A Dose Of Nutrition

On the back of a vertically integrated supply chain, and world-class R&D and manufacturing facilities, the firm is on its way to becoming a global leader in nutraceutical ingredients.

- Varsha Meghani

The humble marigold flower is often offered in devotion to deities. Sometimes, however, that bright ball of orange finds itself living an even more exalted life. A specially bred version is treated in laboratories to extract lutein, a valuable compound with proven eye benefits, from its petals. That is then encapsulated into tiny ‘beadlets’ and sold to manufacturers who use it to make dietary supplements or fortified foods that are marketed to consumers.

In various districts of Karnataka, nearly 8,000 growers are engaged in cultivating this special variety of marigolds. Contracted by OmniActive Health Technologies, the farmers’ produce is shipped to state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities in Pune where lutein is mass-produced by the Mumbai-headquartered company and then exported to markets in the US, Canada, UK, France, China and Japan.

“Control over the supply chain right from the raw material stage is a key USP of OmniActive,” says Sanjaya Mariwala, who founded the company in 2005. The silver-haired 58-year-old sniffed opportunity in the then hot market of ‘nutraceuticals’—a fancy term used to describe foods with medicinal properties, including functional foods like vitamin-fortified milk and nutritional supplements. He was familiar with the space having run Kancor Ingredients (formerly Bombay Oil Industries set up by Mariwala’s grandfather Kanji in 1911), a Kerala-based pioneer in the extraction of spices like black pepper, turmeric and paprika, for 24 years.