FOLLOWING the ban on beef in Indias state of Maharashtra, in which Mumbai is the principal city, Prime Minister Narendra Modis Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is pushing legislation to "protect and promote the cow," poultry firms expect demand to pick up.

Other states ruled by Mr Modis party also seek to toughen laws on livestock slaughter. India is the worlds second largest beef exporter and fifth biggest consumer, although its Hindu majority views cows as sacred.

Maharashtra, which has a population of 110 million and sprawls over an area roughly the size of Italy, widened its ban this month to cover meat from bulls and bullocks. The northern states of Jharkhand and Haryana, also ruled by the BJP, are looking for ways to discourage slaughter of livestock.

The curbs will cost jobs and hit Indias exports, but spell good news for many poultry farms. India consumed 2.3 million tonnes of beef last year until October - higher than for the whole of 2013 - while exports were 1.95 million tonnes in the same period, Reuters reported.

"We are expecting chicken consumption to increase in Maharashtra after a month, as it is a direct alternative to beef," said Prasanna Pedgaonkar, deputy general manager at chicken processor Venkys. 

He expects the measure to push up sales five per cent for his firm, which owns the English football club Blackburn Rovers, from a daily figure of 1,500 tonnes now.

Overall consumption in the state could rise five to eight per cent within a month, said South Asia sales head Dinesh Bhosale of AB Vista, an animal feed supplier based in Britain.

Even without a ban on beef, which is particularly popular in the southern and north eastern parts of India and tends to be cheaper than mutton and chicken, Indias poultry output has been scaling annual records, as higher incomes boost demand for meat in the worlds second-most populous country.

Owners of Mumbai shops that sell chicken say the effect of the beef ban has yet to show up in prices, although demand is starting to pick up despite the onset of summer, when consumption usually slows.