In a study conducted by IIMRB titled Understanding Protein Myths and Gaps Among Indians, about 1,800 Indian residents across four different regions of the country were surveyed.
It reported that up to 73% of Indians had protein-deficient diets. Among these people, 84% were vegetarians, while 65% were non-vegetarians.
93% of Indians did not know their daily protein requirements.
This statistic has since been recycled into academic papers, cited in brand campaigns, and repeated so often that you have almost certainly come across the phrase, “73% of Indians are protein deficient,” if you have spent any time reading health and wellness content over the last few years.
Since then, this number has been amplified through a campaign called Right to Protein, which has been running in India since 2020, with Protein Day celebrated every year on February 27.
The campaign has also expanded to several other countries, including Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
In 2025, a conference was co-hosted in Indore titled Farm to Fork: Bridging the Protein Gap in India through Sustainable Soy Foods. It featured the CEO of one of India’s largest soy producers, and the USSEC regional director stated that India needs to meet its protein requirements.
Since then, there has been a phrase thrown around repeatedly: the protein gap.
This term, the protein gap, was the exact phrase used by UN-led campaigns during the 1950s to 1970s, when it was declared that the world was suffering from a global protein deficiency.
That claim was later publicly discredited by the scientist who had originally led the research in 1974, and the entire episode came to be known as the Great Protein Fiasco.
Why am I mentioning this?
Because 50 years later, in a different country, the same phrase appears to be doing the same marketing work.
None of this means that everything about protein marketing, promotion, or these campaigns is false.
It simply means that you need to understand that this statistic has been funded and amplified by organizations that are trying to promote their own products.
For that reason, we should not automatically treat it as a science-grounded framework.
We should also keep in mind that the survey included about 1,800 residents, while India consists of about 1.3 billion people. That is a very small sample relative to the country’s population, and it deserves to be interpreted with that context in mind.
Now Let’s Look at Something Larger
The The National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) conducted a Household Consumption Expenditure Survey in 2023-24 and covered about 261,953 households, of which 154,357 were rural and 107,596 were urban.
This dataset is much larger than the IIMRB sample. More importantly, the figures came from a government-run household consumption survey rather than a market research survey.
The survey was analysed in December 2025 by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW). According to this analysis, the conclusions were very different.
First, the average protein intake in India is actually adequate, not deficient. Around 55.6 grams of protein per person per day is consumed on average. Per capita intake was estimated at 61.8 grams in rural regions and 63.4 grams in urban areas.
What the researchers observed was that the real problem lies in the composition of protein intake, not the quantity.
About 50% of India’s dietary protein comes from cereals such as rice, wheat, and refined flour, whereas the recommended proportion is 32%. Pulses contribute only about 11%, despite a recommended share of 19%.
The real problem, therefore, is distribution of protein sources within the diet.
Separately, many independent researchers from organisations such as the M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation have also estimated that average protein intake in India is generally adequate. However, they point out that a specific amino acid, lysine, is often the limiting factor.
If we put aside all these numbers and statistics, the summary is actually quite simple.
India does not have a nationwide protein crisis. What India has is a dietary diversity crisis, and in many places, an inadequate food access, of which protein is only one constraint rather than the entire problem.
The people most affected are households living in rural and economically disadvantaged regions. Now, selling protein powders to urban consumers, many of whom are already meeting their protein requirements, is not the solution.
In fact, the solution, on the other hand, is also much simpler.
Improving access to pulses, dairy, and other naturally protein-rich foods that are already part of traditional diets would do far more than encouraging already well-fed consumers to buy another protein product.
Perhaps the bigger question is not whether you’re eating enough protein, but whether your body is capable of using the protein you’re already eating. I also wrote about how Ayurveda looks at protein very differently, focusing on digestion before nutrients. You can read that here.