GFI India’s goals and priorities
At GFI India, we’re dedicated to positioning India as a global leader in the rapidly evolving smart protein sector across science, business, and policy.
Our focus on research and development aims to solidify India’s standing as an R&D pioneer by creating and harnessing targeted funding opportunities, establishing Centres of Excellence, and building consortia that foster collaborative innovation. Through bilateral funding streams and partnerships with top-tier national and international institutions, we’re setting the stage for breakthroughs in smart protein technology, backed by government support and a commitment to advancing scientific knowledge.
Creating a regulatory environment that supports and accelerates the growth of smart proteins in India is a key priority. We actively engage with FSSAI—the apex regulator body in India—and participate in CODEX initiatives (as an affiliate group of organisations) to ensure that smart protein products inherit progressive yet effective guidelines backed by scientific evidence. By mapping international regulatory developments, conducting comprehensive analyses, and identifying potential gaps, we endeavour to work with the public sector to establish a responsive, risk-aware regulatory framework for this sunrise sector.
Our vision for India as a cost-competitive smart protein manufacturing hub focuses on optimising existing capacities within the country’s allied industries, such as food, biotech, and biopharma. By engaging with these sectors and building awareness of the economic and sustainability potential within alternative protein biomanufacturing, ingredient production, and equipment manufacturing, we are advocating for India to become a preferred manufacturing base and export hub for the global alternative protein market.
We recognise the critical importance of building and mentoring talent in driving the sector forward. We are expanding India’s tertiary talent pool through research fellowships, skill-building initiatives, and fostering knowledge exchange between Indian universities and global institutions. Through collaborations and the integration of smart protein curricula into premier universities, we are preparing a skilled workforce ready to lead innovation in the field.
Finally, we’re committed to empowering India’s smart protein community to meet industry and market challenges as well as strengthen ecosystem linkages. By providing open-access knowledge, facilitating industry-academia collaboration, and encouraging consumer adoption through food service, export strategies, and strategic investor engagement and category building, we are cultivating a resilient ecosystem.
Together, these initiatives support our vision for an alternative protein future where India plays a pivotal role in building sustainable, secure, and inclusive food systems around the world.
About us
The Good Food Institute India (GFI India) is the leading organisation and expert convening body for India’s emerging smart protein sector. As part of an international network of organisations across the U.S., Brazil, Europe, Israel, Japan, and APAC, we are on a mission to build a secure, sustainable, and equitable global food system for all. Working alongside scientists, businesses, and policymakers, GFI India’s team focuses on making alternative proteins delicious, affordable, and accessible. Leveraging India’s unique strengths—indigenous crops and agrarian economy, low-cost technologies and infrastructure, abundant talent pool, and biomanufacturing prowess—we are pioneering an ecosystem that can put smart protein on every plate.
By 2050, the world’s population will reach 10 billion, nearly a sixth of whom will be Indian. This population growth, combined with rising incomes and urbanisation, is fuelling the demand for protein. Meeting this demand primarily with conventional animal products poses significant risks, further exacerbating environmental degradation and resource depletion, including deforestation, water scarcity, biodiversity loss, and a rise in anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions.
India’s agricultural biodiversity with crops such as pulses, legumes, and oilseeds, as well as abundant coastline with access to resources such as seaweed and algae, have the potential to offer high-value inputs for the global alternative protein industry. By diversifying agriculture toward these climate-positive crops and leveraging cutting-edge technologies, GFI India is unlocking opportunities to scale sustainable protein production while supporting rural workforce development, agriculture resilience, and an economic boost resilience for farmers.
In building the smart protein sector in India from the ground up—through science, business, and policy initiatives that are engaging academia, industry, and government—we are establishing a model for its growth in the global south. Our team of experts provides critical advisory support, drives high-impact research, and builds networks across the smart protein value chain to accelerate innovation and position India at the forefront of the sector.
Our strategy includes advancing public funding for R&D, supporting the techno-commercialisation of smart protein innovation, and promoting a progressive regulatory environment. With one of the world’s largest working-age populations, India stands to become a leading hub for talent, training, and innovation in smart protein with the potential to cultivate a high-margin agribusiness sector that benefits millions. At GFI India, we envision a future where smart protein products taste as good as, cost as much or less than, and are as accessible as conventional animal proteins, transforming the food system toward a more just and sustainable model.