The Covid-19 pandemic has brought the spotlight not only on public hygiene and safety, but also on diet and nutrition, particularly with the focus on building immunity. Locked up at homes, Indians in metros and Tier 1 and 2 cities jumped onto the health food and health supplement bandwagon to ward off the Covid-19 impact on health.
The rise of the consumer internet, growing social media penetration and vernacular content platforms have broadened the healthcare horizon for the typical Indian, particularly in the urban regions. More Indians are conscious about their health and nutrition than ever before, as pointed out in the latest DataLabs by Inc42+ report on the healthtech sector.
The report found that modern-day urban lifestyles have led to a rising incidence of life-threatening diseases like cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, cancer and diabetes. The number of cases has grown for diabetes (3.18%), cardiovascular diseases (47.94%), hypertension (10.51%), stroke (46.24%) and common cancers (324.18%) from 2017 to 2018, as per NCD data. This has led to a boom for preventive health and wellness solutions, which includes the health supplement and ayurvedic products.
Indian Startups Rise Up To The Health & Wellness Opportunity
The number of health-conscious individuals (HCI) in India was 90 Mn in 2018 and expect to grow by 1.4 times to reach 130 Mn by 2022 according to a Redseer report. This has fuelled the growth achieved by health products startups such as AADAR, Epigamia, 23BMI, Namhya Foods, Storia and others in recent months. And this growth has been highest for immunity booster foods and products. The demand also trickled down to Indian startups offering wellness products ranging from healthy snacks, immunity shots and ayurvedic pills.
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For instance, DSG Consumer Partners-backed Epigamia noticed a considerable spike in demand. Talking to Inc42, Epigamia cofounder and CEO Rohan Mirchandani said that consumers are also looking for immunity-boosting, natural and preservative-free products.
“We had an innovation pipeline of products focussed on probiotics and we are fast-tracking the same. The same will be added to the range or probiotic curd that we currently sell. We are focussed on disrupting the “fresh” snacking in the packaged consumer goods space,” Mirchandani added.
Wellness products make 23BMI primarily focusses on weight management and related concerns through subscription-based offerings. Cofounder and CEO Kuonal Lakhapati said that after Covid-19, 23BMI has observed a spike in revenue by 54% month-on-month with a 150% increase in monthly inquiries. Combined with this, the company said that it recorded a 42% increase in sales in FY20 as compared to FY19.
Its proprietary meal replacement products that claim to enable a balanced intake of protein, carbohydrates, fibre, essential vitamins and minerals. “Post Covid-19, as the demand spiked, an increase in the volume aided reduction in the production cost of meal replacement products. 23BMI is working on its mobile application to offer a wide range of freebies and information to motivate people towards adopting healthier habits,” Lakhapati said.
Similarly, healthy products brand Auric said it was able to sell close to 100K bottles of its immunity-centric product in June, nearly double of what it sold in January. Auric founder Deepak Agarwal told us that Auric Body Defence which is a strong immunity blend of ashwagandha, moringa and other herbs became a bestseller during the lockdown and continues to sell well now. In sharp contrast, before the pandemic, it was the company’s Auric Skin Radiance beauty product that was selling well, Agarwal said.
Namhya foods, which launched its health drinks in December last year, has seen sales growth of 62% in June as compared to January-February period.
Source: inc42
