Smart protein market could reach $4.2 billion by 2030: Deloitte study

Experts at a Summit on the subject said India has crop diversity, a competitive talent pool, and hundreds of people working on an opportunity that can create several jobs across the value chain

A study by Deloitte India, unveiled at the 'Smart Protein Summit 2022', said that the country's smart protein market (domestic and exports) could reach a size of Rs 33,194 crore, or $4.2 billion, in a high growth scenario by the year 2030.

Focusing on the immense opportunity, leading entrepreneurs and investors emphasised the importance of building high-fidelity smart protein products -- plant-based or cultivated meats that look, cook, taste, and sizzle like conventional animal-derived protein. 

Building on this, Varun Desphande, President, Good Food Institute India, which organised the summit, emphasised the need to become Atma Nirbhar in smart proteins. He added that the country has crop diversity, a globally competitive talent pool, and hundreds of people working on an opportunity that can create immense job opportunities across the value chain.

“GFI India and Deloitte India’s modelling shows the total number of jobs created by the smart protein industry in 2030 range from 151,025 in a low growth scenario to 427,985 jobs in a high growth scenario," Deshpande added.

The Summit was supported by the Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI), The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (Apeda), and the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI)'s Eat Right India initiative.

Given the World Health Organization’s warning about the post-antibiotic era and antimicrobial resistance, FICCI Advisor and former Secretary, MoFPI, Siraj Hussain, said, “Smart protein may be a new concept, but it is a sector with immense global potential. There’s an enormous opportunity for the sector to create linkages with Indian farmers and ensure protein supply from local producers.” 

While the industry is still a sunrise sector in India, Anand Nagarajan, Co-Founder, Shaka Harry, a smart protein startup, said technology stocks have lost 40 per cent of their valuations this year, but nobody said the internet is dead.

“We need to be bold and break out into the mainstream,” he said.

In a similar vein, Dr Ravishankar C N, Director, ICAR-Central Institute of Fisheries Education in his keynote address, said that cultivated meat is a future food technology that can serve as a viable alternative to animal-derived protein. 

“Land is shrinking. Resources are limited,” he said.

Highlighting the urgency of transitioning to more sustainable sources of proteins, Ravishankar also touched upon the regulatory pathways that need to be created for new food tech innovations.

Students in collaboration with GFI India set up the ‘Delhi University Smart Protein Project’, a chapter of the global Alt Protein Project, dedicated to turning universities into engines for smart protein education, research, and innovation.

Introducing the project, Devika Suresh, Innovation Associate, GFI India said, “Indian talent powers the global smart protein sector just as it does other strategically important industries.”

The dignitaries discussed opportunities for bilateral and multilateral partnerships within the smart protein ecosystem and how smart protein hubs like Canada, Israel, and the Netherlands can work with India for mutual gains in this sector. 

Speaking to these complementary advantages, High Commissioner of Canada to India, Cameron MacKay, said “Canada has technology around preventing post-harvest loss that Indian farmers could use, and in the same way, we can learn from Indian traditional knowledge and how farmers in India deal with climatic conditions.”

Deshpande said at the closing closing ceremony, “I firmly believe that what we do about meat, will be the principal challenge of our lifetimes. Over the last five years, we’ve talked about the promise of this sector.” 

What has changed since then is the fact that 50 plus companies have launched their smart protein products in markets across India, he added.

Aiming to build partnerships and propel the sector forward, Good Food Institute India (GFI India), a convening body in the ‘smart protein’ sector, organised a two-day 'Smart Protein Summit 2022' that had more than 500 participants and over 80 speakers.

The Summit hosted roundtables and sessions on building a talent pool, with heads of universities such as NIFTEM, Gujarat Biotechnology University, TransDisciplinary University (TDU), and skilling bodies such as the Food Industry Capacity & Skill Initiative (FICSI) coming together to deliberate on how to bridge the gap between industry and academia.