Growing awareness about health and fitness was already paving the way for a thriving competitive landscape for nutraceuticals in India. An ASSOCHAM report released in 2018 predicted that “the Indian nutraceuticals market is expected to grow from $4 billion in 2017 to $18 billion in 2025.”
However, with ‘immunity’ becoming the new buzzword as the world battles the COVID-19 pandemic, the demand for nutraceuticals across the globe has increased manifold. A report from Technavio forecasts that the global nutraceuticals market is poised to grow by $180.38 billion during 2020-2024, progressing at a CAGR of almost nine per cent during the forecast period.
And, experts opine that this could set the scene for India to emerge as one of the most formidable players in this segment.
As Sanjay Mariwala, Executive Chairman and Managing Director, OmniActive Health Technologies, points out, “There are two distinct market opportunities for the Indian nutraceutical industry i.e. exports-led and domestic demand-led. At $4-5 billion today, the nutraceutical market has immense potential to achieve at least two to three times growth in the next five years.”
So, what are India’s comparative advantages when it comes to nutraceuticals and how can this segment accelerate growth for India Inc?
1) Government focus on improving nutritional status: Malnutrition and undernutrition are major concerns in India. ‘Nutrition in India’, a World Bank report highlights that India loses nearly $12 billion in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to malnourishment. The government and private stakeholders have been undertaking several measures in the recent years to improve the nutritional status in the country with concerted programmes to deal with the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), National Health Mission (NHM) and the mid-day meal scheme are all cases in point. Likewise, this month, September is observed as ‘Poshan Maah’ or “Nutrition Month” since 2017 to increase awareness about it among the masses. Another instance is the Poshan Abhiyan, a multi-ministerial programme which envisages a malnutrition free India by 2022. The Union Budget for 2020-21, declared before the lockdown also saw an increased allocation of Rs 35,600 crores for nutrition-related programmes.
But, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has further underlined the linkage between nutritional status and economic status of a country. This, in turn, is likely to lead towards a renewed focus and importance for nutrition in public health policies and schemes than ever before to prevent diseases and deal with unprecedented healthcare challenges, thereby giving the nutraceutical industry a definite boost.
Mariwala clarifies, “Innovation, sufficient funding, regulatory support by introducing conducive measures, and tax subsidies will be the key drivers in bringing the growth and motivating entry of new players in the market.”
“Regulators are working on driving awareness of nutritional concepts (healthy fats, protein) at a large scale. This awareness potentially trickles down to drive understanding of supplementation as a category,” says Akshay Pai, Founder and CEO, Nutrova.
2) Shifting consumer behaviour: A recent survey by Mintel, a market intelligence agency, revealed that the number of vitamin and mineral supplement (VMS) launches in India has increased. It also revealed that India was responsible for one in five launches across Asia. It notes that while the consumption level in India was at 37 per cent in the pre-COVID-19 days, this consumption rate is expected to rise in the coming months.
Thus changing consumer behaviour in the country is also transforming the nutraceutical space. This is likely to be the harbinger of tremendous benefits for the industry in the domestic as well as global markets, since be it dietary supplements, functional foods and beverages or vitamins and minerals, the consumption of these products are set to skyrocket.
“There is a shift from curative to preventive care in the Indian market. With immunity taking centre stage due to the onset of the pandemic, consumers are relying more on nutraceuticals. Increasing...
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