COVID-19 is pushing Indians to rely on ‘immunity-boosting’ brands and home remedies

Indians are swallowing immunity boosters in the wake of the pandemic in whichever form, homemade concoctions or readymade products, boosting FMCG immunity portfolio unit sales by 13.5% in 2020 from just 3.9% in 2019. Data from market researcher Kantar showed.

Consumption of turmeric powder surged more than five times to 14.4%, besides milk food drinks that doubled growth to 6%, honey and chyawanprash, as per Kantar.

Chyawanprash market had declined over 5% in 2019 from the previous year, but bounced back a whopping 132% in 2020, the researcher said. Companies said the growth of immunity categories is continuing in this quarter as well unlike hygiene and sanitiser where the growth rate has significantly moderated of late.


Dabur India CEO Mohit Malhotra said with the heightened concern for health and wellness, and the reality of widespread financial hardship caused by the pandemic, consumers were rethinking every purchase. Ayurveda-based preventive healthcare has gained prominence in the consumer mind space with people now more inclined, especially to immunity-boosting products.

“The winter months are peak season for products like honey and chyawanprash. While it may moderate a bit, the growth will continue on the back of the innovation, brand building, investments that we are putting in and brand extensions that we will be launching,” said Malhotra.

Emami’s director Harsha V. Agarwal said its immunity product portfolio has more-than-doubled sales in the last one year.

“The market for several products has grown 1.5 to 2 times, which is unlikely to remain at that elevated level, but will certainly be more than the pre-pandemic phase. Consumers have become much more conscious about health, but we have to see how their mindset evolves post vaccination,” he said.

For instance, the penetration level of chyawanprash has gone up to 6% as compared to 3-4% pre-pandemic.

ITC Ltd chairman Sanjiv Puri recently told ET that certain trends were accentuated during the pandemic such as need for hygiene, nutrition, immunity, ayurvedic and natural products. “While demand for hygiene products is still at a much-elevated level, though it has moderated from what it was in the beginning of the fiscal year, ayurveda and immunity products continue to witness strong demand.”

Kantar said 91% of Indian households bought immunity boosting categories. It said rural India leads urban growth, primarily due to milk food drinks, which saw the fastest growth in rural areas while in the urban space they lost volume. In urban areas, only the adult milk food drink brands grew by 40% from 2019’s 30%.

This contrasts with the hygiene category where several companies have either reduced or stopped production of sanitisers and masks due to decrease in demand led by drop in Covid infection rate and vaccination drive.