Nitta Gelatin India is a specialised manufacturer that turns animal by-products - crushed bone and hide - into high-purity gelatin and collagen peptides for pharmaceutical capsules and health supplements, not the jelly on a dessert plate. The company was formed in 1975 as a joint venture between Japan’s Nitta Gelatin Inc. and the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation, and it is now entering its 50th year. Its recurring approach has been to combine its Japanese promoter’s technical expertise with rigorous cost management and raw-material flexibility, channelling over 95% of its production into the demanding capsule industry rather than competing in lower-margin food gelatin. # Business segments Three engines built on a single raw-material stream - an intermediate product that feeds the group parent, a pharmaceutical-grade gelatin business that is the company’s core, and a consumer-facing collagen peptide brand that is scaling up - each one drawing on the same bone-crushing and hydrolysis backbone. ## 1. Ossein and Di-Calcium Phosphate: the raw-material anchor that feeds the parent **The company crushes animal bone into a semi-finished gelatin ingredient called ossein and exports the entire output to its Japanese promoter, while selling the mineral by-product to Indian poultry farmers.** - **Made for the parent, priced to the market** - ossein supplies to Nitta Gelatin Inc., Japan are sustained through dispatches from Reva Division, Gujarat and the Ossein Plant at Koratty, with the transfer price linked to global gelatin prices, making it a captive supply line rather than an arm’s-length commodity trade. - **Bone from home and abroad** - crushed bone is sourced domestically from South India and supplemented with premium imported gelbone from France and New Zealand when prices are competitive, giving the company a flexible raw-material basket. - **A poultry feed by-product pays its way** - Di-Calcium Phosphate (DCP), the mineral residue left after extracting ossein, is sold domestically as a feed and fertilizer ingredient, with demand improving in FY25 as the poultry sector picked up. - **Cleaner bone, lower cost** - the company has set up a pilot plant with a prospective supplier to develop degreased crushed bone that reduces impurity content, a move aimed at cutting processing costs and improving yield. ## 2. Gelatin: the pharmaceutical-grade core that supplies the world’s capsule makers **This is a business that sells a specialised protein excipient - not dessert jelly - to hard and soft capsule manufacturers in India and the United States, operating at full capacity with a hide-based expansion now underway.** - **Built for capsules, not confectionery** - over 95% of the company’s 4,500-tonne annual gelatin capacity is dedicated to pharmaceutical and nutraceutical capsules, making it the only Indian producer of capsule-grade gelatin with the full suite of global regulatory certifications. - **A certification moat** - the company holds EDQM, WHO-GMP, US DMF, Halal, Kosher, and FSSC 22000 approvals, among others, which are mandatory for supplying regulated pharmaceutical supply chains and act as a barrier to smaller competitors. - **Hide is reshaping the market** - the global gelatin industry is shifting to a buyer’s market because surplus bovine hide from declining leather demand has created cheaper raw-material alternatives, with new hide-based competitors emerging in Turkey and Brazil. - **Expanding into the cheaper feedstock** - in February 2025 the Board approved a 1,500-tonne capacity addition, to be built within 33 months at a cost of Rs. 1,549 million, financed through internal accruals and external loans. - **America through the family network** - roughly 43% of gelatin sales are exports, and the United States alone accounts for about 70% of the Company's total gelatin exports, channelled through Nitta Gelatin North America, a subsidiary of the Japanese promoter that handles US regulatory and customer relationships. ## 3. Collagen Peptide: the consumer-health bet scaling under its own brand **Collagen peptide is hydrolysed gelatin sold as a wellness ingredient for joint health and beauty supplements, distributed both in bulk to brand owners and directly to consumers through e-commerce under the company’s own “Gelixer” label.** - **From bulk ingredient to branded bottle** - the company sells collagen peptide through two channels: bulk supplies to Indian and international brand owners, and direct B2C sales of its “Gelixer” brand on Amazon, Flipkart, and other platforms, capturing margin at both ends of the value chain. - **A clinically backed fish variant** - the company produces a fish collagen peptide with a health claim approved by the Korean Food and Drug Administration, and its market share in Korea has been growing, with prices rising 7% in FY25 on new customer additions. - **Riding India’s nutraceutical wave** - the Indian nutraceuticals market is projected to grow at over 20% annually to USD 52 billion by FY2031, and the company is developing higher-functional peptides for diabetes management and other therapeutic uses to capture a slice of that demand. # Group structure and partners **The company is a 50-year-old joint venture between a Japanese technical parent and the Kerala state government, with a troubled subsidiary now being wound down.** - **Shared control with the state** - under a Promotional Agreement renewed since 2023, Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) and Nitta Gelatin Inc. each nominate two directors, and any change to the company’s Articles or share capital requires both promoters’ approval. - **The Japanese parent is the technical backbone** - Nitta Gelatin Inc. provides product development, marketing, quality improvement, and personnel training, and the company pays both commission on gelatin and peptide sales and technical assistance fees for that support. - **A subsidiary in limbo** - Bamni Proteins Limited, an 82%-owned ossein and DCP unit in Maharashtra, was ordered to stop operations in March 2024 by the state pollution board, and by June 2025 the Board had authorised exploring an asset sale because no commercially feasible restart solution exists. - **Merger now on the table** - in October 2025 the Board constituted a committee to evaluate merging Bamni Proteins into NGIL, a move that would absorb its Rs. 41.7 crore asset base and resolve the stranded entity.