Indusfood Elite: Sunil A Dsouza, Tata Consumer Products

India is one of the biggest agricultural producers, but not all of that we are able to translate. Organic is becoming another big trend. The single biggest legacy that we have and what we are going to pass on is the four letters TATA.

My pleasure to be here.

So, there are multiple aspects affecting the Indian consumer, yes. Number one is with access to the internet and information, the consumer is becoming extremely savvy. Social media is starting to shape narratives for the consumers, both influencing and disinfluencing. So, that's one part. The second part is there is a set of consumers who are going back to tradition, right? So, Ayurveda and our historical food habits. But on the other side, there are consumers who are getting extremely scientific. That's the second piece. The third piece is again because of education, because of the food regulator also working tightly, the consumer is getting extremely aware of what they're eating. So, clean label, what we call in the food business is HFFS — high fat, salt, and sugar — that's becoming a cause of concern and consumers are watching the labels and what they're eating. The other piece is the pesticides and their downstream coming into food, and therefore organic is becoming another big trend. Then of course there's this general big trend of protein, prebiotics, all this kind of stuff. And the last one which I think we've yet to see the whole movie unfold is this whole GLP stuff coming into the Indian mainstream. I think the generics for GLP have just got approved and that is going to be a game-changer because if it really...

So GLP is this new range of drugs which actually were designed for diabetics, but over a period of time they've been found to be helpful in various conditions including weight loss. And now from a consumer perspective, that's becoming a thing. But the catch is people who are on GLP drugs, their protein intake drops, their fiber intake drops, prebiotics, probiotics drops. So they need a supporting food regimen. So that is becoming another big trend. In the western world it's already starting to take off. I do believe that will also come to India.

Ozempic, Mounjaro, there is a whole range of them. And once the generic versions are approved, the Indian pharma companies are very quick to roll out stuff.

I would split it in two or three different pieces. Indian agriculture has come of age. And in many of those categories like rice, wheat, sugar, India is now a leading exporter and therefore cost-wise India is extremely competitive. That's one. Second one, for many of the food products, especially where there is manual labor, there is again an added cost benefit from an Indian perspective. So that's one piece. The second piece is the Indian diaspora worldwide, right? The Indian diaspora worldwide, especially in countries like US, UK, etc., are extremely significant. And they still crave for food from home, right? So therefore Indian brands, Indian products do well. And lastly, I think Indian food overall is now coming onto the world stage. So if I dial back say 20-30 years back, there was this export standard, right? Indian standard and export standard. I think today that's no longer true. The Indian consumer is very well educated, is exposed, and like I said, the food regulator is bringing up our standards in line with the global standards.