Hold the greens, rural Indians now eating more meat and eggs

By Ankush Chibber, Contact the editor, 26-Oct-2012

Paneer cottage cheese is the
Indian dairy staple

Growing income is leading to increased demand for protein in India’s hinterland, but a shortage of supply is resulting in higher food inflation.

Paneer cottage cheese is the Indian dairy staple According to a report by ratings firm Crisil Research, overall spending by Indians on milk, eggs, fish and meat doubled in the five years up to 2009-10 to US$38bn, and two-thirds of this came from rural households. 

More money, more meat

This took the proportion of rural households purchasing milk and milk products to 80% in 2009-10, almost five percentage points higher than 2004-05. The proportion of rural households purchasing eggs, fish and meat increased to 62% from 58% over the same period. But rural per-capita consumption of milk, eggs and proteins continues to remain lower than it is in urban areas, reflecting a potential for significant further growth in rural demand for proteins. Rural per capita consumption of milk in 2009-10 was 49.4 litres versus 64.3 litres in urban areas; for meat and eggs it stood at 5.7 kg and 20.8 eggs in 2009-10 as against per capita urban consumption of 6.7 kg and 32.1 eggs.According to the report, even if the share of rural households purchasing milk remains at the 2009-10 level, another 17 million more rural households will purchase milk and milk products by 2014-15.

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