The plant-based food market is predicted to reach 77.8 billion U.S. dollars in 2025. Plant-Based Food Industry Association (PBFIA) sought Govt’s guidance and support to turn it into a significant sector.
A delegation of the newly-formed Plant-Based Foods Industry Association (PBFIA) met Prahlad Singh Patel, Minister of State For Food Processing Industries, recently at his official residence in New Delhi.
The delegation, led by the Association’s Executive Director, Sanjay Sethi, briefed the minister on the state of the nascent but rapidly expanding plant-based food sector in India. Noting that the industry was poised for explosive growth, Sethi sought Patel’s guidance and support to turn it into a significant sector catering to domestic and global markets through policy changes, capacity building, enabling ease of business, and other interventions. The plant-based food market is predicted to reach 77.8 billion U.S. dollars in 2025.
The growth of the Plant-Based Food industry offers a major opportunity to address climate change, food insecurity and malnutrition, and public health risk (including pandemics and antimicrobial resistance), and help India meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
The PBFIA delegation led by Sethi comprised Varun Deshpande, MD, Good Food Institute India; Kartik Dixit, Founder, Evo Foods, Mumbai; Prateek Ghai, Founder, B Veg Foods, New Delhi; Pradeep Rao, Founder, Evolved Foods, Bengaluru; Amit Bajaj, Founder, Vezley Foods; Palak Mehta, CEO, Vegan First Media, Pune; Gaurav Sharma, Founder, Greenest; Priti Singh, White Cub, Gurugram; Prakarshi Pulkit of Dharmic Foods; Narhari Gupta of Snill Burger, and Satvika Mahajan, Good Food Institute India.
The Minister sought the PBFIA’s assistance to organise two major events, one involving all the Indian stakeholders in the plant based ecosystem, and another where international players would be invited as well, in order to understand and address all the challenges faced by the industry. The Minister also appreciated the youthful energy and enthusiasm of the PBFIA delegation.
“The meeting was held in an extremely cordial and positive atmosphere, and I am grateful for Patel’s offer to support us and help us grow exponentially. Amazing energy was witnessed in the room. After the meeting, the minister and his team praised the innovative and tasty plant-based food samples that we had taken along,” PBFIA’s Executive Director, Sanjay Sethi, said. ‘On our part, we pledge to do everything we can to help the plant-based foods ecosystem flourish, prosper and bloom.”
Prahlad Singh Patel, Minister of State for Food Processing Industries, has asked PBFIA to hold a special session with the Ministry to discuss cold Chain logistics and how to ease daily parcel deliveries between cities of the food processing industry. Patel is eager to host Gaurav Singhodia AVP, Invest India, who was also in attendance at the meeting to work with PBFIA on its many initiatives.
“I am delighted to announce that the minister sought the PBFIA’s help to organise two major events, one involving all the Indian stakeholders in the plant-based ecosystem, and another where international players would be invited as well, to understand and address all the challenges faced by the industry,” Sethi said. The Minister also appreciated the youthful energy and enthusiasm of the PBFIA delegation.
The director of the Good Food Institute India, Varun Deshpande, said “the #smartprotein and #plantbased industry needs critical support in the form of talent pool development, research funding, and business incentives. We were delighted to participate in this meeting to advance our long-standing initiatives with the Ministry of Food Processing Industries in these directions, and look forward to continued collaboration with PBFIA”.
PBFIA suggested several steps that could be taken by the government, including:
- Establishing Centres of Excellence, Accelerators to support Innovation, Tie-ups with Universities
- Tax incentives for investors and entrepreneurs, reduction in GST rates
- Infrastructural support (food processing, cold chains, etc.) and other capacity-building initiatives, including an accelerator to support
- A joint task force to coordinate between various government ministries, departments, and agencies involved.
The newly-formed ‘Plant-Based Food Industry Association’ (PBFIA) is a CEO-led body formed to support and help develop India’s nascent plant-based food ecosystem. The association aims to create a network connecting organisations, food handlers, start-ups, investors, and consumers, engaged in the plant-based food industry. It also aims to help businesses in this sector grow through networking, collaboration, and dissemination of technical and market information and research by highlighting and promoting the benefits of the plant-based industry to improve health, food security, and fair practices to meet sustainable development goals. For more information, visit: www.pbfia.org
