Indian Pet Food Market: Its Demand, Covid Impact, Current Situation

Everyone loves to have a pet at their home, and having a pet means taking care of its food. Therefore it needs one to know about the pet food market of the country too. The Indian pet food market is projected to enlist a CAGR of 4.7 per cent during the conjecture time frame (2022-2027).

Kartik Gupta, Co Founder of Goofy Tails, a nutrition focussed pet products company said, "The biggest trend is the paradigm shift from pet ownership to pet parenting. Pets are now family and no longer guard dogs and leashed animals. Many pet parents often treat their pets like kids and have minimal restrictions around the house. Pet parents are no longer just feeding milk-roti/bread but are more aware of what their pets need and strive for the best- health, shiny coat, tick-free.

While pets are allowed some human food, their dietary requirements tend to be different from ours. This paved the way for the pet food industry in India. The segment has seen steady growth in recent years. According to a Mordor Intelligence report, pet food accounts for half of India's total pet care industry worth a whopping Rs 8,000 crore annually."

Demand of Pet Food

The expansion in pet food market can likewise be ascribed to that of pet ownership itself - which saw an increase after the covid-prompted lockdown in 2020. People who pick to keep pets, additionally have more per capita extra income.

"The pet food category, valued at Rs 4,000 crore in 2021, has seen an annual growth rate of 30-35 per cent over the past two years. The market grew by 16 per cent in 2019 and by more than 20 percent in the pandemic year of 2020. In 2021, it grew by around 30 per cent. The nutritional requirements of pets vary from breed to breed and also depend on the age of the dog, whether it is a puppy, an adult dog or a senior dog", Gupta said.

While in 2021, there was shortage in pet foods and government urged the industry to boost production using central schemes.

Impact of Pandemic

The Covid-19 pandemic has significantly affected the pet food market in India. Because of the wide spread of rumors on pets' immunity to disease, certain individuals began forsaking their pets, driving the pet food industry to start awareness missions to disperse such misinformation. This also led to increase in pet adoptions.

There were an immense demand and supply distance in the market because of panic purchasing of pet food among pet guardians, which the pet food industry couldn't take care of because of disturbances in the supply chain and poor logistic administrations. But also, the market has seen some positive impact due to pandemic.

As per Gupta, "With the pandemic pet adoption rates have zoomed to new levels. Dogs and Cats’ adoption percentage was as high as 40 per cent. Although it dropped again as people have started to socialise and meet humans, during peak covid times, pets were the only savior to sanity for humans locked down in their high-rise buildings. The Indian stray dog is one of the most popular breeds to be adopted in the last few years."

Current market situation

As of now, India doesn't have many pet food manufacturing business as it isn't considered as a productive one. Hence the government is ready to help the organisations profiting them under current central plans. This would assist pet industry in developing at a quicker rate.

In 2021 when the pet food market witnessed a shortage in pet foods, that was because many products that was imported was stopped due to pandemic.

Gupta said, "Earlier, pet food like treats were manufactured in another country and imported to India. The breeding industry and parents were heavily dependent on China, Thailand and Indonesia as source countries for imports, but this has now changed. Many brands are switching to 'Made in India' and 'Homemade' like Goofy Tails which has pet food segment i.e Goofy Tails Fresh Food. Goofy Fresh Food has a range of meals, meal toppers, and bone broth."

"The biggest challenge people face when navigating the pet food market is information. Sources of information include the Internet, veterinarians, pet store owners, and other pet parents. But it can be confusing for first-time parents — who make up roughly 60 per cent of all pet owners in India", he added.