, and employment, thereby enhancing the economic viability of Hanuman Garhi Laddu manufacturers. The table showed the relationship between the category of manufacturers and various economic impact variables of GI-tagged Hanuman Garhi Laddu. It was observed that there was a very strong positive correlation between category and income after GI tagging (0.99), indicating that as the scale of manufacturers increased, their income also increased significantly. Similarly, income increase (0.98) and percentage increase (0.97) were highly positively correlated with category, which suggested that medium and large producers benefited more compared to marginal and small producers. The demand index showed a perfect positive correlation (1.00), meaning higher-category www.extensionjournal.com manufacturers experienced greater market demand. Employment after GI tagging also had a strong positive relationship (0.99), indicating that larger units generated more employment opportunities. However, price change showed a strong negative correlation (-0.96), which implied that smaller producers experienced relatively higher price increases than larger ones. Overall, the results indicated that GI tagging had a positive economic impact, especially for medium and large manufacturers, by increasing income, demand, and employment opportunities.

Coefficient of Correlation(r):𝑟

Conclusion

The study had clearly demonstrated that GI tagging had exerted a positive and significant economic impact on the manufacturers of Hanuman Garhi Laddu in Ayodhya district of Uttar Pradesh. The findings revealed that income levels, product demand, selling prices, and employment generation had increased considerably after the GI recognition of the product. The increase in income and market demand indicated that GI tagging had enhanced consumer trust, product identity, and market competitiveness of Hanuman Garhi Laddu. Medium and large-scale manufacturers had derived comparatively greater economic benefits due to their higher production capacity, wider market reach, and better access to institutional support. However, marginal and small producers had also experienced noticeable improvements in income and employment opportunities, which highlighted the inclusive nature of GI-based entrepreneurship. The correlation analysis further established a strong positive relationship between the scale of production and economic impact variables such as income, employment, and demand. The study also revealed that government schemes such as Mudra Loan Scheme and PMFME had contributed substantially towards strengthening the financial position of manufacturers and promoting small-scale food processing enterprises. Nevertheless, limited access to GI promotion support, technical guidance, packaging assistance, and certificationrelated awareness among marginal and small producers remained major constraints affecting the overall effectiveness of GI initiatives. The uneven distribution of institutional support suggested the need for more inclusive policy interventions and targeted awareness programmes for small-scale manufacturers. Overall, the study concluded that GI tagging had considerable potential to promote rural entrepreneurship, preserve traditional food heritage, generate employment, and improve the socio-economic condition of local producers. Therefore, greater institutional support, effective marketing strategies, skill development programmes, and enhanced awareness regarding GI benefits were essential for ensuring sustainable growth and equitable economic development among all categories of manufacturers associated with GI-tagged Hanuman Garhi Laddu.

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