Nutraceutical industry: Analysing the scale, scope and price point in the Indian context

Abstract

India, one of the world’s fastest-growing large economy, with its large population, faces challenges to ensure not only adequate food supply to all its 1.25 billion residents but also meet required nutritional levels. Changing lifestyle, increasing urbanization coupled with high levels of malnutrition and other nutritional deficiency means that nutraceuticals and health supplements will have an increased role in the Indian market. India’s public health sector alone is not in a position to serve the growing healthcare demands of the country. Private healthcare often charges exorbitant amounts for their service. This often leaves patients and their families impoverished. India’s health indicators compared to both countries with comparable per capita incomes and those who have less per capita income than India indicate the work that still needs to be done to improve healthcare delivery in India. Public-Private partnerships (PPPs) in healthcare, though a viable option, have not been very successful in India. We see the nutraceutical industry, though nascent, complementing our healthcare system. Through this paper, we aim to check whether the nutraceutical industry has the scale, price, and scope to serve the unmet and under met needs