Health And Wellness Foods Market Crosses Rs. 10,000 Crore in Revenue in India

Despite the growth in fast food chains, Indians are slowly moving away from heavy carb food to cereals, oats and milk food that are fortified with incremental nutrients. The health food market is expanding and growing and also taking over the nation one step at a time. It’s a new age where everyone wants to be healthy and eating healthy is a huge part of that. The overall health and wellness food products segment crossed Rs. 10,000 crore sales in 2015, which is less than 10% of the overall food market, but this is still a huge deal for marketers.

When talking about this, Devendra Chawla, president FMCG and brands at Future Group said, “The packaged food market in India is relatively nascent and per capita consumption even for aerated drinks or chocolates is minuscule compared to developed world that has been consuming branded food products since over many decades now.” Milk food beverages contributed nearly half of the health products category with sales of Rs5,180 crore followed by healthy oils and multigrain atta at Rs1,250 crore and Rs1,205 crore each.

Mr. Chawla also added that, “With most urban consumers, especially millennials, opting for such products now, the country will see a hockey stick curve in the overall category growth, especially for healthier variants as young consumers are more concerned about diet and lifestyle than their previous generation.”

Credit: Economic Times

It also shows that South India is the earliest to adopt this trend with East India close behind. Indians are turning to traditional trade stories for their provisions and health and wellness foods joining the ranks of instant noodles as what they are spending more money on.

“Cultural factors and eating habits make Indians prone to weight issues, and with consumers now judging themselves on international body-image parameters, the general consensus is that a concerted effort on health and wellness is imperative,” said Manoj Kulkarni, director at Nielsen India, told Economic Times. Nielsen India also said that consumers are looking for labels like “all natural” and “high in fiber” and are willing to pay more for those products that give them what they’re looking for. Even with all the failed health food entrants in the market, companies are not giving up just yet.

Health and wellness foods is now becoming a huge market and consumers and brands alike are making sure that everybody has everything they need.