Bikaneri bhujia, often simply called bhujia, is a popular crispy snack prepared by using moth bean flour and gram flour and spices, originating from Bikaner, a city in the western state of Rajasthan in India. It is light yellow in colour. Bhujia has become not just a characteristic product of Bikaner, but also a generic name. Bikaneri bhujia is a cottage industry in Bikaner, Rajasthan, and provides employment to around 2.5 million people in villages of the region, especially women, and recently it has faced competition with multinational companies like Pepsico as well as Indian snack companies, which have used the name bhujia.
After struggling with numerous copycats over the years, in September 2010, the Indian Patent Office confirmed the Geographical Indications rights and a patent was issued for the brand name Bikaneri bhujia to local manufacturers of Bikaner. In 1877, during the reign of Maharaja Shri Dungar Singh, the first batch of bhujia was produced in the princely state of Bikaner.
