The 16th edition of the two-day India Food Forum powered by Smart Bazaar deliberates the consumer challenges on Day 1
New Delhi: 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, R S Sodhi, President, the Indian Dairy Association said on 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 powered by Smart Bazaar.
Earlier in the day, Kanaka Bhagwat, Retail Vertical Lead (FMCG), NielsonIQ, a 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, contributing to almost 70% 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.
India is witnessing a rapid evolution of digitization with around 25 crore UPI users and around 6 crore QR codes replacing POS machines. There is 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, of 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 conclave received an outstanding response from food companies as well as last-mile retailers.
India Food Forum by IMAGES Group is the country’s largest food B2B intelligence and exhibition platform with a unique combination of wide-ranging product displays, two-day conference and masterclasses, networking and business development opportunities, food D2C, tech & solutions showcases and India’s most prestigious awards for food & grocery retail and food service sectors.
