Those figures set the terms for a closed-door roundtable convened by the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) and the Good Food Institute India (GFI India), which examined whether plant-based and biomass-fermented proteins could raise the nutritional quality of the country’s largest public feeding programmes. Meals under these programmes frequently satisfy calorie and quantity norms while falling short on protein quality, weighed down by a heavy reliance on cereals. GFI India has pressed this argument before, recently making the case that India’s underused crops could seed a domestic plant protein supply chain. GFI India has separately warned that workforce and skills gaps could constrain the sector’s growth. This will be essential to convert alternative proteins into practical and locally resonant solutions for India’s nutritional security.”