EOAI Congress-Expo Concluded with an aim to make India a Global Hub for Fragrance
Advancements in Aroma Crop Cultivation in India will boost exports: Sanjay Varshney
The Essential Oil Association of India (EOAI) recently organised the World Aroma ingredients Congress & Expo-2024 in Hotel ITC Chola, Chennai from 8th to 10th February. The essential part of the event was to promote and develop the fragrances, flavour and ingredients industry in India and to market their products worldwide. The event saw the participation of approximately 1400 representatives from India and abroad, with 100 foreign guests from 26 countries also in attendance. India-Global Hub for Essential Oil, Fragrance and Flavour was the theme. Manufacturers of essential oil, flavour, fragrance, aroma, incense sticks, cosmetics, pharma, and veterinary along with raw material suppliers and ICMR scientists also participated in the event. The event witnessed twice the participation as compared to the previous event by the association. On the success of the event, Sugandh India had a one-on-one dialogue with EOAI President Mr Sanjay Vaishnav and congratulated him for the same.
The main parts of the conversation are as follows:
The event came out to be a huge success under your leadership. What is the theme for the 25th congress and expo and the future roadmap?
The theme, India-Global hub for Essential Oils, Fragrances and Flavours is akin to the efforts that are being put in different parts of the country. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given the vision of creating “Self-reliant India” and “Make in India”. Therefore, the industry is also active in this direction. In Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and other areas, the government is encouraging farmers to cultivate aromatic herbs and spices instead of traditional farming. For example, work is being done on many crops like agarwood oil in Tripura, rose oil in Himachal, lemongrass, citronella in Arunachal, cinnamon oil in Uttarakhand, etc., through which all the essential oils which are imported can be produced in India. This will also increase the inflow of foreign currency.
What was the objective of the association behind organizing the event in Tamil Nadu?
Chennai was chosen because South India and Chennai in particular is the hub of SouthEast Asia. A lot of countries like Singapore, Malaysia etc do business from here. The offices of big corporate companies are here. Moreover, South India and Kerala have been the centre of traditional cultivation of herbs and spices. Essential oils, fragrances and aroma products are traded on a large scale here. Also, the association also wants to increase its presence in South India.
What is India’s position in the production and export of essential oils, fragrances and aromas?
As of today we are number one in Mentha, Lemongrass and Basil Oil. More and more efforts are being put in Geranium as well and in the coming few years we will overtake the production and export of countries like China and Egypt. Government institutions, especially CSIR and CIMAP, are also doing a lot of work in this direction providing guidelines and direction to the industry and farmers to work together on many types of spices and ingredients. The Aroma Mission is being run under the supervision of CSIR and we are continuously working with them. This is why CSIR directors have come to the program and shared a lot of knowledge with the people in the technical sessions.
India has been successful in limiting the import of many types of oils, but there are many issues in export also. What do you expect from the government for this?
Central Government has taken many steps for “Ease of Doing Business”. Earlier there were many problems. Import policies need to be further simplified. Conditions have improved in exports, but clearings in imports should be more swift.
As the President of the Essential Oil Association of India, what target have you set for the year 2024?
The year 2023 was a little slow after the Covid, but the start of the year 2024 has been very good. The production, demand and consumption of essential oils, ingredients and flavours are increasing rapidly. So hopefully this year will be good.
How much dependence is there on imports of essential oil and what measures are being taken to reduce it?
Many types of aroma crops are being developed in the country for essential oil. So that they do not have to be imported. The production of many aroma chemicals has increased. The export of essential oil has also increased. However, the challenge is that while India is number one in mint, a lot of synthetic menthol is also entering the market. Due to this, industry and farmers are suffering huge losses. The government should increase the duty on imports so that both farmers and industry can benefit.
It is often heard that Indian goods face quality issues in foreign countries. What are you doing in this direction?
Quality is being taken care of in exports. Our standards have increased a lot compared to before. A lot of work has been done in this direction not only at the industry level but also at the government level. Work is also being done on food safety and currently Indian products have reached global standards. So there is no challenge in this now.
What is your message to the industry?
One of the objectives of this event has been to make people pay attention to quality. The more work they do in this direction, the more they will progress, because in the end, only quality products remain in the market whether in India or abroad.
