Future prospect of pet food industry in India
The Food Processing Committee of PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) organised a webinar on pet food industry – Unleashing Opportunities and Key Challenges. The objective of the webinar was to create awareness about the potential for growth of Pet Food Industry under the Prime Minister’s initiatives—Make in India and Atmanirbhar Bharat.
Government’s outlook
Dr OP Chaudhary
Dr OP Chaudhary, Joint Secretary (NLM/PC), Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying, honorable chief guest at the webinar, said that there is immense scope for India to venture into pet food as it is an upcoming industry and the government is inclined to promote this industry. He emphasised that there is a need to establish animal nutrition and pet food manufacturing plants in India to meet the growing demand. He also mentioned that pets have been used for addressing many complex issues of society like mental health. Pet health can be ensured only with a balanced diet according to their breed type and age. There is a need for increasing pet food manufacturing and he urged the pet food industry to overcome the demand supply gap.
Dr Sujit Kumar
Dr Sujit Kumar Dutta, Secretary, Animal Welfare Board of India, urged the Indian pet industry to come forward as the country requires nutritional pet food. He said that there is a huge opportunity in the Indian pet food industry and immense scope for India to venture into this segment. There has been a rapid increase in demand for pet food during the times of the pandemic.
Taking pet food industry in India to new heights with awareness and new technologies There were many dignitaries in the webinar from the
Ganesh Ramani
industry who shared their valuable inputs. Ganesh Ramani, General Manager, MARS International India, reiterated that pet food has gained significance over the years and more so because of the rise in pet adoption and pet parents paying more attention to pet nutrition. He also stated that the pet food industry in India is unregulated due to the non-existence of uniform science-based regulations and relevant standards for this category to ensure the food safety aspects.
Satinder Singh
Satinder Singh, General Manager, Royal Canin India, while highlighting about the motto of Royal Canin believing that pets make this world better, mentioned that pet food industry is already witnessing a rapid growth due to increase in pet parenting and rise in awareness on wellbeing of pets. Further, citing about the challenges which include highly ambiguous regulatory environment, isolated government policies focusing on livestock and animal feed (cattle feed) specifically, absence of uniform regulatory framework, non-scientific sanitary import guidelines (for Animal Health Certificate), higher taxation for pet food vis a vis animal feed (cattle feed) and low awareness amongst pet parents, society and fraternity, he added that creating awareness through such occasions would help leverage and bring a scientific regulatory framework and guidelines for the pet food industry in the future would mitigate the challenges and unleash the true category potential of the pet food industry.
Govind Suryavanshi
Govind Suryavanshi, Corporate Affairs Director, Royal Canin India, talked about the necessity of uniform regulatory framework for the pet food industry in India.
Dr Makrand Chavan
Dr Makrand Chavan, General Secretary, Federation of Small Animal Practitioners Associations of India (FSAPAI), talked about the role of health through maintaining pets’ wellbeing and nutrition. He recommended that awareness should be enhanced among the veterinary healthcare team and the pet parents as nutrition plays a vital role in optimal pet health; advocated for making animal nutrition as part of veterinary curriculum; promoting the performance of nutritional assessment and advancing the central role of veterinary healthcare team.
Shashank Sinha
Shashank Sinha, National Sales Director, IB Group (Drools), said that pet food is an essential element and government has to support the industry for the growth and development of the pet food industry.
Changes in the post-pandemic world
Gaurav Kwatra
Gaurav Kwatra, Business Head, Purina Petcare India, highlighted about the Post COVID-19 Trends & Paradigm Shift to Consumer Behaviour. He highlighted about the macro trends which include consumers becoming more careful about making purchases, digital adoption and online shopping burgeoning. Further, while worrying about the situation of COVID-19, he stated that during these tough times it’s the pet who has taken care of us to tackle the problem of stress, anxiety and isolation.
Hoping for a bright future
Pradeep Multani
Pradeep Multani, Sr Vice President, PHDCCI stated that the pet food industry has the potential to grow over 20 times and also stated that the pet food sales have witnessed an increase of 20 percent in 2020. The momentum is likely to continue. According to industry experts, the pet food market is worth Rs 2500 cr of which the share of the domestically manufactured pet food s not very significant and nearly 80 percent is imported.
Ajay Beri, Chairman of Food Processing Committee, PHD Chamber raised key challenges faced by domestic pet food industry and put forward the suggestions on behalf of the domestic industry.