| |AUGUST 20229has helped in increasing awareness. The old adage 'Prevention is better than cure' is gaining prominence due to increasing health care cost & procedural complications. Millennial consumers are preferring nutraceutical over prescription drugs to combat lifestyle and hormonal disorders. Post Covid, it has suddenly become the first priority for everyone. There is spurt in the need to support immunity levels and consumers are opening up to the idea of loading immunity supporting micronutrients & herbs as the preferred choice. With higher e-Commerce penetration & its increasing acceptance as preferred mode of shopping, the reach of the nutraceutical products has increased many fold. Increasing GYM penetrations and high consciousness around fitness and good physique has led to increased consumption of Protein and many other nutritional products. Consumers are preferring weight management supplements over pharmaceutical pills & medical procedures. Innovative formats like delicious gummies, chewable & effervescent tablets are gaining easy acceptance and offering benefits like better shelf life, taste, and more.Key ChallengesOver the past many years, there have been consistent efforts by regulatory bodies like FSSAI in designing regulations and making them at par with International regulations. A comprehensive policy & regulatory document is still the need of the industry. Absence of the same is not only deferring investment by global players but also allows many fly by night operators with dubious products and exaggerated claims. Strict implementation of regulations is another big task in the hands of govt agencies to ensure the check on unregulated practices. Indian market is also flooded with fake & counterfeit products with substandard ingredients thus ruining the reputation of the Industry. High tax structure is leading to higher prices for consumers, which is a deterrent in consumption.OpportunitiesAs the per capita consumption in India is very low in comparison to global av-erage, it throws open a big opportunity for the overall dietary supplement mar-ket to grow significantly. With increased awareness not only among urban con-sumers but rural counterparts too and the urge to take preventive steps to the challenge of lifestyle diseases, the con-cept of supplementation is getting wid-er acceptance & is bound to grow. Post COVID, the market has been proliferated by many brands offering various prod-ucts to cater to the increased demand. There has been spurt of various for-mats delivering the nutrients in tastier and more consumer preferred formats. With many Nutraceutical companies taking lead in educating consumers & digital media offering cost effective & innovative ways, dietary supplements are gaining traction among consumers. Increasing intervention by govt agencies & Industry bodies, there are significant efforts by manufacturers in delivering better quality & newer concepts. Apart from this technology will play a very im-portant role in designing data-based AI driven personalized & effective solutions for consumers. This will help deliver bet-ter benefits and will lead to increased consumer demand. From a manufactur-ing perspective, Integration of technol-ogy will help in standardizing process, ingredients as well as final product qual-ity and nutrition delivery thus putting Indian manufacturers at par with global standards. It will also help in combating the issue of counterfeit products & en-suring higher customer satisfaction.In the current scenario and emerging trends, one can foresee a bright future for Indian nutraceutical industry. Pace of growth will be driven by sector friendly govt policies, proper regulations & guidelines, appropriate tax structures, and stringent executions of the rules. Apart from consumption, India could be a potential global hub for manufacturing nutraceuticals if appropriate tax structure & policies are implemented. POWith many Nutraceutical companies taking lead in educating consumers & digital media offering cost effective & innovative ways, dietary supplements are gaining traction among consumers
< Page 8 | Page 10 >