GCAW Launches Collaborative Initiative to Support Cage-Free Egg Supply in India

The Global Coalition for Animal Welfare (GCAW), an industry forum managed by Chronos Sustainability, has launched a new collaborative initiative to support the development of cage-free egg supply in India.

Delivered in partnership with Global Food Partners, the initiative brings together leading food companies with cage-free egg commitments, including Compass Group, Elior Group and Sodexo, to better understand the Indian market and identify practical pathways to scale cage-free sourcing.

A growing challenge for global food companies

India is one of the world’s largest egg producers.  It houses 7.5% of the world’s laying hens (around 627 million hens) but cage-free production is very small – probably less than 1% at commercial scale.

For food and hospitality companies with global cage-free egg commitments that extend to India, this presents a significant implementation challenge.

Over recent years, many companies have made public commitments to transition to cage-free eggs across their global supply chains. While progress has accelerated in some markets, India remains a particularly complex sourcing environment due to factors including fragmented supply, limited supplier availability, and significant cost differentials between conventional and cage-free production systems.

Members of GCAW identified that many of these challenges are shared across companies, creating an opportunity for pre-competitive collaboration to improve understanding of the market and support more coordinated engagement.

Shaping the new India initiative

Chronos Sustainability, through its role as GCAW Secretariat, has played a central role in shaping and coordinating the initiative, including convening participating companies, facilitating alignment on project scope and governance, and overseeing the delivery of the initiative in collaboration with Global Food Partners.

Commissioned by the Secretariat, Global Food Partners - GCAW’s local delivery partner in India - is responsible for engaging local supply chain actors and supporting implementation of the project outcomes on the ground.

A collaborative, practical approach

The initiative aims to improve understanding of what will be required to scale cage-free supply credibly and sustainably in India. In the coming months, it will focus on:

• Aggregating insights into company demand for cage-free eggs in India;

• Mapping existing and potential suppliers;

• Identifying barriers and opportunities within the supply chain;

• Developing proposals for supplier and stakeholder engagement;

• Supporting companies to better understand market realities and develop feasible transition pathways.

The work will initially focus on companies looking to source cage-free eggs, before broadening engagement with other stakeholders interested in cage-free supply chains including producers, industry groups, government representatives, certification bodies, NGOs, and other actors within the Indian market.

The initiative is now entering its first phase, with work underway on mapping key stakeholders in the value chain and recruiting additional participating companies. GCAW is seeking to engage food and hospitality companies with cage-free egg commitments to participate in the initiative, enable clearer understanding of how cage-free egg supply can develop in India, and support credible progress towards corporate commitments.

Our perspective: Why collaboration matters

The challenges faced by companies sourcing from India – such as limited visibility into existing cage-free supply, uncertainty around which suppliers can scale production, the level of demand needed to unlock investment in cage-free systems and realistic timelines and pathways for transition – are difficult for individual companies to address. Collaboration can help address some of the challenges, and by bringing companies together in a structured, pre-competitive forum, the initiative aims to reduce duplication of effort, improve access to market intelligence, and support coordinated and localised engagement with suppliers and stakeholders.

Our view is that this initiative also provides a model for addressing similar systemic supply chain challenges, particularly in markets and contexts where welfare standards, infrastructure and supply systems are still developing.

For more information about the initiative, please contact Chronos’ Dr Nathan Rhys Williams, who is coordinating the GCAW Secretariat, at secretariat@gc-animalwelfare.org

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