News: Indian organic products market set to be Rs 600 cr

(BS 31/10/2006) Chennai/Bangalore - With organic retail outlets mushrooming in tier I and tier II cities, the domestic organic products market currently estimated at Rs 100 crore is set to grow exponentially to Rs 600 crore in two to three years.

Addressing a press conference to announce ‘India Organic 2006’ fair here on Wednesday, Ramesh L Harve, president, International Competence Centre for Organic Agriculture (ICCOA), said the organic agri-business was prospering on the back of a surge in the economy across many sectors and more companies taking up retailing of organic products.

“About a year ago, except for FabIndia, not many players were in retailing of organic products. But now in the last one year, Sresta Natural Bioproducts from Hyderabad and FreshEarth in Bangalore entered the business and have begun to expand rapidly by opening more stores. With more players entering the business and many retail stores providing shelf space, the organic products sector is expected to touch Rs 600 crore in 2-3 years,” he added.

According to a survey by ICCOA, nearly four lakh farmers have embraced organic cultivation for which there is a Rs 1,500 crore market in India with 200 million people willing to spend Rs 300 every week on organic products.

The global market for organic food ingredients is $35 billion and is growing over 8 per cent a year.

To spruce up and improve the dometic market for organic produce, 'India Organic 2006' fair has been created as a platform to bring together growers, buyers and sellers to strike deals, share initiatives and exchange know-how in the organic space. The event is to be held over three days from November 10-12, said Manoj Menon, co-ordinator ICCOA.

At a similar event last year, over Rs 42 crore of business enquiries were generated over the four days of the event, he added.

The main highlight of this year's exposition will be the 'Organic Congress', a series of seminars addressed by experts and participation from north-eastern states which are unique in their agricultural bio-diversity. Farmers from north-eastern regions will exhibit various organic products along with farmers from Punjab, Gujarat Rajasthan and Karnataka.

Harve said the meet had also made efforts to involve consumers by holding an organic food fair.