Joy Chatterjee, General Manager, Sales & Marketing, Mankind Pharma
One may not acknowledge gut related discomforts as often as others, but we all will agree that it can immensely impact our day-to-day activities and leave a lingering sense of uneasiness throughout the day. Talking of gut related health issues in the Indian context, the incidence of acidity, gas, and indigestion are the top problems that come to mind . and it has also come to light, that in recent times, the sensation of bloating, gaseousness, acidity, acid reflux & heartburn have increased considerably across all age groups & demography.
The root cause for our deteriorating gut health can be attributed to the sedentary lifestyle of the general population; this along with unhealthy eating habits, erratic sleeping cycles & insufficient water intake, consistently puts too much pressure in the digestive system, which eventually leads to some or the other gut related chronic disorder.
Thus the persistent occurrences of acidity, gas & indigestion in peoples’ regular life, calls for an easy solution which can provide quick relief on the go. Antacids perfectly fill this demand gap. It suits the consumers & fits into their pace of life; especially powdered antacids, which have been widely accepted as an easy, convenient one stop solution to all gut related problems. Additionally, the growing geriatric population is inherently impacted by gastrointestinal problems too.
Therefore this category has slowly evolved into an absolute necessity in every other household thereby providing the desired demand push that has led to the growth of the OTC antacids market and will continue to do so in a larger scale throughout 2022-2031.
Interestingly, amongst all the gut health countering life choices made by antacid consumers, there is also a growing rise in awareness & collective consciousness about what people consume. While seeking instant relief from increased acidity levels causing gastroesophageal reflux sickness, consumers nowadays are more receptive to a natural/ ayurvedic remedy over others. Hence, even though the majority of the brands in the category resort to artificial/ synthetic flavouring, antacids with natural ingredients are now strongly gaining momentum. To meet this evolving preference of the consumers, the antacids market not only offers acid neutralizers which treat a wide range of problems from neutralizing stomach acid, to treating acid flux, curing heartburn, and indigestion, but also caters to the demand of going with natural ingredients through Mankind Pharma’s antacid brand Gas-O-Fast, having real Jeera and Ajwain, which is taking care of all the regular gut issues like acidity, heartburn, gas , ingestion and become India ke Acidity ka Indian Solution.
Lastly, the upward swing of the powdered antacids market is further strengthened with the strong & steady emergence of the category in all major e-commerce platforms. This too has provided the category with an incremental push, driving towards the open headspace for further growth.
