Plant Based Meats In India

The plant based movement has taken the world by storm and India is not too far behind. With companies all over the country venturing into the space, it seems like the time is right to jump onto the bandwagon!

There can be no better time for companies in India to tap into the growing consumer affinity for healthier, sutainable and planet friendly food products. With many home grown brands emerging in the market such as Greenest, Imagine Meats, Shakaharry, Blue Tribe, BVeg Foods, etc. the options available to the consumers are gradually increasing.

Increased awareness, technology development, rising cholesterol-related health problems and sustainability remain as the key drivers for the plant-based meat market. According to the Good Food Institute, about 63% of the Indians are likely to purchase plant-based meat regularly. However, in India, the plant based meat is an emerging trend mainly driven by the food service channel (FSR).

Delhi based burger chain Burgrill India, renowned for serving gourmet grilled burgers, has launched the Green Meat Pounder with GREENEST™in October 2021. Their aim is to revolutionize the consumption pattern of the non-veg fast food industry overall.

On the other hand, one of India's largest QSR chains Haldiram's has also launched plant based keema samosa and Keemapav in collaboration with BVeg Foods. Haldiram's has been a pioneer in serving high quality, authentic vegetarian cuisine both in India and abroad. With this foray into plant based food, they are looking to serve consumer demand for this upcoming category.

BVeg Foods has also launched plant based hotdogs in association with Delhi based convenience store chain, 24Seven.

24Seven is well known for serving one of the best chicken hotdogs across Delhi NCR. Now, with the new plant based hotdog, they are aiming to serve the consumer demand for this category and expand consumer base.

In December 2020, Jubilant Foodworks also launched "The Unthinkable Pizza" via Domino's Pizza as a limited time offering, becoming India's first QSR to launch a plant protein based pizza. They have also invested in Mr. Veg to continue their foray into this category.

The most recent addition to the plant based movement has been ITC Limited as they announced plans to launch a host of plant based products into the market. The company is the first mainstream consumer company to enter this segment in the country even as Nestle, Unilever, Kellogg's and Cargill have globally launched plant based products for consumers conscious about health, animal welfare and the environment.

While most people are looking to grow their brands, BVeg Foods has taken a slightly different approach. They aim to act as an enabler for food service and retail players looking to enter the plant based domain by offering them a one stop shop solution with product development, manufacturing and private labelling under one roof.

The goal is to address some of the key challenges faced by the industry not just for India, but for the globe including lack of well equipped, dedicated processing facilities, research and time intensive nature of the product development process, lack of product diversity in the current market offerings as well as pricing and accessibility to the masses.

Many other start-ups have also entered the plant-based meat market in the past few years, selling through foodservice channels and online retail in India, including Ahimsa Food, Vegeta Gold, Vezlay, GoodDot Enterprises, Vegitein and The Vegan Eatery. Despite the influx of plast based product options, the market is still at a fairly nascent stage and finding it's footing amidst the long standing existing food categories in the country.

According to a recent GFI survey, conducted with Deloitte, the total contribution of plant based meats in India's economy is projected to be $1.3 Billion by 2030. The domestic market by 2030 is to be approx. $460 million while export potential is estimated as $1.1 Billion. The plant based meat industry is set to create 49,810 -136,758 jobs by 2030 employing a wide variety of specialists for the sector.

The future is rife with opportunities in this sector but there is still a long ahead to make plant based meats mainstream in the country. With the efforts of various organisations, established companies and start-ups, India is already on the cusp of making a conscious change and the resulting impact can be a game changer for the movement.