16th edition of the two-day India Food Forum deliberates the consumer challenges on Day 1
Mumbai, 1 December 2023: India’s ever-willing aspirational consumer is experimenting with new food products that have compelled several national brands to position as local and regional brands, said R S Sodhi, President, Indian Dairy Association, Thursday.
“Local regional brands are emerging. National brands are trying to be positioned now as regional brands,” said Sodhi, the former managing director of the dairy brand – Amul, speaking on the first day of the two-day India Food Forum conclave in its 16th edition.
Earlier in the day, Kanaka Bhagwat, Retail Vertical Lead (FMCG), NielsonIQ – global consulting major also raised this point that local brands were driving growth in fast-growing super- categories and they continue to pace year-by-year, now almost 70 percent of APAC sales.
Across the APAC region, an increase in food prices remains a concern among consumers, but local brands dominate the growth story on a strong base of over 2/3rds of the overall APAC FMCG sales, Bhagwat said.
Rapidly evolution of digitization in India with around 25 crore UPI users in India and around 6 crore QR codes replacing POS machines with a fundamental shift in income and consumption structure in the Indian food retail context, Bhagwat said compared to APAC where the omni-shopper generation was evolving quickly with small-format stores growing via tourism boost and market stabilization.
Sodhi also pointed out that the Indian supply chain is extremely efficient with margins and logistics being minimal compared to global standards that enable more livelihood and nutrition to the farmer and consumer respectively.
Speaking at the plenary session, Damodar Mall, CEO, Grocery Retail, Reliance Retail, and Chair -Retail, India Food Forum said that apart from livelihoods, the retail food business also had elements of influence and power to remain relevant for the new age entrepreneur.
The two-day conclave had received outstanding responses from food companies as well as the presence of last-mile retailers.
