Indian cafe in Pune serving hemp-infused food

India is moving into the hemp space — as demonstrated by a new eatery serving infused foods in Pune. The eatery serves sandwiches, coffee, and other hemp-infused foods. The 30-year-old owner of Hemp Cafe, Amruta Shitole, is actually a cannabis serial entrepreneur who previously opened Ganja Cafe and has been successfully selling cannabis-infused edibles for four years.

She’s not the only ganjapreneur in the country, of course. Numerous projects – and products – have been launched recently. One that has recently attracted the attention of the foreign and travel press? A new Goan-made gin called Satiwa, which bills itself as ‘Happy High Gin’ because it’s also infused with hemp.

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

What is the status of cannabis reform in India?

Cannabis has been used in India for thousands of years. It has also been used traditionally in many different forms – from resin (called charas) to ganja (flower) to bhang (seeds and leaves). Cannabis use is mentioned in texts dating back to 1000 AD.

In 2019, a study conducted by the All India Institutes of Medical Sciences – an autonomous group of state public medical universities under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare – reported that around 7.2% of Indians used cannabis in the last year to have. In a country of 1.38 billion people, this doesn’t matter much when it comes to the percentage of the population that uses cannabis. In real terms, however, that equates to up to 99 million people — or about a third of the total population of the United States.

According to UNODC, the retail price of cannabis was lower than anywhere else in the world – around $0.10 per gram. New Delhi and Mumbai were the third and sixth highest cannabis consumption cities in the world in 2018. As of 2022, heroin and high-THC cannabis are the two most commonly used “illegal” drugs in the country. Both illegal cultivation networks and confiscations are on the rise, which is why authorities are turning to drones for the ban, particularly in remote and otherwise difficult-to-reach parts of the country.

The sleeping cannabis giant

While the trafficking and consumption of high-THC cannabis is still illegal here under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act 1985, there have been increasing calls for its legalization. Meanwhile, fascinating projects are afoot across the country. Similar to the US, individual Indian states have great latitude to formulate their own laws governing the cultivation, storage, processing, and interstate transportation of the drug.

It’s clear that interest in cannabis is tremendous – both as a domestic product and as an export product. In fact, the Indian pharmaceutical company Dr. Reddy’s bought a German drug dealer in Frankfurt in February this year.

On the recreational side of the discussion, Mallana Cream, grown in a small village in the Himalayas that gives the strain its name, is one of the most expensive cannabis strains in the world. Connoisseurs come here to taste it from all over the world.

When legalization comes, you can expect India’s most famous strain to become a desirable, legally exported product.

The industry is now growing here, especially on the hemp side of the discussion. The Indian Hemp Expo, the first B2B exhibition of its kind in the country, started in Delhi in mid-May this year. It was heavily attended by a wide variety of companies and individuals from the emerging industry at home and abroad.

India vs. China – the new hemp capitals of the world?

It will be interesting to see how the industry develops here, especially in relation to its Asian neighbor China. Currently, two Chinese provinces account for more than two-thirds of the world’s hemp fiber production – and cultivation has increased dramatically year on year over the past 7 years.

However, at least so far, it looks like China will focus more on textiles and biocomposites than edibles. Because of this, India is certainly strategically positioned to enter the global hemp industry with a range of products.

Of course, it won’t just end there. It never has.