Inter FoodTech Conclave, organized by Inter FoodTech and supported by the Plant-Based Foods Industry Association and ValueSmart as its knowledge partner, took place on 9 June at Bombay Exhibition Center, Mumbai.

It brought together leading food processing industry experts to discuss the prospects of different areas of food technology and its current growth opportunities in the country, including trends and upcoming challenges.

The first day of the conclave was kick-started on the promising theme of Plant-Based Proteins: Opportunity to Lead the World. In a follow-up to the recently released position paper by the Plant Based Foods Industry Association ( PBFIA), The Dawn of a Plant-Based Age, Future Market Insights teamed up with PBFIA to bring to the world a much-needed report on the plant-based foods market namely, Plant-Based Revolution: Growth Opportunities and Winning Strategies in the Global and Indian Plant-Based Market. The report was launched by Sanjay Sethi, executive director of PBFIA, at the beginning of the session.

The report highlighted some crucial insights into the plant-based market. Some of the take-away ways include:

Sethi led the session and commented on the report saying, “India, home to hundreds of pulses, millets, and cereals, can become a globally leading supplier of plant protein ingredients and thus tapping into this growing market opportunity, benefiting the farmers, manufacturers and the traders. Innovation being the key to success in the ingredients marketplace, the Indian start-ups, with the help of the Plant-Based Foods Industry Association (PBFIA), can acquire handholding support in research to improve the overall quality of their products and ensure the long-term sustainability of other businesses.”

He added “Raw material sourcing is one of the major challenges to the industry, but to tackle the same PBFIA offers support to its members to ensure the robustness of supply chain and also carries out conducive government conversations for the benefit of the entire industry. We are dedicated to establishing India’s position on the plant-proteins world map.”

Nandini Roy Chaudhary, client partner F&B, Future Market Insights shared her views, she said, “We in Future Market Insights have been tracking plant-based meat globally and in India for a decade. We need to understand what our target audience is. We understand a very new concept of flexitarian. In India, targeting a flexitarian economy will be different. Investors are trying various investment opportunities in the industries and now is the perfect time when investors must move away from the processed food industry. Along with that, brands need to scale up their production rather than just working on gaining the vacuum. Every single step of the market functions in the plant-based based foods sector shall be conveyed to the consumers because trust and transparency are the keys. To provide a substitute for products like milk we must have a strategy to discuss the traditional benefits of the substitute content. Companies need to understand what consumers are eating and how they are eating. Assam Government is also helping the millet processors. India is great strength in millet, and the country should focus on this. Factors like Government initiative, Market developments, Policies and research and development shall align on the same wheel.”

There was a lot of interest from the industry to collaborate and an amazing line-up of the expert panel that comprised Ajith Dharan, head of Consumer Foods-South Asia, Buhler India, Nandhini Roy Choudhury, client partner F&B, Future Market Insights, Sohil Wazir, CCO, BlueTribe Foods, Palak Mehta, founder, Vegan First, Manish Antwal, co-founder & Group Director, Triple Pee Solutions, Devika Suresh, innovation associate, Good Food Institute India and B P Rao, senior director, GEA India.

The event presented ideal opportunities for food start-ups, MSME enterprises, leading national food manufacturers and MNCs of the F&B industry to network with numerous connections. The event witnessed many start-up participation from the plant-based foods industry with their samples on the go. The conclave had speakers from across the industry sharing various insights on developing the plant-based foods industry in India.