Veganism goes strength to strength in India 2021: Year in review

06 January 2021

As the world witnesses a constant shift to a plant-based lifestyle, it is no wonder to see India – the land of ahimsa – leading growth of the Vegan movement across its geographic, demographic, cultural, and economic sections. Adoption of Veganism saw such an acceleration during 2021 that a recent survey published in mainstream newspapers estimated a whopping 5 million (50 lakh) Indians identifying themselves as being Vegan. That is the same as the population of all of Ireland (show photo).

Here is a quick recap of exciting Vegan events of 2021 –

VEGANUARY 2021 

60,000 Indians not only took their country in the top 10 list of Veganuary sign-ups for the first time but also jumped directly to third spot pushing Germany down to fourth. Of the top 15 cities globally 6 were from India. (can show the list while you speak – Bengaluru, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Pune, Chennai & New Delhi)

FSSAI TAKES VEGANISM SERIOUSLY 

Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) a statutory body of Govt. of India recently launched the Vegan logo to help consumers identify Vegan foods (flash the logo). We are proud to say that our founder Palak Mehta played a key role in defining the standards and designing the logo for fssai (flash her photo?)

VEGAN INDIA CONFERENCE 

Vegan India conference conducted in summer of 2021 saw 3 times participation from Industry experts. 56 speakers took the crowd through diverse topics and unique insights into the world of Veganism. Pandemic obstacles were no match to the passion of organizers responding to an ever-growing interest in all aspects of Veganism from food to fashion and beyond.  

KHANS SUPPORT DESHMUKH’S IMAGINE MEATS 

2021 saw an increasing number of startups working on alt-meat, alt-milk, alt-eggs, etc. One such highlight was when the Khan kings (show photos of Salman & Shahrukh) promoted Ritesh Deshmukh’s plant-based Imagine meats. Ritesh and Genelia went on to announce their transition to Veganism publicly. John Abraham joined the party later in the year declaring his willingness to go from being Vegetarian to Vegan.

BOOM OF VEGAN STARTUPS

Vegan or plant-based alternatives startups boomed at an exponential rate in 2021. Plant-Based food processing company Good Mylk raised 3 crores. Kalaari Capital invests in plant-based eCommerce platform KindLife, with special attendance of Snapdeal co-founder Rohit Bansal. Olympic gold medalist Neeraj chopra appointed as the new brand ambassador of meat alternative company Good Dot

INDIAN ATHLETES JOIN THE VEGAN RUN

Serena Williams, Lewis Hamilton, Novak Djokovic … and the list of vegan athletes can go on forever.  Our own vegan basketball champion Aravind Krishna showed that Indians are not behind here too as he debunked the protein myths back home.

VEGANISM GOES POLITICAL

You know something has gone mainstream when the lawmakers of the country take note of it. On June 5th for World Environment Day, several MPs across party lines pledged to eat plant-based food as part of PETA India’s campaign led by Hon. MP Srmt. Maneka Gandhi. Veganism as a foundation of animal rights got another feather in its cap as we also saw the first program of M.A. in Animal Protection laws launched this year. 

INDIAN FMCG GIANT ENTERS PLANT-BASED MEAT SECTOR

It is not just startups but established brands are also rushing to come up with plant-based alternatives. ITC announced the launch of plant-based meats and vegan meals in India. Following the footsteps of global brands like Nestle, Unilever, Kellogg’s, and Cargill the Indian conglomerate is the first mainstream consumer company to enter this segment in the country and plans to target plant protein products for non-vegetarians seeking ethical alternatives.

GOING FORWARD 

India’s diverse, large, and relatively young population makes it an ideal ground for veganism to thrive on. All the developments can only point to one conclusion and that is Veganism has only one way to go in India and that is up and above.