India's pet food industry needs single nodal authority for better performance, says Royal Canin MD

The COVID-19 pandemic has majorly impacted the pet food industry in India leading to a steep gap between the supply and demand. But now the industry is regaining its pace and is growing at a healthy rate. Things are getting back to normal, and the pet food industry is coping well in providing access to quality nutrient-based food for pets. Firstpost spoke with Satinder Singh, General Manager (Managing Director) at Royal Canin, India about the Indian pet food industry and the effect of Covid-19 on the pet food industry. Edited excerpts: What effects did COVID-19 have on the pet food industry? How is Royal Canin facing the situation? Pet food industry witnessed a tailwind in the category due to a number of factors during COVID-19. Firstly, the number of pet adoptions, recorded a sharp increase as people were looking for companionship throughout the long months of seclusion during lockdowns, and realized pets are the best when it comes to companionship. During the initial phase of lockdowns, pet food was not listed in the “Essentials” category which led to a disruption in the supplies of pet food. We addressed this problem quickly by working with the government authorities to ensure pet food was included in the “Essentials” category. India is facing a pet food shortage right now. How is the pet food industry coping with providing access to quality nutrient-based food for pets? There was a huge supply and demand gap due to panic buying of pet food among pet parents. The pet food industry is unable to cater to the demand due to disruptions in the supply chain and poor logistic services. On the one side there were several factors driving demand for pet food including increasing pet ownership, rising per capita disposable income, and rising number of nuclear families, particularly in urban areas however on the other side there were some factors which led to a disruption in supply. A stringent regulatory framework on the import of pet food put restrictions on the sourcing of packaged food and raw material, particularly from geographies impacted by avian flu. It is common knowledge that there was an outbreak of avian flu in Europe for the most part of 2021. Shortage of containers for shipment of material impacted imports of pet food for most players in the industry. Non-availability of labour during Covid was another disrupting factor. What is the growth strategy of Royal Canin? At Royal Canin, we believe in our purpose of making the world a better place for cats and dogs. Pets’ health is of utmost importance to us, and we strive to ensure that we spread this knowledge to all our consumers and customers. We keep “Pet Health” at the forefront of everything we do in our Go-to-Market strategy. In line with our strategy, we are connected with a wide network of veterinarians through them we conduct various webinars and events for pet parents highlighting the various aspects of pet nutrition, pet health issues like infectious diseases in pets, and interpreting pet language and behaviours, etc. The company in association with several animal welfare organizations also arranges purposeful animal welfare drives on key issues for small animals across identified cities of India. What is your opinion on the lack of a consistent regulatory framework for animal health? The regulatory framework for pet food with similar approach as human food is required to unlock the huge potential of pet food industry. The current challenges prevailing in the industry such as highly ambiguous regulatory environment, isolated government policies focusing on livestock and animal feed (cattle feed) specifically, absence of uniform regulatory framework, higher taxation on pet food, absence of single nodal authority and low awareness among pet owners, society and fraternity. The government is focused on Make in India but despite that 60-70 per cent pet food industry is still dependent on imports. We need to bring all the stakeholders together to create a conducive environment for growth of this industry. Pet food industry is not heard by many, what kind of challenges you face and how do you deal with it? India has 30 million cats and dogs as pets and about 60 million stray animals. There are many issues starting from basic knowledge to keep the pet, underdeveloped infrastructure and lack of quality services to keep a pet. Low awareness on the benefits of nutrition as the overall calorie conversion is very low at 5 per cent and affordability to get best nutrition and vet services is a concern for a large population. This means that even today pets are fed with home food predominantly. On the supply side high import duties for imported products, shortages of quality ingredients for local manufactures and overall high taxation and the complex regulatory environment makes it challenging. India has a lot of potential and the focus should be on building the foundation right by educating pet parents, elevating the vet and breeder industry, improving the physical reach of our products and build a stronger supply chain for long term. Read all the Latest News , Trending News ,  Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.