Dear Friends,

CONTINUING THE OTAI LEGACY!

It is a moment of honour to take over as the President of our esteemed association. I want to express my gratitude for the confidence the members have placed in me to take up this responsibility

I would like to acknowledge the valuable contributions of our immediate past President, Mr. Dwijendra Mathur. OTAI has immensely benefited by his expertise in oil technology, especially quality management systems and networking capabilities.

OTAI has always been fortunate in its leadership as it has been led by various top industry leaders and acclaimed academician and researchers. The eight decades of fruitful achievements of OTAI have been due to dedicated efforts put by all the office bearers and active participation & support by the OTAI members.

Over the years, OTAI has played a pivotal role in fostering knowledge sharing, networking and building strong relationships with the industry stakeholders.

India, has already overtaken as the world’s most populous country. In spite of capita, vegetable oil consumption in India is relatively low, the Indian market for vegetable oils is going to increase in size alongside consumption. According to the OECD FAO Agricultural Outlook, India’s vegetable oil consumption will grow 2.3 per cent per annum over the next decade, compared with flat consumption in the US and EU.

The government has reduced import duties till the end of FY25 to control retail oil prices. At present, crude palm, soyabean and sunflower oil imports attract total tax incidence of 5.5%. Due to continuance of lower duty structure, India should not be the dumping ground for cheap edible oils which may hurt the farmers as well as the oil processors.

Meanwhile on the technology front to meet various challenges, many new developments are taking place, which will have repercussion on production, processing & consumptions of oils & oleochemicals in the coming days!

The research into the improvement in productivity of microbial lipids through glycerol metabolic engineering as well as the biotechnologists exploring ways to manipulate lipid metabolism in plants to increase nutritional qualities are interesting one. Mitigation of the toxic contaminants like MCPDs & GEs generated during edible oil processing as well as various microcontaminants like MOSH and MOAH which get into oil due to incidental contacts or carelessness and intentional adulterants are very important issues. Similarly technologies like applications of ultrasound technology in oil processing, processes for deep eutectic solvents for protein extraction, to produce fats products with almost zero trans, get value added by products from oil processing etc. are now focus areas!

Recent significant trend in the edible oil industry is the integration of cutting edge technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning, and blockchain which are being leveraged to enhance product quality, process optimization and efficiency.

Another important role OTAI needs to play is to educate consumers about misconceptions & debunking the myths about cooking oils & fats, for example nutritional & health aspects, refining process, fortification etc.

Thank You!
Jai Hind!

Dr Rajeev Churi
National President, OTAI