India’s future looks sweet without sugar

Have you observed the increase in ads for artificial sweeteners and sugar free products in the recent past endorsed by celebrities and celebrity chefs?  It was about 9 years back when I first saw sugar free Coke and Pepsi in the US, I could not comprehend the fact: why these medicine like tasting sodas and other sugar free products have so much shelf space.

But it appears that India is heading to be a huge market story for sugar substitutes and sugarless products. India’s love for sweets is as popular as its love for Gold! and in a report WHO has termed India would become the diabetes capital by 2050 with growing diabetics from 41 million now to an estimated 80 million by 2030. Alarmingly high juvenile diabetics of over 1 million people would have to live sugarless future. Urban population becoming health conscious due to their vulnerability for lifestyle diseases compounds the market demand.  

Presently the Indian market is at nascent stage with two brands; Sugar free and Sugar free Natura controlling over 80% of market has seen significant new entrants in recent months. Apart from being in the infancy stage this market also poses challenges, like the high price of tabletop sugar substitutes, educating the semi-urban, rural population to introduce the concept of artificial sugar, and most importantly the growing popularity of Stevia. Stevia is the plant whose leaf extract is termed 300% sweeter than natural sugar is gaining popularity worldwide. Stevia in India is already popular in the unorganized sector for its medicinal value also.

With MNC food and confectionery companies flooding the Indian market and health conscious customers, the alternate sugar market is here to stay.