Wipro to enter pet food market with new brand ‘HappyFur’
Wipro Consumer gears up to launch its own pet food brand “HappyFur” within a year, joining Reliance, Nestlé and fast-growing Indian labels in the race to win over millions of households shifting to packaged pet nutrition.
BENGALURU : Wipro Consumer Care & Lighting, the consumer arm of Wipro Enterprises, is set to enter India’s fast-growing pet food market with a new brand named “HappyFur", three people aware of the plan told Mint.
The Bengaluru-based company is expected to launch its pet food products within the next 6–12 months, the people said. Records from the Ministry of Commerce & Industry show the company received approval for the trademark “HappyFur" on 7 July this year.
Wipro did not immediately respond to an email seeking comments.
The move signals a deeper push by large Indian conglomerates into the fast-growing pet food category, a $2.4 billion market expanding at over 15% annually as urban pet ownership surges, according to a report by IMARC Group. The entry of heavyweights like Reliance Consumer Products, which this month rolled out its budget-positioned Waggies brand, underscores how the segment is shifting from a niche, import-led space to a broader consumer battleground.
Global majors such as Mars (Pedigree, Whiskas) and Royal Canin currently dominate, but domestic brands—including Drools, Wag & Love, Heads Up For Tails and Himalaya—have been steadily gaining share.
“The entry of the big boys changes everything. In an FMCG category like pet food, distribution is king—and companies like Reliance and Wipro have reach and brand muscle that startups simply cannot match," said Arvind Singhal, chairman and MD, The Knowledge Company, a consumer-focused strategy consulting firm.
Strategic bet
Wipro’s entry with its own brand follows its first investment in the segment earlier this year. In June, Wipro Consumer Care Ventures—its venture capital arm—made a pre-Series A investment of $1 million in Delhi-based digital-first pet nutrition brand Goofy Tails. The investment capped the deployment of its Fund I and preceded the launch of a ₹250-crore second fund.
This deal is meant to serve as a market test, allowing Wipro to assess early consumer behaviour, product gaps, and the category’s growth potential before committing to a full-scale launch of its own brand, according to one of the three people who spoke to Mint.
“We are glad to partner with Goofy Tails, which is passionately addressing key gaps in India’s pet food market," Sumit Keshan, managing partner of Wipro Consumer Care Ventures, had said while announcing the deal. “With pets increasingly becoming family, there is a growing demand for high-quality, nutritious and innovative pet food products."
Rival moves
Earlier this month, Reliance launched its pet food brand Waggies, starting with dog food. The company says Waggies will offer “global quality at affordable prices", starting at ₹199 per kg—roughly 20–50% cheaper than global rivals.
However, two of the three people Mint spoke to said Reliance’s launch of Waggies was delayed by about two months, although the reasons are unclear. The company is relying on third party manufacturers and will begin with a partner from Chennai, these people said. It also intends to eventually sell cat food eventually, as part of a phase-2 expansion into the pet food category.
Reliance Consumer did not respond to an email seeking comments.
Reliance’s approach mirrors its earlier playbooks with Jio in telecom and Campa in soft drinks—disrupting pricing rather than taking on premium incumbents like Mars or Nestlé Purina.
One person said the company is targeting the 90% of Indian pet-owning households that still feed pets home-cooked meals, hoping to convert this unorganized segment into branded consumers.
The company plans to scale first in southern India before expanding northward, two of the three people said.
Market momentum
Wipro and Reliance’s moves coincide with global and domestic players sharpening their focus on India’s pet care landscape.
In May, Nestlé SA acquired a minority stake in Chhattisgarh-based Drools Pet Food Pvt. Ltd, valuing it at over $1 billion—up from about $600 million two years earlier, Mint reported. The global food major, which sells pet food under the Purina brand, sees India as one of its fastest-growing pet care markets.
“India is a mega-market in the making," Hubert Wieser, chief executive officer of Nestlé Purina Petcare for Asia, Oceania and Africa, told Mint earlier. “The US is the largest, followed by China, and India will one day be among the top three."
India’s broader pet market is also undergoing a structural shift. According to Euromonitor estimates shared with Mint, India’s pet care market is expected to grow 12.4% to $884.4 million this year. Of this, the pet food segment alone is projected to rise from $680.3 million in 2024 to $769.7 million in 2025.
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