Vegan India Conference 2024 Roundup

The last couple of years have been tough on the plant-based industry, what with investment slowing down and the generally depressed state of the global economy. But there’s no denying that plant-based food is now a mainstream trend. It’s globally recognized, if not completely accepted, as countries even consider national action plans and policies to promote plant-based lifestyles to improve the indicators of people as well as the planet. 

At the moment, India’s plant-based journey is still in its infancy. Consumer awareness and product availability are nowhere near levels in more developed markets, like Germany or the US. Despite this, there are incredibly positive signs that the food industry in India is seeing plant-based products as a major growth sector in the coming years.

The opportunity 

• For one thing, the bulk of attendees at the Vegan India Conference in 2024 were from the industry – start-ups, legacy brands, investors, product developers, and even purveyors of cutting-edge technologies. 

• According to IMARC Group, India’s vegan food market was worth US$1.5 billion in 2023 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 10.04% during 2024-32 to reach US$3.5 billion. In comparison, the largest market for plant-based food in Europe — Germany — was valued to be around US$2.1 billion in 2022, according to the Good Food Institute Europe.

• Consumers are showing interest in at least trying out a vegan diet. A survey by YouGuv in November 2023 found that 59% of over 2,033 adult respondents showed a strong likelihood of considering a vegan diet in the near future. Improved health is the primary driver for this, according to this survey, though another survey found that animal welfare was a major consideration.

Reasons for choosing to consume plant-based food products in India, February 2024

The actual number of vegans at present in India is likely to be significantly lower. Some estimates put the vegan population at 9%, but even that seems too high.

Read about the drivers, challenges, and opportunities within the plant-based space in India here. 

Top innovations

Plant-based meats in plenty

There were a number of companies offering plant-based meat alternatives, in convenient and popular formats like patties, sausages, mince, nuggets, kebabs, and others. Most of the companies have managed to get the taste and texture of the products very close to their meat counterparts. 

It was interesting to see Indian options like kebabs and keema as well as the use of these meat alternatives in Indian dishes, highlighting the importance of localizing products to increase uptake.

Another surprising aspect was who some of these companies were. 

What we’ve seen in other countries is that bigger companies that invest in or launch plant-based alternatives are often in the animal products space. But Indian companies are looking at this slightly differently. Companies in very different sectors were investing in plant-based alternatives, recognizing the long-term potential of the space and also perhaps diversifying their own businesses.

Continental Greenbird is a frozen plant-based brand launched by coffee company Continental Coffee Limited. This range is made from chickpeas and pea protein. 

PFC Foods is a brand owned by Metatek Engineering, a 40-year-old company whose core business is high-value engineering and white metal engineering solutions. The CEO of PFC Foods spoke on stage about the extensive research done to understand consumer needs prior to launch. 

• The company also shared who their consumers were:

• Over 70% were meat-consumers

• Their products were popular with two age groups - 25-30 years and 45+ years

  • This indicated that younger consumers were acting upon their sustainability and health concerns, while older consumers saw meat reduction as part of healthy aging.

• All consumers were highly active digital buyers

Filling the gap for plant-based seafood

One of the white spaces that emerged during the course of the panel discussions on food was the lack of plant-based seafood. India has over 7,500 kilometers of coastline and ranks third in terms of global fish production. Seafood and fish are a significant part of the livelihoods and diets of coastal communities. So the lack of plant-based alternatives was raised as a concern as overfishing depletes marine stocks.

This is where an old Market Shake alum comes in. Prot has a range of seafood alternatives in the form of frozen appetizers that uses ingredients like mushroom, pea and rice protein. We had spoken with Prot back when it was called SeaSpire. Since then, the company has rebranded, removing the overt mentions of seafood alternatives and choosing to have softer connotations (like “gill-t free”).

The company said that they sell about 250-500 packs a month, with some months doing better sales than others. The consumers of Prot also use these as finger foods when entertaining at home.

Spreading the word

Some of the companies mentioned above also offered a range of plant-based spreads, like Plantaway.

Jus’ Amazin started as a range of simple nut butters but has since expanded to a much broader range of products, including sweet spreads and savory spreads/sauces as well as “dessert” spreads (badam kheer) or cooking ingredients (dairy-free condensed milk alternative).

