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Successful nutra cos catalysing sectoral growth
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Wednesday, 07 May, 2025, 12 : 00 PM [IST]
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Dr Sanjay Dey
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Among its many effects, the impact of the pandemic on human behaviour and habits would easily count in the top bracket. More specifically, on health and personal wellbeing. This also came at a time when a sedentary lifestyle and work-life imbalance started taking a toll on people’s physical and mental wellness. With a large and fast-growing consumer base, India’s nutraceutical industry is well poised to become a multi-billion market within the next decade across a diversified range of sub-categories, including dietary and nutritional supplements. As per data from the Ministry of Food Processing Industries, India’s nutraceutical market has experienced substantial growth, surging to an estimated value of $4-5 billion. The sector is poised for a transformative journey, with projections indicating an impressive growth trajectory to reach $18 billion by 2025, solidifying India’s position as a global leader in the nutraceutical industry
- Consumers are taking control of their own health: The pandemic came as a wake-up call for many as far as health is concerned. And in a little over two years since, the general understanding and perceptions of well-being have evolved significantly. What started as preventive healthcare and measures to improve immunity has transformed into a holistic approach to self-improvement with nutrition as a vital element. And as awareness grows and healthy habits become deeply ingrained, consumers are beginning to take control of their health.
- The age of personalised nutrition: Fuelled by advances in medical sciences and consumerisation of diagnostic technologies, nutraceuticals are becoming an integral part of treatment for specific issues as well as holistic health and wellness.
- Deepening and widening of product categories: As the field of nutrition evolves, we are seeing the emergence of therapy areas (like pharmaceuticals) in the nutraceuticals industry that focus on specific areas of wellness and nutrition. This has led to specialised segmentation in the market and a deepening and widening of product categories. So today, we have a diverse range of supplements for focused applications, including innovative products in traditional areas of health and emerging fields of cognitive wellness.
- Advances in ingredient research and applications: Many active ingredients that go into supplements are botanical extracts, which are often difficult to harness, unstable, or contain elements that need to be processed for safe consumption. New methods of extraction have enabled applications that were not viable earlier. For example, CBD extracted from cannabis has medicinal properties but cannot be used as-is due to the psychoactive THC components. But now, advances in chemical engineering allow THC to be isolated; as a result, we can now have CBD extracts with less than 0.3% concentration of THC, which, according to FDA norms, makes it a non-controlled substance. Such and other innovative extraction techniques could help expand the availability of new botanical compounds and increase the production of specific compounds for use as nutraceutical ingredients.
Current updates
Recognising the sector’s immense potential, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) constituted a Nutraceutical Sector Task Force (TF) in November 2021 under the chairmanship of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India. This Task Force includes representatives from various ministries, including the Department of Commerce, the Department of Pharmaceuticals, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), the Ministry of AYUSH, and the Ministry of Food Processing. The TF also includes significant industry representation, ensuring that industry concerns and challenges are directly addressed. The Task Force’s mandate includes proposing policy measures to address challenges and drive initiatives toward the “Harmonised System of Nomenclature” and other international standards.
Key advantages for India in the nutraceutical industry include
- A longstanding history in health science, especially Ayurveda, offering unique traditional knowledge.
- The presence of 52 agroclimatic zones, making India ideal for cultivating medicinal plants.
- A robust hub of over 1,700 medicinal plants, including globally recognised curcumin, bacopa and ashwagandha, awaiting modern scientific validation.
- Expertise in pharmaceutical formulation, influencing high-quality nutraceutical standards.
- A thriving startup ecosystem and a growing number of successful nutraceutical companies catalysing sectoral growth.
India has also prioritised infrastructure support, with nutraceutical incubation hubs and centres of excellence. NIFTEM-Kundli, Centurion University, and AIC-CSIR-CCMB have developed hubs fostering innovation, while the Kerala government inaugurated the first government-backed Nutraceutical Centre of Excellence in 2024. Through the Department of Commerce, India has showcased its nutraceutical strengths at global trade fairs, enhancing visibility and forging connections with international stakeholders. The collaboration between the Task Force and the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) is working toward a unique HSN code to streamline exports and simplify customs procedures. With these strategic initiatives, India’s nutraceutical sector is set for unprecedented growth. India aims to position itself as a global leader in nutraceuticals, combining traditional knowledge with modern science to attract global partnerships and investments.
Challenges
Nutraceutical products often face fluctuations in demand, making real-time information critical for brands. Traditional inventory management methods may rely on periodic manual counts, leading to a lack of real-time data on inventory levels, which can result in stockouts, where popular products run out of stock unexpectedly, leading to lost sales and customer dissatisfaction. In the nutraceutical industry, managing the shelf life of products is challenging due to the nature of these products, which often contain vitamins, minerals, and other active ingredients that can degrade over time. In the nutraceutical industry, ensuring the traceability of each product is very important. Traceability involves the ability to track and trace products at various stages of order processing, while serialisation pertains to assigning unique identifiers to individual items or packages.
In the ever-evolving nutraceutical industry, effective inventory management is key to success. Harnessing the power of a robust Inventory Management System can empower nutraceutical brands to conquer the above-mentioned challenges effectively. These solutions offer seamless integrations and streamline stock control across various platforms, paving the path to inventory excellence.
(The author is professor, Department of Pharmaceutical Technology, School of Health and Medical Sciences, Adamas University, Kolkata. He can be reached at sanju1980dey@gmail.com)
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