India’s agro, dairy and poultry food production has grown multiple times than its population over the past few decades, paving the way for increased processing opportunities, said R S Sodhi, president, Indian Dairy Association.

“While the population has grown by 2.5 times, cereal production has grown by 2.8 times, fruits and vegetables by six times, dairy by 10 times, and poultry by 2.5 times,” said Sodhi, the former managing director of the dairy brand Amul speaking at the two-day India Food Forum conclave in its 16th edition.

This increase in primary output has led to an increase in regional and local brands and they are seen challenging national brands, according to experts at the forum. “Local regional brands are emerging. National brands are trying to be positioned now as regional brands,” said Sodhi.

Sodhi also pointed out that the Indian supply chain is extremely efficient, with margins and logistics being minimal compared to global standards, enabling more livelihood and nutrition for the farmer and consumer, respectively.

Earlier in the day, Kanaka Bhagwat, Retail Vertical Lead (FMCG), NielsonIQ, a consulting firm, also raised this point that local brands were driving growth in fast-growing super-categories and they continue to pace year-by-year, now constituting 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.

The rapid evolution of digitization in India, with around 25 crore UPI users and approximately 6 crore QR codes replacing POS machines, signifies a fundamental shift in income and consumption structure in the Indian food retail context, Bhagwat said, compared to APAC where the omni-shopper generation is evolving quickly, with small-format stores growing via tourism boost and market stabilization.