Now, Nestle India finds a sweet spot in elderly Indians
NEWDELHI: After ensuring its dominance in the baby food segment and making Maggi instant noodles a favourite staple for the young generation, the local arm of Swiss packaged food company Nestle SA has set its eyes on elderly Indians. In the next two quarters, Nestle India Ltd will introduce healthcare products suitable for nutritional needs of the ageing population, chairman and managing director Suresh Narayanan said here on Monday.
At present, about 60% of Nestle India’s revenue comes from the younger population (aged below 40 years) and most of the rest from the infants and children. The company, which already dominates the baby food market with a 63% market share in value terms (according to Euromonitor International) with Lactogen, Cerelac, Nan, Nestum and Nestogen, will continue to enhance its portfolio in the infant nutrition category.
On Monday, it relaunched malt-based health drink Milo, a product it withdrew from Indian market about 10 years ago. Interestingly, Nestle relaunched Milo in ready-to drink format and not the powdered form popular in India. “We would build healthcare as a category with products that take care of health-related issues, such as diabetes. Nutrition and fortification are other key areas,” Narayanan added.
Globally, Nestle has a strong presence in healthcare. Its Boost, Nutren and Resource are sold as products for the ageing population to address nutritional needs and age-related diseases like diabetes and post-cancer treatment. Products like Impact and Peptamen are for critical care needs, Optifast is sold as a product that helps in fighting obesity.
“The products we are evaluating to bring will be sold through hospitals, and some will be sold as prescription items. We will also start importing special nutritional products that address needs of the ‘inborn errors of metabolism’ among children which the regulator (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India) has allowed in August last year,” said Narayanan.
“It’s not about the next 5 or 10 years, which we can and will address. We need to be ready for the next 100 years.”