Tell us about the size of nutraceutical market in India.
| Philipe Haydon |
According to a recent report by Frost and Sullivan, the nutraceuticals market in India is pegged at $1480 million in 2011, growing at CAGR of 13 per cent. It is expected to reach $2731 million by 2016. Of this, the nutritional and health supplements are the largest sub-category accounting for 64 per cent of the market.
What is the current market scenario and market trends in this segment?
Despite being a relatively ‘new’ product category, nutraceuticals have been growing at an exceptional pace. While majority of the growth is fuelled by dietary and weight loss supplements, pediatric health drinks are also gaining momentum.
Presently, pharmaceutical companies have a significant presence in the micronutrient, vitamins and minerals segment of the nutraceutical business. Especially in the pediatric segment, most of the products are cross-overs from pharmaceuticals, initially being promoted through doctors before going direct to consumers.
Why did you choose to focus on the nutraceutical market?
Ayurveda is about ‘wellness’ or staying healthy and nutraceuticals in effect focus on maintaining a state of good health. Hence, from our point it is quite a logical extension of the expertise that we currently possess.
We felt that we could apply our knowledge of Ayurveda to develop something truly unique. For example, during the development process of HiOwna-Jr, we drew on our vast knowledge of herbs widely known in Ayurveda for promoting child health.
HiOwna Jr is fortified with 13 essential vitamins and nine minerals. It also has Ragi (finger millet) that improves nutritive status, Maricha (black pepper), a bio-availability enhancer, Mandukaparni (centella), a cerebral activator, also known as ‘brain food’ in Ayurveda and Amalaki (Indian Gooseberry), an immunity enhancer and the richest source of Vitamin C in nature.
HiOwna-Jr also has the distinct advantage of being the only health supplement in India to contain pea-protein, a natural, vegetable, easy to digest protein, that has an essential amino acid profile very close to the ideal protein required for human nutrition, as recommended by the WHO and FAO. It also contains colostrum or ‘first milk’, which fortifies the immune system.
Why did you choose to launch this segment with HiOwna-Jr?
HiOwna-Jr is first in the series of prescription nutri-health products that we are planning to launch. HiOwna-Jr is the first that has been developed and hence, it is the first one that we have introduced in the market. (The company has a number of products in the pipeline which will be launched in the next two to three years. Main among them are products on pregnancy-lactation, weight management, meal replacement, diabetes, and women’s health. By the year end, it would introduce HiOwna-Sr)
Since this is a prescription product what would be your marketing strategy?
Like all pharmaceutical products by Himalaya, HiOwna-Jr will also be marketed solely through prescriptions. The marketing strategy involves training our medical representatives about the benefits of HiOwna-Jr. and through them, reaching out to a large number of pediatricians.
Himalaya already has a considerable equity with doctors and we enjoy their confidence of being a R&D driven company. While we do not have a fixed budget earmarked for this activity, around 650 medical representatives will be marketing the product to approximately 175,000 doctors across India. That’s around one fourth of our entire field staff.
What will be this new segment’s role in strengthening Himalaya’s pharmaceutical division?
HiOwna-Jr is our foray into the prescription nutri-health segment, which in itself has a lot of potential. We intend to launch a whole range of nutri-health products, which will further strengthen our pharma portfolio. Over the next two to three years, we intend to build the HiOwna brand into a Rs 100-crore business. Eventually, we will have a separate business vertical exclusively focused on nutritional and health products for children and people of different age groups addressing different conditions.
What will be your focus area in the nutraceutical segment?
Our focus will be on developing nutri-health products that offer clear therapeutic benefits. A health supplement for general health, convalescence, another for diabetes management and a fourth variant for pregnant/lactating women will be launched shortly.
What are the challenges faced by nutraceutical segment in India? How do you plan to work around it?
There is a fair amount of challenge in trying to convey the benefits of nutri-health products to patients. Therefore, it is vital that patients are prescribed these supplements by their doctors, who know their medical history and who are the key influencers. HiOwna-Jr and other products launched under the HiOwna banner will be routed only through doctors.