Yakult sees India becoming one of its top 10 global markets in future

Japanese probiotic fermented milk major Yakult is betting on the potential of India, which it believes could break into its top ten global markets in the future, driven by a growing middle class, a senior company official said on Thursday.

The company, which operates in India as a 50:50 joint venture between Yakult Honsha, Japan, and Groupe Danone, France -- two global probiotic leaders, is seeking to expand in the mass segment and has roped in Bollywood Actor Taapsee Pannu, as its new brand ambassador.

"The growth (expectation in India) is double-digit growth for this year and the next year also," Yakult Danone India Pvt Ltd Managing Director Eiji Amano told PTI here.

On the road ahead for the company in India, he said the target would be to achieve double-digit growth every year until 2030, reflecting the growing demand for probiotics and the confidence it has in the Indian market.

After the COVID-19 pandemic, Yakult has witnessed accelerated growth, he said, adding that the introduction of new flavours such as mango and less sugar variant in the portfolio helped in expanding the consumer base in India.

Yakult Danone India JV was formed in 2005 and probiotic fermented milk drink Yakult was launched in India in 2008. Later in 2018, Yakult Light, a reduced sugar version of Yakult, with vitamin D and E was launched.

When asked about the potential of the Indian market, Amano said, "It is big", considering how India's economic growth has progressed and the middle-class base has been expanding.

He said the company's consumers in India have been mainly from the upper and mid middle class and it is now looking at a wider mass segment.

India, being a relatively new country for Yakult compared to other countries where it has been present for 50-60 years, has sales volumes that are still small in comparison.

"We are only 17 years old in India. So now it's in the process to reach there (the scale of other countries), but still the potential is very big in India...We are present in 40 countries in the world. Among the 40 countries, India is ranked in the middle," he said but declined to share the company's revenue and sales volumes.

When asked if India has the potential to be among the top ten markets, he said, "We hope so but other countries are also growing, but it can as it has a huge potential."  Yakult's top four global markets are Japan, China, Indonesia and Mexico.

Amano, however, declined to put a timeline to achieve such a feat but said the company is also rapidly expanding its footprint across India to boost volumes and is available in nearly 700 cities nationwide at present.

The roping in of Pannu as brand ambassador will also help in further spreading the awareness of "Yakult probiotic drink containing over 6.5 billion beneficial bacteria", Amano said, adding the company is "going to invest a lot in TV commercials and marketing, to accelerate sales".