Krishnapriya Balakrishnan considers her two dogs, Bambi and Leo, her children. She ensures for them the best of veterinary care, customised meals, a 24/7 nanny, and premium grooming sessions, and even throws them birthday parties.
“People are like, oh god, you spend so much money on them. But my friends with kids are also paying insane school fees for them to learn ABCD,” laughs Krishnapriya, Corporate Marketing Head, Maratt Hospitality. “I think it is each one to their own.”
It helps that she is now in Bengaluru — she moved from Kolkata six years ago — a place she considers “way ahead of other cities” as far as pet care is concerned. Not only does the city offer better facilities to look after and enrich a pet’s life, but there is also a large community of pet lovers in the city who support and help each other. There are also multiple city-wide pet parent communities. Her building has one, “and it is very active,” says Krishnapriya. “It is beautiful, and I’ve seen that only in Bengaluru.”
There are indeed many benefits to being a pet owner living in Bengaluru, agrees Anjali Pais, who shares her spacious Bengaluru home with four pets: a dog named Marshmallo and three cats, Sirius, Po and Fifi. “As a pet parent, I think veterinary services, for instance, are very crucial. We had a very bad experience in Chennai and struggled in Mumbai, but it has been different in Bengaluru,” says Anjali, the founder and CEO of Aquilar Strategic Services, who believes that the city’s strong pro-pet and rescue culture has helped grow its pet infrastructure and community. “For instance, if there are people in the apartment who are against pets, just having this strong pro-pet community helps us counter their objections in a united way.”
For people with relatively fewer commitments and plenty of spending power, pets become a way to experience parenthood before having their children.
| Photo Credit:
MURALI KUMAR K
Pet parenting before parenting
Bengaluru is the most pet-friendly city in India, with its closest competitor being Mumbai, according to a 2019 survey conducted by Lana Paws Survey. It also appears to be a city where people are willing to spend the most on their pets, as a more recent study by online pet marketplace Supertails, released in 2023, indicates. It found that 55% of Bangaloreans spent an average of ₹3,000 per month on pet care compared to 52% of Mumbaikars.
“Bengaluru is indeed the most pet-friendly city in the country,” says Vineet Khanna, co-founder of Supertails, who estimates that the city houses around 50 lakh pets, anywhere between 13-15% of the overall pet population in the country. “A multitude of variables and factors come together to make it rightfully called a pet-friendly city,” he believes.
For starters, Bengaluru has the third highest population in India and the highest in South India, with an estimated population of almost 14 crore. It is also a very young city with the highest share of the population in the age brackets of 19-30 years and 30-40 years, according to the Bengaluru Rising data report, which Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah released at the Bengaluru Tech Summit in November 2024. “Bengaluru is growing younger with time because of a large population inflow,” believes Supertails’ Vineet, pointing out that this influx of young talent from elsewhere to work in the city, away from their families, leads to a cultural shift as they adapt to single life in a metropolis. “Declining fertility rates and delayed marriages are no exception to Bangalore,” he adds.
For these young people with relatively fewer commitments and plenty of spending power, pets become a way to experience parenthood before having their children. Pratap Gopalakrishnan, a Bengaluru-based leadership coach and start-up consultant who is working on building a global pet services platform, reiterates that from a sheer growth perspective, Bengaluru is the number one metro in India. “The double-income-no-kids community in Bangalore is very large in terms of that number,” he says. “Also, Gen Z wants to become pet parents first and then decide whether they want to become parents or not,” he says, while Vineet adds, “The population of pets is increasing, and the population of pet parents is becoming younger. That’s interesting because it leads to further growth.”
Some feel that significant gaps in pet tech still need to be addressed in the city and, indeed, in the rest of the country.
| Photo Credit:
FILE Photo
Categories and growth
According to Vineet, food is the fastest-growing sub-category when it comes to the pet care industry, with younger parents willing to invest in the best possible food for their pets. “Home-cooked food is not the most natural option for pets; they’re not cooking for themselves,” he says, pointing out that the average Bengaluru pet parents are more digitally active, intuitive and discerning about pet nutrition. This, in turn, means that the market tends to become more premium, he says, especially since “they are not cooking for their pet, so there is a guilt factor. To overcome that guilt, you try to give your pet a bit more, which leads to premiumisation.”
Bengaluru also has a higher growth rate for categories beyond food in India. “Bengaluru has a working population, so there is this typical feeling with the parent that when they are working, they have a higher obligation to pamper and spoil their little one,” says Vineet, who believes that the other category, which is growing fast in Bengaluru is pet health care that is now becoming proactive rather than reactive.
Ankit Tandon, Senior Manager, Category & Operations at omnichannel pet care firm Zigly, agrees that the city is a thriving pet market with a strong focus on comprehensive pet care. “The city’s pet-friendly infrastructure, including parks, cafes, and pet services, makes it an ideal hub for businesses offering a one-stop solution for pet wellness,” says Ankit. In his opinion, Bengaluru’s pet owners are increasingly willing to invest in premium products and services. “The most popular segments are premium pet food, grooming services, and healthcare. There’s also a growing demand for toys, accessories, and fashionable items, as pet parents seek quality and comfort for their pets,” he states.
Digital-first
According to a January 2023 report published by Bengaluru-headquartered market research and data platform Tracxn, Bengaluru has 86 pet tech start-ups, including Supertails, Wagr, Khanal Foods, Kuddle and PetCart. “Out of these, 12 startups are funded, with two having secured Series A+ funding,” states the report, adding that over the past 10 years, an average of six new companies have been launched annually.
Bengaluru is the playground for most digital new-age start-ups “because it is so adaptive and so open to digitally first businesses,” says Vineet. In his opinion, the pet-friendliness of the city and inhabitants’ willingness to spend means that it becomes a “proof of concept city for anybody trying out new things,” he says. “Pet care evolution and revolution are happening across the country. It is just that Bengaluru is a bit ahead of the curve.”
On the other hand, Pratap feels that some significant gaps in pet tech still need to be addressed in the city and, indeed, in the rest of the country. “Start-ups typically try to take on the low-hanging fruit: pet foods and accessories. I’d say 60% of the market is pet foods, and maybe another 5% is accessories.”
However, the pet service industry, which includes pet boarding, housesitting, pet insurance, pet grooming, dog walking, puppy and dog training, pet taxis and telemedicine, still has some way to go, in his opinion. “I think there is a huge possibility of solving issues related to the services space,” says Pratap, who believes that AI technology could significantly help key innovations in pet healthcare. “It would see the telemedicine space transform in a big way, with early detection of diseases and treatments that will give a few years more to our furry friends.”
Escalating costs
While Anjali concedes that the city is overall a pet-friendly one, she remains concerned about it the escalating costs of current pet care services in Bengaluru. “I’ve always been a very committed and passionate pet owner, but I think that is being exploited left, right and centre by the industry,” she says, pointing out that these grooming services, for instance, are markedly more expensive in Bengaluru than in a city like Chennai, also a metro city.
“I do not understand how things get so much more expensive when they cross borders,” she says. In her opinion, it is because people in Bengaluru dote on their pets so much and exhibit a willingness to spend that pet ownership is becoming more and more expensive. “We have fantastic facilities, but I also believe that people are taking advantage of the situation, which is also causing an overall escalation in prices in Bangalore,” she says.
She also believes that the city’s basic infrastructure leaves much to be desired for both pet and pet owners. “The government needs first to stop digging roads and dislodging everything. We can’t even move out and take our dog for a walk,” she says. “What is the question of being pet-friendly if basic mobility is problematic?”
Published – February 11, 2025 09:00 am IST
