How does the smart protein sector support the triple-bottom-line framework of people, planet, and profit through environmental sustainability, economic opportunity, and nutritional outcomes?
In a fast-developing country like India, with often-competing priorities around sustainability, food security, and economic growth, smart proteins can effectively address the triple-bottom-line framework. They can deliver affordable nutrition at scale, while mitigating the public health risks of industrialised animal agriculture like anti-microbial resistance.
Producing smart proteins is far more sustainable than conventional meat, requiring 99 percent less water, 97 percent less land and energy, and emitting vastly fewer emissions. There is an additional opportunity to build plant protein value chains with indigenous and climate-resilient crops such as pulses and millets or utilise agricultural sidestreams of crops such as oilseeds. Economically, these also create lucrative demand for farmers growing diversified crops, shifting away from commodity crops to high-value ingredients and value-added food products. With these inherent advantages of agricultural biodiversity, low-cost manufacturing capabilities, and deep scientific talent, India is well-placed to become a global hub for smart protein production.
What factors influence the commercial viability and mainstream adoption of smart proteins in India?
The trifecta of price, taste, and familiarity is a primary driver of adoption for any kind of food product particularly in price-sensitive countries like India. Significant improvements on all those fronts will continue to be harbingers of change for smart protein consumer interest. Nutrition is also becoming an increasingly important factor, particularly among younger urban consumers seeking diverse, high-quality protein sources, followed by an interest in making more sustainable consumption choices
Currently, the plant-based value chain is hampered by import-dependent inputs—such as plant protein isolates/concentrates—and specialised processing equipment that elevate unit costs and keep retail prices above comparable animal proteins. Localising manufacturing supply chains from farm to factory will play a key role in lowering costs.
Fermentation-derived proteins and cultivated meat are still at the early stage in India and not yet commercially available. The expensive infrastructure required to scale remains the biggest hurdle. In India, the first smart protein-dedicated biofoundry was inaugurated at BRIC-NABI in March–as part of a network under the BioE3 policy—alongside several incubators, which all offer shared pilot-scale facilities for startups.
Why do domestically sourced crops often exhibit inconsistent functional properties and variable quality in smart protein production, and how can crop optimisation address these challenges?
Current agricultural systems are largely optimised for yield and climate resilience rather than for the processing and functionality traits required for smart protein production. Variability in crop quality can arise from several factors, including genetic heterogeneity, environmental and climatic influences, differences in post-harvest handling, and the lack of standardised frameworks for food functionality. In addition, processing infrastructure is often not optimised to preserve functional properties. Variations in primary and secondary processing methods, such as milling, fractionation, extrusion, and drying, can further increase raw material variability.
Crop optimisation can help reduce these inconsistencies and minimise the need for intensive downstream processing interventions. However, breeding efforts must extend beyond yield-focused targets and prioritise traits relevant to smart proteins, such as higher protein content, improved amino acid balance, enhanced solubility and emulsification, lower off-flavour compounds, reduced antinutritional factors, and better texturisation performance.
Addressing these challenges requires aligning crop development with end-product functionality. Food scientists, breeders, and agronomists must work together from the early stages of crop development to identify traits and agronomic practices that improve nutritional quality and processing performance, ultimately making plant proteins more suitable for smart protein applications.
