Mettler Toledo is seeing strong demand from India’s food and beverage industry as food manufacturers expand capacity, automate production and place greater emphasis on food safety and regulatory compliance, Siddharth Kachroo said in an interview at Anuga FoodTec in Mumbai.
Kachroo said the company recorded double-digit sales growth over the past two to three years, supported by new food-processing projects, start-ups and deeper penetration of existing customer accounts.
“The last two to three years have been good for Mettler Toledo. We have reasonably achieved double-digit growth in terms of sales and have also been able to acquire new customers,” he said.
The company showcased a range of inspection and weighing technologies for food manufacturers at the event, including its Safeline X12 X-ray inspection system and M31/M31R metal detector. The X12 is designed for small- and medium-sized packaged products and can detect contaminants including metal, glass, stone and bone, while also supporting product-integrity and mass-control applications.
The company’s Safeline portfolio includes metal detection systems, with the M31R positioned as an entry-level industrial metal detector for dry and wet food products.
“Today, most customers are looking at automation and most of our equipment is IoT- or Industry 4.0-ready. That is one of the reasons we have been thriving,” Kachroo said.
The company highlighted hygienically designed industrial weighing systems for applications such as packing and portioning. Its portfolio for the beverage sector includes total organic carbon (TOC) and online conductivity measurement systems, while laboratory products on display include halogen moisture analyzers and laboratory balances for quality-control and production applications.
Kachroo said food and beverage is a key industry, with the company investing in products specifically designed for the sector.
“We are working directly with customers and also with OEMs to cater to the large requirements that the food industry has today,” he said.
According to Kachroo, growth in India’s tier-2 cities is being supported primarily by rising consumption and demographic changes, including a large working-age population and an increase in dual-income households.
The growth of food aggregators such as Zomato and Swiggy is contributing to changes in consumption patterns, he said.
The company expects these trends to continue supporting the Indian food-processing and packaging ecosystem over the next three to five years.
“Over the next three to five years, we see the market growing. Consumption will increase and, for Mettler Toledo, it certainly will be very good in terms of product inspection,” Kachroo said.
Food safety to drive inspection technology
Kachroo expects food safety to be one of the strongest drivers of demand for inspection equipment as manufacturers face increasing scrutiny over hygiene, contamination and product quality.
“Most of the focus today is towards food safety,” he said. “We have seen several examples and incidents in the last few months where food-safety authorities across the country have been focusing on hygiene, food safety and all these parameters.”
He expects this increased focus to translate into greater adoption of automated inspection systems, particularly X-ray technology.
“X-ray would be one of the technologies that will grow fastest because it is able to detect far more than metal detection,” Kachroo said.
