Is India Ready to Go Vegan? Market Trends, Challenges & Opportunities

It's not surprising to see India leading the vegan revolution in the Asia pacific region being already considered as the most vegetarian country in the world. According to recent surveys, 24% of the Indians are strictly vegetarian, 9% vegan, and 8% pescatarian (people who avoid meat but may consume fish or seafood) . The most vegetarian states of the country like Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab and Gujrat have over 60% of their population strictly following vegetarianism.

But, before we dive more deeper into the subject, let's first have a clear understanding of what veganism stands for.

According to 'The Vegan Society':

"Veganism is a philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude—as far as is possible and practicable—all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose; and by extension, promotes the development and use of animal-free alternatives for the benefit of animals, humans and the environment. In dietary terms it denotes the practice of dispensing with all products derived wholly or partly from animals."

In simpler words, veganism means avoiding exploitation of, and cruelty to animals while choosing our food, clothing and other lifestyle essentials and promoting plant based alternatives.

In this article we'll be exploring the growth rate of the Indian vegan food market, its challenges and opportunities.

Growth:

In 2022, India's vegan market size stood at US$ 1,324 Million and is expected to grow at 10.9% between 2023-2028. There are several reasons for the high growth rate such as the increasing vegan population, increase in vegan food alternatives, health benefits of a plant based meal and their positive impact on environment and climate change. Many government initiatives such as Green India Mission and the National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture also directly or indirectly encourage adoption of environment friendly and vegan lifestyle. Furthermore, rapid urbanization, creative marketing strategies by vegan brands and rising concerns for health risks caused by meat and poultry consumption are some of the other contributors. According to The Guardian, regular meat consumption raises a person's risk of heart disease, diabetes, pneumonia, and other serious illnesses. Meat, cheese and eggs are also considered having the highest carbon footprint which causes human-induced climate change, air pollution, and may leads to toxic acid rain. These could be some reasons for growth in demand for vegan options.

Challenges:

Although, a major proportion of the Indian diet consists of plant based ingredients yet, most of us also love our milk, ghee, butter, dahi (curd), paneer (cottage cheese) and other dairy products. Food businesses are trying to come up with innovative alternatives such as oat milk, soy milk, plant based meats and proteins, etc. but its really difficult for manufacturers to acquire the same taste, texture, flavor and appearance. The vegan food industry in India is also a fairly new line of business and has lack of access to capital, hence many individuals/ organizations don't plan to enter the sector due to fear of losses. Additionally, the vegan alternatives to meat and dairy are costlier which hurts the budgets of highly price-sensitive Indian consumers. Finally, another major challenge for the vegan food industry is to educate about the concept to the common Indian consumers, the majority of whom would not even have heard the term.

Opportunities:

Despite the above challenges, it is more than obvious that vegan food business is here to stay. Environmental awareness, growth of food technology, proven health benefits, ethical awakening towards fair treatment of all beings and popular tools of promotions such as digital ads, influencer collaborations and social media marketing will help in attracting potential customers. The start up movement in India will also be an essential fuel to the industry as new ventures and sectors are constantly being explored through them. And most importantly, it will be easier to penetrate to a market which is already used to eating plant based food ingredients.

Top Vegan Food Brands in India:

1. GoodMylk

2. Blue Tribe

3. SoGood

4. Wakao Foods

5. Urban Platter