Can organic drive penetration of packaged baby food in India?

According to Mintel Market Sizes, India has the lowest per capita consumption of baby food despite a high infant base (as low as 29 grams). So what is the reason for this wide gap in consumption of packaged baby food and number of infants to eat them? The reason, in fact, is two fold. Firstly, there is a well-established culture of feeding babies with freshly cooked food, prepared at home. This combines with a lack of product advertisements, due to stringent legislations in India.

However, with changing family dynamics and young urban mothers looking out for convenience, the demand for affordable packaged baby food will grow.

Indeed, despite the low penetration of packaged baby food in India, we are seeing companies capitalising on the organic trend that has taken over other food categories, in the baby food market.

Pristine Balance Kids Vanilla Flavoured Nutritional Supplement is described as an alpha to omega nutrition for growing children aged from two years onwards. This supplement is made with organic ingredients and is enriched with omega 3, 6 and DHA. It can be consumed twice a day by mixing three heaped table spoon of this supplement with 150ml of water or milk.

British Life Sciences Mum’s Care Rice and Moong Dal Organic Baby Cereal (Rice and Green Gram Organic Baby Cereal) is made from organically grown ingredients, free from toxic chemical residues of pesticides, herbicides, artificial preservatives, additives, artificial flavours and genetically modified ingredients. It is specially formulated to provide essential and balanced nutrition with the right vitamins and minerals for a child’s physical and mental growth.

According to Mintel’s Global New Products Database (GNPD), 33% of the new product launches in the baby food category in India in 2014, had organic claims associated with them. The increasing development of organic baby products, in response to demand, suggests that this could be a growing opportunity, provided that the quality of organically sourced ingredients can be assured.