Rutaksha Rawat is a famous Indian Journalist and working for many years. It’s currently living in Bangalore India, if you are interest to meet, you can also contact this without any hesitation.

1. Markets
Pet industry factors
driving growth
India’s economic growth, growing empathy towards pets and
rapid urbanisation are driving the industry forward.
The Indian pet industry has
come a long way in the past
decade in terms of market value,
customer service, and organisa-tion.
What was once only a motley
crew of shopkeepers selling sham-poos
and biscuits has now
evolved into an $800-million-plus
industry and comprises large
multi­nationals,
as well as do-mestic
players. Industry veterans
believe this is just the beginning,
and that the spurt in pet owner-ship
and growing interest in pets,
especially dogs, mean the pro-gress
witnessed up to now is only
the tip of an unexploited iceberg.
“I peg the market potential of the
Indian pet industry at $1.5 bn,”
says Rana Atheya, founder of
DogSpot.in, a portal for dog lovers.
Continuing its growth trend,
the Indian pet industry is expected
to continue to register strong
double-digit retail value growth
in 2013. This growth will be driven
by several factors: the increase
in pet ownership, rising dispos-able
income, higher awareness
of the dietary needs of pets and
the benefits of pet food, and most
importantly, a change in percep-tion
towards pets.
Increased pet ownership
As India continues to evolve
in all spheres, more people are
considering and opting for pet
ownership. According to the in-ternational
strategy research firm
Euromonitor International, the pet
population in India (including all
species) in 2006 was approxi-mately
7 mio. This figure grew to
10 mio by 2011. Although a
meagre number when viewed in
relation to the aggregate human
population of India (1.2 bn), these
figures demonstrate the vast un-tapped
market that lies herein.
Although there are no studies pro-viding
definitive numbers re-garding
the number of pet adop-tions
per year, going by Euromon-itor’s
figures, 600 000 pets are
adopted every year on average.
Pet ownership is expected to in-crease
at a faster rate in years to
come due to a host of reasons
— increased instances of delayed
parenthood, changed perception
towards pets and increased
buying power, amongst others.
“Currently, the human to pet
ratios are terribly skewed in India.
As awareness about pets spreads
and more people see their friends,
relatives and neighbours getting
pets, they too will consider pet
ownership. The next six years will
see the rate of ownership rise ex-ponentially
due to the host of
awareness initiatives being taken
by the industry. I expect there to
be at least one pet per five homes
in 15 years’ time,” says Sanjay
Jaiswal, general manager of pet
care at Provimi Animal Nutrition
India Pvt Ltd.
Rising disposable income
Rising disposable income is a
huge contributory growth factor
for the pet industry in India. In its
revised 2007 figures, based on
increased and sustaining growth,
and more inflows into foreign direct
investment, Goldman Sachs pre-dicted
that “from 2007 to 2020,
India’s gross domestic product
(GDP) per capita in $ terms will
quadruple”, and that the Indian
economy will surpass the United
A large number of pet owners are
shifting from homemade food to
prepared food as their spending
power increases.
Photo: Sudhir Sharma
20 PET worldwide 1|2013

2. States (in $) by 2043. According
to official estimates, the Indian
economy grew at 7.6 per cent (+/-
0.25 per cent) in the fiscal year
2012–2013. Furthermore, Eu-romonitor
statistics report the an-nual
disposable income of Indians
to be $1,6 mio in 2012, a consider-able
increment from the $1,1 mio
in 2008.
Pet care registered an approx-imate
growth of 24 per cent in
current value terms in 2012. The
growing affluence in urban areas
has boosted consumer confidence
and driven more consumption in
many areas, including pet care.
As disposable income increases,
consumers are more likely to trade
up to premium pet care products
and specialised products. There
is also a large base of pet owners
who are gradually shifting from
homemade food to prepared food
as their spending power increases.
Growing disposable income is also
driving sales of non-food pet prod-ucts,
with pet healthcare and pet
dietary supplements experiencing
strong growth. Pet owners are
more willing to increase spending
on their pets, not only to meet their
basic needs, but also for their
health and wellbeing.
The short term outlook for the
economy has become uncertain
due to the debt crisis in Europe and
signs of global economic slow-down.
However, over the long term,
the Indian economy is expected
to benefit from growth drivers in
Asia. Thus, disposable incomes
are expected to rise further. This
will enable more consumers to own
pets as well as prompting in-creased
expenditure on pet care
among existing pet owners.
The national and international
media’s positive portrayal of pets
has had a huge impact on the
public perception of the latter.
Whereas pets were literally seen
as nonentities in the country ear-lier,
there is now a growing interest
in them. Even those that cannot own
pets for certain reasons are aware
of the popular breeds in the country
and the rudiments of pet care.
Conventional media coverage,
along with the advent of social
media, has spawned thousands
of platforms that propagate the
benefits of keeping pets and the
joys of pet ownership. Pet lovers
and animal welfare workers have
also taken aggressively to blog-ging
and social media propa-ganda
about pets, further pro-jecting
them as having positive
attributes. With more people
turning to digital platforms as
sources of information, they are
exposed to the positive content
posted about pets, leading to val-idation
of affection for pets in ex-isting
pet lovers and the arousal
of curiosity and fondness in non-pet
owners.
News coverage reporting in-stances
of animal heroism, people
willing entire estates to their pets,
surveys proving that pets are pos-itive
influences on children and
adults alike etc. have gained pets
respect and admiration amongst
Indians. Local television shows,
such as NDTV Good Times’
“Heavy Petting”, further supple-ment
positive media attention for
pets. Local animal welfare organ-isations
further aid the humanisa-tion
of pets, sensitising the public
to their needs and emotions. News
coverage of international and na-tional
celebrities expressing their
devotion to their pets has also been
noticed by the Indian populace.
Amongst the rave reviews of
pet keeping and empathy in the
media to the plight of stray ani-mals,
the nominal instances of
animal aggression (mostly by
stray dogs) get lost in the sea of
positive coverage and the cases
that are reported blame local
civic bodies for not controlling
the situation, and not the animals
themselves, who are depicted as
victims.
Young couples without children are
increasingly adopting pets.
Rana Atheya, founder of DogSpot,
a portal for dog lovers.
Dogs are the most popular pet species in India.
PET worldwide 1|2013 21

