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Malted health beverages in India
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Friday, 16 July, 2010, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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By Aditi Basu
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Health products are the latest fad in the food business worldwide and this trend is fast catching up in the Indian market as well. Since the year 2007, the country has seen numerous product launches in the field of nutraceuticals/ functional foods and beverages that cater to distinct consumer brackets and ages. Food stuff meant for cholesterol maintenance and general well being are available across all modern retail outlets in most cities. Such wide market penetration and extensive product visibility on retail shelves leads to improved consumer awareness about health benefits of such value added products.
With a market value of Rs 49-50 billion for the year 2009, the total Indian functional foods market is currently a small percentage of the Rs 4,000 billion processed foods market in India. Despite a small base, the functional foods and beverages market is poised for exponential growth in the forthcoming years since disease prevention and health and wellness are the focus areas for market participants and consumers in India and worldwide.
The following charts illustrate market sizing of Indian functional F&B vis-à-vis total Indian processed foods and percentage split in key functional food segments:
Foods for cognition/memory health are one of the highest growth categories in functional foods with malted health beverages being the key revenue earner in cognitive foods. Omega-3, vitamin B1 and B12, antioxidants, protein ingredients, vital minerals and phytochemicals such as Ginkgo Biloba, Brahmi extracts, Amla, etc, are some of the clinically proven ingredients used in such health beverages. These beverages are specifically designed to enhance brain function in kids/infants, maintain brain health, fight harmful radicals, which cause ageing and for overall general health and wellness. They serve as an ideal medium for addition of functional ingredients due to product characteristics and core positioning as nutritional supplements.
Competitive analysis
The Indian malt based health beverages market was estimated at Rs 2,000 Crore for the year 2009 with an average annual growth rate of 20-25 percent.
The Indian malted health beverages segment has seen fierce competition amongst its market participants in the recent past. Manufacturers have revamped their portfolios and emerged with newer and better functional variants for cognition and weight management.
The following figure illustrates the competitive structure in the Indian malted health beverage market.
The market is segmented in two distinct tiers of competition with leading multinationals such as
GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Health Care Ltd (GSKCH) and Cadbury (now a fully owned subsidy of Kraft Foods Inc.) occupying the top rung. Tier 2 comprises medium-sized players such as Nestle, Heinz, Wockhardt (now a part of Abbott Nutrition) etc. Apart from these multinationals, a few domestic FMCG players are present as well, AMUL and Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) being the significant ones.
The following figure illustrates key companies active in the cognitive malted health beverage market and their respective brands and year of launch.
GSKCH is by far the largest player in this category with four of its major brands - Horlicks, Boost, Viva and Maltova occupying nearly 72 percent of the total market. Horlicks is the single largest brand with a market share of 53 percent making it a clear leader. GSKCH is followed by Cadbury, which holds a market share of 12 percent, with its brand Bournvita. Heinz India, AMUL, Nestle India, Wockhardt (now a part of Abbott Nutrition) are some of the other significant players. HUL and Dabur India are new entrants with their products Amaze and Chywan Junior launched in select cities and metropolitans. The following chart depicts market share split of participants in Indian malted health beverage market.
Product nutrient profile, health claims, marketing strategies and prices are some of the key competitive factors in this market. GSKCH has been an aggressive player in media and print ad campaigns leading to widespread awareness about product health benefits and ingredient usage in the same. Horlicks was previously promoted as a generic health drink for all ages leading to a slump in sales for GSKCH. The company later abandoned the “one-size-fits-all” positioning and launched a whole new product portfolio targeted at specific consumer brackets. Media and print ads were developed keeping in mind target consumers and these efforts benefited as sales of Horlicks gradually started improving making it the single largest selling health beverage brand.
Other players such as Heinz and Cadbury are also heavily advertising their products nutrient labels, health claims and clinical trials that were undertaken to prove these claims. With players such as HUL, Dabur entering this space, competition is likely to intensify. The market might also see a substantial fall in retail prices as participants compete on price points.
Challenges
The malted health beverage market has fared well as far as beverages for kids are concerned. However, other niche segments, such as malted beverages meant for women?s health or for cholesterol management, are not witnessing much growth. The market is still plagued by low levels of consumer awareness in some specific sectors.
Rural reach for such products is also low due to premium pricing. Consumers in such markets have a conservative mindset and prefer traditional foods that are home-made over processed packaged foods for their daily nutrients and calorie requirements thus limiting the growth for such health beverages.
Lack of product differentiation in terms of ingredient usage also limits market growth. Most of the malted health beverage products available off-the-shelf have similar nutrient profiles and the same ingredients are being experimented with. However, companies are increasingly spending on R&D and product development and are likely to innovate new products with broader ingredient coverage.
Opportunities
Malted beverages have always been positioned as regular heath drinks targeted at children and the elderly population; however, in the recent past companies have focused on products for other consumer brackets as well. In the process, a number of products were launched for women and kids for cognition and general well being. This category of health product offers immense opportunity since malted beverages are a part of every child's staple diet. There is a rise in consumption amongst children for improvement in concentration and memory power.
Clinical studies suggest such malt based products can be used for not just general well being but can also be a part of post treatment nutrition in specific memory and brain disorder cases such as Alzheimer's disease, Schizophrenia, etc.
According to Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), incidences of such brain disorders are on the rise in India due to extreme stress and a disrupted lifestyle in urban Indians. This presents good scope and opportunity for growth of these cognitive health drinks in the long term. The following chart represents reported incidences of Alzheimer's disease in India.
Market future outlook
The malted health beverages market is currently worth INR 2000 Crore with strong double digit growth rates. This segment is poised for wide expansion in terms of both product and infrastructure. The FMCG giants have now started to develop functional foods, which are not of conventional origin: for
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