The Organic & Natural Health Association has announced the signing of a strategic partnership with India's Shellac & Forest Products Export Promotion Council (SHEFEXIL) to strengthen scientific collaboration, supply chain resilience and bilateral trade across the natural health products sector.
Announced this week, the agreement marks SHEFEXIL's first formal partnership with a US-based natural health trade association and is designed to deepen collaboration across nutraceuticals, botanicals, dietary supplements and functional ingredients.
The initiative forms part of the Indian export body's wider strategy to build international confidence in the country's growing nutraceutical industry through scientific exchange, certification initiatives and market development.
For manufacturers and ingredient suppliers, the new partnership reflects the increasing emphasis on transparent, science-backed global supply chains at a time when demand for high-quality botanical ingredients and clinically supported nutraceuticals continues to grow.
Under the new agreement, the organisations will collaborate on executive exchanges, regulatory roundtables, scientific forums, trade missions and educational programmes, alongside manufacturing site visits, academic partnerships and working groups focused on emerging challenges facing the global natural health sector.
Dr Debjani Roy, Executive Director of SHEFEXIL, said the partnership would create "a stronger bridge" between India and the US for science, innovation and responsible commerce.
Together, we are building a trusted global ecosystem through scientific collaboration, regulatory dialogue and industry engagement that benefits both consumers and the natural health sector.
Anand Swaroop, founder and President of Cepham and a member of the Organic & Natural Health Association, will lead the collaboration through the association's working group.
He noted that, despite India's long-standing ambition to engage more closely with the US natural products sector, no formal relationship had previously existed between SHEFEXIL and a US trade association representing manufacturers, brands and researchers.
This relationship complements SHEFEXIL's broader international initiatives by advancing scientific exchange, market development, education and the trusted relationships that support responsible growth in both countries.
The announcement also represents the first major international initiative under newly elected Organic & Natural Health Association president Mark Thurston, who is also president of AIDP.
The partnership comes as India continues to position itself as a global hub for nutraceutical innovation, manufacturing and exports.
According to SHEFEXIL's own research, the country's nutraceutical market is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 13.6% between 2025 and 2030, driven by rising global demand for preventive health, healthy ageing, gut health and plant-based wellness products.
The two organisations will formally celebrate the partnership at Bharat Nutraverse Expo in New Delhi this September, before hosting their first joint US conference in New Jersey in January 2027.
