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Mumbai: Once sold in bulky tubs mostly to bodybuilders, whey protein is now showing up in sachets and single scoop packs as marketers emulate the playbook of everyday fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) to drive penetration, affordability and on-the-go consumption amid rising demand."Everyone is becoming more aware of how short on protein they are," said Tarun Arora, chief executive officer of Zydus Wellness. This is pushing protein from a discretionary purchase toward a lifestyle staple.However, high costs, driven by expensive raw materials and supply chains, have historically kept the category out of reach for many, with kilogram packs often priced above ₹2,000. Hence the small packs, which are cheaper to try and easier to carry. 129738045 "Sachets should be a growth mechanism, not a margin lever. It is about lowering friction, not lowering price," Arora said.Companies such as Truebasics, MuscleBlaze, Wellbeing Nutrition and Optimum Nutrition now offer sachet bundles priced between ₹699 and ₹999, compared with ₹3,499-₹4,429 for 1-kg tubs.While sachets lower upfront costs, the per-gram price of protein can be up to 40% higher than bulk formats. Yet there's good demand, particularly from first-time users."These smaller packs help with multiple factors-taste, trial, travel-friendliness," said Renu Bisht, cofounder of Datum Intelligence. "Multiple use cases from a smaller point of view."Within households, families are increasingly experimenting with different types of protein, making smaller packs a more flexible, lower-commitment option. For brands, sachets are less about margins and more about market creation.Newer formats such as protein bars, chips and ready-to-drink beverages are also gaining traction. However, higher packaging and distribution costs often offset the premium pricing per gram, although companies are willing to absorb this to acquire new users in an underpenetrated category."Primarily, brands use sachets for penetration, new customer acquisition and then building a habit," Bisht said. "While most revenues still come from larger packs, small formats play a crucial role in scaling."The shift is being driven by quick-commerce platforms, where smaller SKUs perform better due to convenience and lower ticket sizes, while also allowing faster product testing and iteration.Meanwhile, legacy food players are making protein part of everyday consumption instead of supplements. Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation, owner of the Amul brand, has been expanding into protein-rich dairy beverages, snacks and powders."Protein has to be a part of your daily consumption, not used as a supplement," said Jayen Mehta, managing director of GCMMF.

Geneva: The Middle East war has reached a "perilous stage" with strikes around nuclear sites in Iran and Israel, the World Health Organization warned Sunday, as it called for maximum restraint.An Iranian ballistic missile ripped open residential buildings and left dozens wounded late Saturday in the southern Israeli town of Dimona.Also Read: Israel targets Lebanon bridges, homes near border for destructionDimona hosts what is widely believed to be the Middle East's only nuclear arsenal, although Israel has never admitted to possessing nuclear weapons, insisting the site is for research.Iran said the strike was in response to an earlier attack on its nuclear site at Natanz, which hosts underground centrifuges used to enrich uranium for Iran's disputed nuclear programme, and was damaged in the June 2025 war.Also Read: Iran War forces India-West flights to take longer detours"The war in the Middle East has reached a perilous stage" with the strikes on Natanz and Dimona, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X."Attacks targeting nuclear sites create an escalating threat to public health and environmental safety," he said."I urgently call on all parties to exercise maximum military restraint and avoid any actions that could trigger nuclear incidents. Leaders must prioritise de-escalation and protect civilians."Tedros said the International Atomic Energy Agency was looking into the strikes, and "no indications of abnormal or increased off-site radiation levels have been reported".The war erupted on February 28 when the United States and Israel began their attacks on Iran, with Tehran in turn striking targets in Israel and Gulf nations.Lebanon was drawn into the conflict when Iran-backed Hezbollah attacked Israel.Since the war began, the WHO has provided training to its own staff and to other United Nations personnel across 13 countries to help them respond to public health threats in the event of a nuclear incident, said Tedros.

