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“We see rising interest in industrialisation of food, including traditional foods”
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Monday, 02 August, 2021, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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 India is witnessing a few critical consumer trends that are shaping the F&B landscape. We can see that the pandemic has concentrated the consumer’s focus towards more health and wellness. But a major trend we see now is convenience, where consumers are increasingly preferring quick and easy preparation through packaged food.
Novozymes is a strong science-based company which innovates closely with customers and partners to create pioneering products. “Last year, we introduced five products globally which are industry-first innovations that help deliver healthier, safer, and delicious food and beverages in the most sustainable way,” says Krishna Mohan Puvvada, regional president and business director, consumer biosolutions, Novozymes India, in an email interview with Nandita Vijay. Excerpts:
What have been the developments at your company from an India perspective in the food and beverage space?
The Indian F&B market is rapidly evolving, led by a drive towards functionality, convenience, nutrition, and wellness. Consumerism is also changing, with the onset of digital penetration and adoption. At the confluence of all these developments, our company sees opportunities to tap into.
We see rising interest in industrialisation of food, including traditional foods. We have established teams to look at traditional applications through a regional lens to bring in more biology into these segments. For example, industrialised ‘kulcha, naan and chappati‘ are seeing increased consumer acceptance. Consumers are on the lookout for soft, fresh, and better-tasting products. Our initial experiments show that flat breads processed with our technology can provide improved freshness and shelf life. This has the potential to disrupt supply-chain operations in the flat bread segment and create a new ecosystem.
Another example is our work to enable sustainable solutions to produce trans-free fats. As an alternative to chemical inter-esterification, we are working on a batch enzymatic inter-esterification solution which will reduce operational complexity and significantly lower the capex
What was the kind of impact on the company in India with the ongoing Covid-19?
Covid-19 has triggered the organisation to adapt continuously and demonstrate resilience. Striking the right balance between safety and business continuity has been a key priority for all of us. Despite external challenges, our teams passionately carried out operations effectively to meet the requirements of customers, communities, and colleagues. By enhancing and expanding the use of digital tools, we improved collaboration within the organisation, strengthened customer relationships, and drove new leads without notable interruption.
Which segments contributed to the growth during the pandemic phase?
In India, our performance and the impact of the pandemic has been varied across industries. For food & beverage, we have had a positive experience led by Baking, Grain Processing, and BioAg. On the same breadth, our Brewing business has been negatively affected by the lockdowns, etc.
Would you be able to provide a snapshot on the scene of F&B in India and the need for your products?
With India moving towards a rising-income country, it provides multiple opportunities. Premiumisation of categories, introduction of new formats and rise of convenience-led categories are a few examples. In food & beverages, we expect to see demand for health-related properties as part of product offerings. Further, companies and brands are moving towards clean labelling, reduction of salt, sugar, transfats, preservative-free, etc. All of these present an opportunity for working with our stakeholders to offer better and safer foods.
Our solutions play a significant role in transforming the quality and sustainability of products and processes, in enabling companies and brands to diversify their product ranges, develop superior, better-tasting products, and in balancing nutrition for the value segment.
What are the visible trends seen in the India market for your range of products?
We are witnessing a few critical consumer trends that are shaping the F&B landscape. We can see that the pandemic has concentrated the consumer’s focus towards more health and wellness. But a major trend we see now is convenience, where consumers are increasingly preferring quick and easy preparation through packaged food.
The millennials are an important consumer segment. In them, we see a rising preference for plant proteins, veganism, etc. A lot of start-ups have emerged catering to this development.
All these trends offer tremendous opportunity for our technologies that can address consumer aspirations and customer goals.
Which have been the fastest growing products in India for baking, dairy, beverages and protein?
The pandemic has triggered the market towards indulgence, convenience like for instance finished/semi-finished, and homemade products. At the same time, stakeholders are learning to balance nutrition and calories. Towards solutions in this direction, we have seen positive interest in all the categories of F&B.
What are the strengths of the company in this space of F&B?
It is innovation. Novozymes is a strong science-based company which innovates closely with customers and partners to create pioneering products.
In 2020, under F&B, we launched five products globally. This is in line of our aspiration to introduce industry-first innovations that help deliver healthier, safer, and delicious food and beverages – in the most sustainable way.
We understand that globally the company had launched Saphera Fiber, Protana Prime Gluzyme Fortis, BioFresh 4 and Optiva LS…. Were these introduced in India and what is the response?
We have been talking to our customers about these innovations, and for some of them, we are at advanced stages of technical and commercial feasibility. The experience has been encouraging and we expect to see a positive development soon.
Does the company manufacture these products, or it is imported and what were the challenges encountered in supply chain logistics following Covid-19 stalling supplies from overseas?
We haven’t had any major disruption due to the pandemic. There was a small delay in the initial days of the nationwide lockdown, but that situation quickly normalised without causing any disruptions for our customers. We have been able to honour all our customer commitments.
What is your game plan to grow the business in India?
We strive to cater to the aspirations of people by bringing in solutions that enable healthier lives by substituting chemicals and delivering positive nutrition. Our aim is to transform the food system by improving farm yields and unlock value in the farm-to-fork value chain.
What is the size of the Indian F&B industry …. Large, medium or small that look for your products?
The opportunity is large. We are looking at the opportunity of catering to 1.3 billion people who are at different economic levels. The shift from unorganised to organised, unbranded to branded products, coupled with the emerging trends of convenience, indulgence, health and wellness, offers plenty of opportunities to multiple players in the F&B value chain.
What is the competition for your company from India for your products and how do you set yourself apart in a phase when cost is as important as quality due to the economic slowdown?
Providing our customers with the right value that enables healthier lives is our focus. In this journey, we face competition from similar technologies, but customers are the best judge and will adopt the solutions that offer the best value. Price has always been a key component – even before Covid-19 – but we strive to showcase technologies and deliver the right value to our customers.
From India which are the other markets that the company caters to and what is the opportunity there?
We cater to Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal from the India region. Each market is in a different stage of economic development, but the potential is huge, and we have been adapting locally to address the customer needs.
What are the challenges to succeed in India and other developing country markets for the company?
Our company has been a long-standing partner to India’s sustainable growth and is committed to it. We have been present in the Indian market for close to four decades. We understand the market dynamics and have established a strong presence across stakeholders. A few improvements around enabling a faster and clearer regulatory approval process can help the industry deliver impact to the society better. On the same lines, we should see how companies can collaborate with one another in creating an ecosystem of circular economy, and companies need to take increased responsibility to demonstrate the social side and provide sustainable solutions to BOP (bottom of the pyramid).
How important is India from a global standpoint in terms of revenue generation?
India is a key and strategic market for us. A lot of important functions for us are driven out of India. Our footprint in India plays a key role in the company’s emerging-market success.
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