3. Markets
Humanisation of pets
Owing to the general atmos-phere
of sensitisation towards
pets in the country, more Indian
consumers have come to regard
them as thinking, feeling, human-like
members of the family and
pet owners no longer mind
spending on what they perceive
as necessary or beneficial for their
pets, be it pet food, treats, toys,
medicines, resort stays or air fare.
In particular, urban consumers
have begun to humanise their pets
to a great extent and want to buy
them alternatives of what they buy
for themselves in every category.
As non-pet owners meet each
other and interact with pet-owning
families, they become aware of
how pets are treated and learn
the norms of pet care. Pet birth-days
are celebrated and acquaint-ances
ask not only after children
but also after family pets. The
trend of humanising pets is ex-pected
to spread further, with pet
owners becoming more interested
in understanding their pets and
meeting their needs, including
their dietary habits, nutritional and
entertainment needs.
Delayed parenthood is a much
underestimated but potent con-tributory
factor to the growth of
the industry. Every year, hundreds
of young married couples without
children adopt pets as a means
to simulating family life before
they have children. These couples,
mostly in their early to mid-30s,
typically tend to be from major
cities and fall in the middle to
upper middle class segment.
The fact that the conventional
Indian joint family system is fast
becoming defunct, especially in
metropolitan cities, is also in-creasing
pet ownership amongst
couples without children, as many
of them miss the hustle bustle of
family life. Nuclear families also give
young couples the freedom to do
as they please without hurting the
sentiments of an elder, who may
not like or tolerate pets.

Key trends in India
Dogs are the most popular pet species in India, followed by cats.
In 2013, the canine population is set to remain over nine times that
of cats and 14 times that of other pets. In terms of pet ownership,
4 per cent of Indian households owned dogs in 2011, compared to
0.3 per cent for cats.
The people most likely to own pets are families with young chil-dren
or young couples without children.
Pet care products catering to the health and wellness needs of
pets (especially cats and dogs) have emerged. With modern soci-ety’s
growing focus on health, pet owners increasingly project their
own health and wellness needs on to their pets.
International players are strongly represented in pet care in India,
with the top three (Mars International Pvt Ltd, Royal Canin India Pvt
Ltd and Provimi Animal Nutrition India Pvt Ltd) all being multinationals
and accounting for a combined value share of 52 per cent in 2010.
Pet food in India has seen increasing specialisation. Although
the specialised brands are more expensive than standard variants,
they are gaining popularity in urban areas.
In most pet-owning households, female consumers decide
which brands to buy and which products are required for their
pets.
People are increasingly turning to supermarkets to buy pet food.
They find it convenient to buy their pets’ food along with their own
groceries. Also, pet food and pet care items are increasingly being
bought through e-commerce websites.
Social media have emerged as the most powerful tool of mar-keting,
as they have the power to reach millions at little expense.
Pet-specific events are becoming more popular, as small out-fits
like Anvis Inc and Party Barky Hai arrange for pet-and-owner
meets, where people with pets meet, socialise and spend the day
together.
Pet resorts & home stays: as more Indians discover the joys
of travelling, they seek secure homes or resorts for their pets while
they vacation. To cater for this need, a host of pet resorts have
emerged, and many pet lovers have established pets-only home
stays.
Rutaksha Rawat is editor
at the Indian pet trade
magazine Creature
Companion.
E-mail: businesseditorlba
@yahoo.com
22 PET worldwide 1|2013