The government may consider selling a stake in IDBI Bank through the Offer-for-Sale (OFS) route to increase public shareholding, after the unsuccessful attempt to divest stake in the LIC-controlled lender, sources said.Currently, the public float in IDBI Bank is only 5.29 per cent, limiting the scope of fair valuation.The remaining shares are with insurance behemoth Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), with a controlling stake at 49.24 per cent, while the Government of India (GoI) holding stood at 45.48 per cent.Earlier this month, the proposed sale of a 60.72 per cent majority stake, held jointly by the government and the LIC, was scrapped after financial bids from two potential buyers reportedly fell short of the reserve price.Low free float restricts the scope for fair markvaluation, and expanding this by 10 per cent or 15 per cent would make price discovery more reliable, sources said.It can provide a reliable benchmark for valuation and further make the price discovery process transparent, they said, adding, strategic sale can be pursued even after one or two tranches of OFS.As per the failed plan, both the government and LIC were to offload 30.48 per cent and 30.24 per cent stake, respectively.This is the second time that the government has wanted to privatise IDBI Bank since the first announcement made in 2016. The idea was first officially flagged in the Union Budget speech by then-Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in February 2016.The first attempt to privatise the then state-owned IDBI Bank failed due to valuation concerns.However, the government later sold the controlling stake to LIC, which had been eyeing acquiring a stake in a bank to expand its bancassurance business model.Subsequently, in January 2019, LIC acquired a 51 per cent controlling stake in IDBI Bank for approximately Rs 21,624 crore to rescue the lender from heavy bad loans as part of the disinvestment process.As a result, the bank was categorised as a private-sector bank by the Reserve Bank of India.In December 2020, the lender was reclassified as an associate company following the reduction of LIC's stake in the bank to 49.24 per cent.The process for privatisation gained formal momentum when the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs gave its in-principle approval in May 2021 for strategic disinvestment along with transfer of management control in IDBI Bank.In October 2022, KPMG India was appointed as Transaction Advisor and the intent to sell 60.72 per cent stake in the bank was announced.The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) invited Expressions of Interest (EoI) in October 2022, and market regulator Sebi approved the reclassification of GOI as a public shareholder upon completion of the sale in January 2023.Later in August 2025, the regulator gave its nod for reclassification of LIC as a public shareholder upon completion of the sale and after a long due diligence period, financial bids from two Emirates NBD Bank and Prem Vatsa-promoted Fairfax India were finally received in February 2026.

Markets regulator Sebi board is set to meet on Monday to deliberate on a wide-ranging agenda, including a proposal to ease fund settlement norms for foreign portfolio investors (FPIs), and changes to regulatory frameworks for market intermediaries, people familiar with the matter said.A key item on the agenda is a proposal to allow Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) to net funds for same-day cash market trades, instead of settling each trade individually.Under the existing framework, an FPI needs to settle equity cash market trades on a gross basis, funding each purchase transaction independently of any sale transactions, even on the same day.Sebi has proposed permitting "netting of funds", which would allow FPIs to use proceeds from same-day sales to offset purchase obligations, thereby requiring them to meet only the net payable amount.The move is aimed at enhancing operational efficiency and reducing the cost of funding for them, especially on index rebalancing days. Also, it is expected to minimise forex-related costs arising from timing mismatches between inflows and outflows.The proposal follows concerns that the current gross settlement system imposes additional funding requirements on FPIs for at least one extra day, increasing transaction costs.This will be the fifth board meeting chaired by Sebi Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey since he assumed office on March 1, 2025.Apart from FPI-related reforms, the board will review a series of governance and regulatory proposals. These include a comprehensive overhaul of the "fit and proper person" criteria for market intermediaries, to enhance procedural clarity and fairness, the people familiar with the matter said.Under this, Sebi is considering a proposal to abolish the reference to initiation of winding-up proceedings as a disqualification in a bid to ensure that only a final winding-up order, and not mere initiation of proceedings, is considered while assessing whether a person is fit and proper.Also, the regulator is looking to explicitly include the right to a hearing in the rules. Although the practice of giving a reasonable opportunity of being heard already exists, it has been proposed to be clearly stated in the rules to remove any procedural ambiguity.The board will also take up ease-of-doing business proposals related to real estate investment trusts (REITs) and infrastructure investment trusts (InvITs).Another significant agenda item is the consideration of a report submitted by a high-level panel on conflict of interest and transparency, they added.The regulator will discuss the panel's report, which proposes comprehensive reforms to bring in transparency by way of greater disclosure and a "zero-tolerance" culture to address conflict of interest of top officials of Sebi.