'Most Indians don’t yet understand...': Zerodha co-founder Nithin Kamath calls calorie count on menus a good start, but...

Zerodha co-founder Nithin Kamath has lauded the move to display calories and carbs on menus, noting that presenting this information as a percentage could enhance understanding and encourage healthier choices among Indians.

"Most Indians don’t yet understand calories, but potentially, they could as a percentage. But yeah, one step at a time, and this mandatory display is a great first step," Kamath said in a post on X. 

“Ideally, we need to see calories as a percentage of daily calories, proteins, etc.” He highlighted the potential impact of this approach by noting that “one large chocolate milkshake has 1000+ calories, or 40% of an average person's calorie intake, which is about 2500 calories.” 

Kamath acknowledged the challenges this could pose for sales, remarking that “showing that a food contains 40% of the total calories that a person consumes in a day might reduce the sales of a lot of things.” 

Kamath says that “currently, only the number of calories is shown on the menu and packaging, and it seems to be making only a small difference.”

Kamath added that the shift won’t happen overnight. His post ties into the recent efforts by the government to enforce stricter compliance with nutritional information display regulations. Since July 2022, restaurants with ten or more outlets have been required to provide detailed nutritional data on their menus. 

The directive also reportedly extends to caterers of airlines, who must comply with menu labeling norms due to their central licenses. This is part of a broader move towards stricter food labeling regulations, including the recent mandate for packaged food makers to display nutritional information, such as total sugar, salt, and saturated fat, in bold letters and larger font sizes.