The brand also offers small and portable sachets of almond milk paste that can be used to make almond milk on the go by just adding to water and shaking.

Check out our analysis of convenient and sustainable format innovations for beverages here.

Jus’ Amazin also had a range of plant-based products aimed specifically at women, for different life stages, including a health drink mix for women postpartum and to aid lactation, nut butters for pregnant women, and energy bars. 

Plant-based supplements

For those who follow vegan or plant-based diets, getting the right nutrition is a concern and often supplementation is the answer. But most supplements in the market today are not completely vegan. Companies like Origins Nutra are looking to change this with their plant-based versions for different health concerns. The company said their bestseller was their supplement for bone health. The company also said their answer to collagen was silica, derived from bamboo or horsetail extract and said to promote collagen formation.

Another company that came up a few times during the panel discussions was Plix, a plant-based nutritional supplements range whose product format is its key selling point and a darling of investors. Instead of a pill, their products come as small dissolvable tablets that fizz up when added to water. Plix’s best selling product is its apple cider vinegar.

Value-added plant-based dairy alternatives

While milk alternatives are moderately common now in India – they make up the majority of the plant-based food market – value-added dairy alternatives are not. Alternatives to yogurt, cheese, butter, and ghee are still few and far between, though a few of the companies at the event had showcased options. 

One of the main barriers to more Indians adopting a plant-based diet is price. Many products with plant-based claims are more expensive than their animal counterparts because they use more expensive ingredients, are taxed at higher rates, and are not really made at volumes high enough to attain economies of scale. In fact, a contract manufacturer for plant-based milk said that producing plant-based milk was cheaper than producing dairy milk. The costs get added on from the time the milk leaves the factory and reaches the consumer.  

But this is not to say that brands are not trying to bring down prices. A key insight that emerged with regard to making plant-based food more acceptable was to remove any overt references to the word “vegan”. 

Yogutty (cashew yogurt)

Priced at INR 150 for 200g

Chetran’s (soy yogurt)

While this company did not have a stall featuring their range of products, their soy yogurt was part of the lunch provided. In addition, a few of the panelists brought up the brand for their unique low-cost positioning in a market where plant-based claims push up the price. Compared to the previous product (and I admit this is not a fair comparison given the base ingredient), Chetran’s soy yogurt is priced INR20 for 200g, making it an incredibly accessible product across the board.

Source: Chetran’s Soy Foods

Chifu (chickpea tofu)

This company offers a chickpea-based tofu or paneer alternative that is said to be made with Indian/native chickpeas (rather than the variant used to make hummus).  

Plant-based fats

A lot of consumers in Western have mentioned how hard it is to give up cheese when switching to vegan or plant-based diets. In India, this status goes to ghee, as several people I spoke to said. So a plant-based ghee option definitely has plenty of scope. One Good’s ghee alternative is priced at INR400 for 500ml, cheaper than some higher end dairy ghee brands available. This product is made with coconut oil, sunflower oil, sesame, and nature identical flavors.

The same brand also has a plant-based butter, made with refined coconut oil, sunflower oil, water, cashews, salt, annato, and apple cider vinegar. It can be used as a 1:1 substitute for dairy butter in any baking recipe.

Strategies to mainstream plant-based: Price, familiarity, avoiding the word “vegan”

In addition to that, chefs and food service players highlighted that since several Indian cuisines are already vegetarian, making them vegan was not too hard or costly. By initially selecting approachable dishes that consumers are already familiar with, those that are tasty and popular, and are at affordable price points, food service players showed that they could be vital in mainstreaming the plant-based movement in India.

If that wasn’t enough for you, vegan catering is also taken care of by a company called Green Rabbit. Through some of their events, they were able to reach out across all socioeconomic strata to highlight that the food didn’t have to be out of reach for Indian consumers.

No one understands better than vegans how divisive the word “vegan” can be. Despite the name of the conference, I got the impression that there is an effort to shift to using “plant-based” instead of “vegan” especially when interacting with non-vegans. From brands and speakers to investors and founders, and even some activists, this is the preferred nomenclature when it comes to marketing and communication. A few of the smaller food companies I spoke to even admitted that consumer interest went up when they stopped overtly displaying vegan claims and health claims and moved to plant-based.

Learn more about opportunities in the plant-based food and drink market in India.

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