Wellness Market Expected To Grow At Rapid Pace

An average Indian millennial now spends Rs 4,000 per month on fitness and overall wellness. This spending will rise in terms of ticket size and the number of people in this bracket. This is a breakthrough in the awareness levels of the youth of our nation. 

Whilst the pandemic gave everyone a jolt, the wellness industry drew everyone’s attention in a huge way. A fresh perspective towards our immunity levels began to draw attention. In 2023, plant-based diets will continue to be popular among health-conscious eaters. The Indian dietary supplements market reached a value of Rs 376.3 billion in 2021. 

Danijela Radonic Bhandari (Dana), an Integrative Wellbeing Counsellor, points out the paradox which exists between the overload of health-related information on social media and mainstream media today, along with the tremendous hunger of people for the amount of data consumed, whilst at the same time, very less of all that information is processed, absorbed, and implemented. So what is the missing link between such wisdom offered and the same wisdom implemented? “In simple terms, I would say that the missing link is the deep, loving, most sacred connection and relationship with our inner Self,” Dana explains. 

In her view, the importance that the amalgamation of a nourishing and balanced diet, regular body activity, sufficient sleep, stress-free state of mind, healthy nurturing relationships and well-chosen supplements, amongst other factors, have on our immunity is very well known. However, it is only upon establishing, nurturing, and treasuring the connection and relationship with that divine, eternal aspect of the Self that we would want to find, and would often be intuitively guided to the best way of utilising all the outer and inner wisdom needed to support the homeostasis our immunity system needs to support us. “There are numerous ways to find that connection, and I always encourage my clients to seek the one which resonates with them the most instead of going by what the majority practices”, she concludes.

Technology at its best

Mobile apps are another way technology is influencing the personal fitness industry. With over 800 million users worldwide, fitness apps raked in around USD 16.6 billion in revenue in 2022. And that's forecast to grow to over USD 30.2 billion by 2026. Proper sleep is essential for daily activities to be carried out smoothly and recent research also proves that sleep is one of the best healers for any physical illness. 

According to Manissha S Bhagat - Senior Nutritionist and Health Coach, “Wellness is a fast moving-space. How consumers perceived fitness before the pandemic has dramatically changed now. The focus has shifted to nourishing the body rather than starving to be of a certain size. 2023 will continue to see this trend where the focus will be on a stronger body and not on ‘achieving’ just weight loss.” She goes on to say that yoga will most definitely continue to become the most favoured form of workout. Its popularity has increased manifold in the last decade, and this decade will see it grow even more since it delivers holistic health and not just physical fitness. 

She also feels that other lesser known yoga practices like Kundalini yoga will now begin to become mainstream. Probiotic supplements are bound to become one of the most bought supplement since the last year a lot of focus has been on gut health. Products promoting gut health will find more space on the shelves of pharmaceutical stores.

The Growth of The Wellness Market

The US Clinical Nutrition Market size crossed USD 11.5 billion in 2021 and is projected to depict more than 8.5 per cent CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) through 2022-2030. Analysts predict the growth of the plant-based market in India at a CAGR of 19.75 per cent by 2025 and estimate its value at Rs 81,000 crore. The colossal increase in the demand proves that people are eager to switch to better control over their health and are well aware of the benefits of these products.

Vaibhav Garg – Sports Performance Nutritionist, states that, “Personally for me, technology has been a blessing and a curse at the same time. If people are specially putting technology to good use in an attempt to improve their health quotient, I would say it is a boon.” He adds that he has often seen individuals misuse technology, as a result of which their health status is being affected negatively. This could be to do with wasting time with it, or being misled by companies to do so. He also says that, “Add to that the fact that companies and start-ups are taking advantage of this fact and upselling products that are absolutely unnecessary. Being a public platform, it would be unwise to mention names but it is downright unethical if you ask me.”

He also feels that, “While we look for growing trends in the New Year, I still say that going back to the old school way of maintaining optimal health would be my top pick. At the core of it all is discipline- having a routine. Just like you take out time for work, it is imperative that the first 3 items on the to-do-list for each day that precede work should be diet, exercise and sleep. If you cannot have these in place, no gadgets, stats or figures are going to do you any good. Get the basics right first. Stop trying to be an athlete when you don't have time to do the basics right. When you've managed to get that routine in place, then think about progressing to the next level.”

(With inputs from media reports)