Street food vendors, roadside eateries and dhaba operators are increasingly turning to sell food online, as the new-age aggregators such as Zomato, Swiggy and UberEats distort the food sector, prompting unorganised vendors to catch up, says a report. Also driving the shift of the unorganised players to the organised sector is opening up of international food outlets, with the likes of Subway, McDonald’s, KFC, etc setting up shop in every nook and corner. With more than 65% of food vendors in India in the unorganised sector at present, the industry has been witnessing a shift towards organised sector which is “further fuelled by the foray of large global international brands into the organised foodservice sector,” says CARE Ratings in the report.
India has been a focal point for international food brands and has recorded a growth in foreign franchises in the past few years. From Dominos to Taco Bell and Dunkin Donuts, India has a majority of foreign food brands retailing here. Also, with the emergence of Swiggy, Zomato and UberEats, the unorganised sector is on the verge of a shift to the organised food industry, which is currently about one-third of the total food industry in India.
What is driving the growth of Indian food industry?
Internet penetration has touched many industries and food industry is no exception. This has helped online aggregators the most with them being able to reach a larger audience, owing to greater internet access. “With the increasing number of internet users in the country, the food industry in India has seen a sharp growth in demand,” CARE Ratings report said.
A number of other reasons have also impacted the Indian food industry significantly. This includes a growth in working population, average increase of GDP in the last five years and India being one of the forerunner economies in the world, rising disposable income among the masses, and growing use of plastic money.
Also, investments from major companies such as Ant Financial by Alibaba, L Catterton Asia, Nasper Ltd and China’s Tencent Holdings Ltd have driven the growth of this industry. Pegging the size of India’s food industry at Rs 5.5 lakh crore by 2022, the CARE Ratings report said that the industry will grow at 10.4% CAGR in the next five years.