Flavours market in India has blossomed in the last 5-10 years and is forecasted to grow at a much higher rate in the coming years (2020-2025). The man-made food flavours are playing a major role when it comes to the acceptability of the foods, beverages, confectionery, medicine, oral hygiene, etc. products. The processed food market seems to be driving this growth and is one of the largest in terms of production and consumption. The diverse culture of India with a huge variety of food and eating habits with evergreen demand for spices and herbs provides the right kind of environment for the flavour industry.
Indian food flavour market is segmented into different types of flavours; natural flavouring agents, nature-identical flavouring agents, artificial flavouring agents and synthetic flavouring agents. These flavour enhancers are being used by end-users for dairy, bakery, beverages, confectionery, processed food products.
These flavouring agents as food additives successfully modify the taste of the product leading to acceptance by the consumers and in return increasing revenues for the manufacturers.
Indian flavour market is highly fragmented, consisting of large multinational companies like International Flavors and Fragrances India, Symrise, Givaudan (India), etc., and homegrown flavour manufacturing companies like Keva Flavours, Flavorama, Indfrag Biosciences, Asian Flavours, etc. and many small to medium flavours manufacturers.
Food flavours, like garlic powder, ginger, coriander, etc. have a huge demand from the Indian kitchens. Plus, Indian food cuisine has always had huge applications of herbs and spices like asafoetida, chillies, cinnamon, etc. which are natural flavour enhancers. The rise in the middle class due to the working population is fueling the demand for processed and ready-to-eat food products, which at the same time is resulting in a surge in demand for new and enhanced flavours. Processed foods like instant noodles, chips, biscuits, etc. are really pushing hard the flavour manufacturers to come up with innovative and interesting flavours.
Due to higher disposable income, Indian consumers are now willing to experiment with non-essential and sophisticated food products, such as dark and chilli chocolates. Also due to strict regulations for organic and herbal food flavours, combined with rising awareness for healthy products, manufacturers are now more focused on the production of natural flavours and enhancers.
This rise in demand has led to increased competition with the entry of leading international flavour companies eyeing for lion’s share from the local flavour and extract manufacturers. Manufacturers are now focused on leveraging opportunities to boost their revenues by means of manufacturing innovative flavours. Big players (Givaudan, Firmenich SA, etc.) have already embarked on mergers & acquisitions as their key strategy to achieve consolidation and maximise their offerings.
Increasing demand with significant technology advancements, improved supply chain and positive outlook has boosted the Indian flavour industry. This surge in the flavour industry is expected to continue with a CAGR of around 5.1% during 2020-2025 reaching a value of US$ 40.6 Billion by 2025 as per IMARC.
