The dramatic increase in consumer demand for products to improve nutrition and support a strong immune function has opened a huge opportunity for the nutraceuticals industry. In our last article, we covered the reasons spurring the demand and why India’s nutraceutical industry is uniquely positioned to benefit from them.
But, it is of absolute essence to take timely and pertinent measures which will help optimise the growth potential and eliminate the bottlenecks that hinder the industry’s progress. Because, as an old, famous poem goes, ‘a kingdom was lost for the want of a nail.’ It reminds us to take the right actions at the right time.
So, in this article, let’s take a look at the prerequisites for India Nutra Inc in its next leg of growth.
A robust and clear regulatory framework
A recent report from GlobalData informs, “India is overhauling its pharma regulatory norms to expedite the approval process and promote innovation. Given that the country is now focused more than ever on developing novel therapies and vaccines on account of the COVID-19 situation, the move will not only remove unnecessary procedural roadblocks but also foster innovation.”
Sasmitha Sahu, Pharma Analyst at GlobalData, opines, “The recent regulatory reforms are a clear indication that India really wants to focus on innovation in the pharma industry. The centralisation process will help bring in more transparency in the existing systems with a clear mapping of responsibilities and accountabilities in a time-bound manner. This could mean accelerated access to multiple novel therapies and vaccines for Indian patients. It is likely to encourage even the international innovative companies to view India as a priority market from the research and development investment perspective.”
While this is great news for the pharma sector, experts point out that what’s needed is a similar focus on regulatory reforms to propel the nutraceuticals sector towards accelerated progress.
For instance, Sanjaya Mariwala, Executive Chairman and Managing Director, OmniActive Health Technologies opines, “Nutraceutical industry presents opportunities for exponential growth, it is important to proactively leverage them. We need policy and regulations led interventions to facilitate the growth of this industry, along with a cohesive approach by relevant players to make this industry mainstream”.
Some of the major points the industry players raise are as follows:
Creating a centralised regulatory authority: Many stakeholders and observers of this industry feel that this billion-dollar industry doesn’t get the required regulatory push due to the absence of a centralised authority. Currently, nutraceuticals and herbal medicines come under the purview of various regulatory bodies including FSSAI, AYUSH or CDSCO, based on the claims made and ingredients used.
“A clear status to nutraceuticals as a stand-alone the industry is missing. The industry is in a grey zone dabbling between DCGI, FSSAI, MoFPI, BDA. For the industry to grow there has to be a provision for single point ownership. One approach can be to create a body like Pharmexcil for nutraceuticals that helps integrate government bodies to serve nutraceuticals,” pronounces Amit Srivastava, Chief Catalyst, Nutrify India.
Need for growth-oriented policies: Mariwala states, “As far as Government or regulators are concerned, I think three important and immediate steps are required. First, they must provide due recognition to the nutraceutical and natural product industry. This includes providing necessary incentives for raw material production to improve the agricultural base and encourage medicinal seed research to drive innovation. Secondly, creating policies around product standardisation and minimising product adulteration is a must. Lastly, we must have a dedicated desk for nutraceuticals at the Ministry of Commerce and FSSAI for promoting and streamlining exports.”
“Regulators should allow for a combination of FSSAI and AYUSH ingredients as this will skyrocket India’s potential and worth in the global nutraceutical space,” Dr Apurve Mehra, Founder, Biogetica.
A more industry-friendly tax regime: Sandeep Gupta, Chief Founder & Director of ENAC asks for a revision in the tax regime to propel the industry’s progress, “The major challenge to this industry is Tax (GST) regime which is the burden on the sector...
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