The Lijjat co-operative, run by women, employs more than 45,000 people and is famous for its crispy poppadoms.

On a chilly December morning, a group of women wrapped in colourful saris, warm shawls and woollen caps huddled outside a three-storey building in a busy neighbourhood in Delhi.

The co-operative - now called Shri Mahila Griha Udyog Lijjat Papad - was started in 1959 in Mumbai (then Bombay) by seven housewives who made the humble papad or poppadoms, a crispy, savoury snack ...