India's nutraceuticals market estimated to be $6.1 billion by 2020

According to a joint study by Assocham and RNCOS, the US has the largest market for nutraceuticals, followed by Asia-Pacific and European Union. Functional food is the fastest growing segment in the US nutraceuticals market. Germany, France, the UK and Italy are the major markets in the European Union for nutraceuticals, as reported by PTI.

Japan (14 per cent) is the major consumer of nutraceuticals in Asia-Pacific, followed by China (10 per cent).

Nutraceutical product is a food or fortified food product that not only supplements the diet but also assists in treating or preventing diseases (apart from anaemia), providing medical benefits.

"Nutraceuticals, herbal and functional foods in India are covered under the definition of food as per Section 22 of Food Safety & Standards Act, 2006. These food products have been categorised as non-standardised/special food products.

"At present, India does not have any kind of regulatory guidelines for the approval or monitoring of the products under this segment.

"These products are regulated under the guidelines of FSSAI, 2006 amended in 2011 for registration, licensing, approval, labeling & packaging, import, marketing & distribution, laboratory testing like conventional food products," Assocham Secretary General D S Rawat said.

He said the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) should come up with properly framed guidelines related to manufacturing, storage, packaging & labeling, distribution, sales, claims and imports of nutraceuticals.

"This will bring clarity to the industry stakeholders and they can invest into the industry with no fear of counterfeiting," Rawat added.

"In the absence of regulations, the products take much longer to reach the market. For industry growth, it is utmost necessary to give faster approvals for eligible nutraceuticals," he further said.