The spice is right: Indian spice producer targets the global stage with B2C nutra brand

21-Feb-2022 - Last updated on 21-Feb-2022 at 01:29 GMT

NatXtra is a B2C nutraceutical brand by Indian spice producer Synthite. ©Synthite

One of the world’s largest spice producers, Synthite, has set sights on becoming a global nutraceutical consumer brand, with its market expansion plans gathering pace.

The Kerala-headquartered conglomerate also owns a chocolate business known as Paul and Mike and a real estate business known as Synthite Realty.

Its nutraceutical brand, known as NatXtra – which means “natural extract”, introduced four new products last month, including Ginger for Digestive Wellness, Green Tea for Slim and Detox, Brahmi for Memory Enhancing, and CoQ10 for Fertility Enhancing.

This has increased the company’s existing nutra product offerings to eight.

At the moment, the company sells its nutraceutical products in the domestic Indian market as well as overseas in Dubai.

Of which, its blood sugar level control product, Gymne Mag D and Ashwagandha DSTR for strength, stamina, stress relief, and mental wellbeing are its bestsellers in both India and Dubai.

Gymne Mag D contains Gymnema sylvestre extract, magnesium, and vitamin D3. As with other products from the brand, the capsule product is vegan and manufactured in a USFDA-registered facility.

Speaking to NutraIngredients-Asia, Mathew K. Samuel, global business head at NatXtra – Synthite Industries, said that sales have been growing by 25 to 30 per cent each month since the brand was launched about two years ago in India.

Enjoying a strong partnership with retail distributor, most of its sales came from its presence in over 15,000 offline supermarket chains and pharmacies.

The range is also available online in Amazon, Flipkart, 1mg, Netmeds, and PharmEasy, etc. Most of the consumers are 35 years old and above.

In Dubai, the company has partnered supermarket chain LuLu Group in introducing NatXtra into the market. Dubai is viewed as the gateway to other major markets.

Samuel said that the ultimate goal was to grow NatXtra into a global brand.

“What we want to do is we want to develop NatXtra into a global supplement brand. So, our step number one is to get the brand into India and distribute it across India.

“We are present across all online platforms in India and we also have a very strong retail distribution in India. We are present in the big supermarkets across the country.”

As part of the expansion plans, the company has already signed distribution agreements for Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, the US, and Canada.

“The Middle East is a very strong developing market, and the consumption of these products is very high in countries like Saudi Arabia or UAE and consumer awareness of these kinds of products is strong.

“The other advantage of being in a country like Dubai is that people from all over the world go to Dubai, so the brand has been taken to multiple countries across the world from Dubai. This can help to spread brand awareness more quickly.”

APAC focus

Now, the company is searching for distribution partners in Asia-Pacific, especially South East Asia, the Oceania, and East Asia.

Similarly, the strategy is to enter both offline and online in these overseas markets.

Asked how the company would be able to stand out of the competition, Samuel said that the brand’s advantage lies in the vertical production of its supplements.

From supplying the ingredients to the final manufacturing and packaging, the company is responsible for the entire process.

The company currently has three factories in India, one in China, and intends to build another one in Vietnam.

“We are one of the largest suppliers of ingredients to a lot of supplement companies. With that, we did a market study and our managing director, Dr. Viju Jacob, who's a pioneer and who has this vision in his mind that he wants to give the best supplements to the global market.

“All our products are in-house manufactured and packed in our factory, so in terms of quality, we have one of the best quality products in the supplement business,” Samuel said.