South Asia .

According to a South China Morning Post report , as demand for halal products increases in Muslim and non-Muslim countries , a report by consulting firm Frost & Sullivan predicts that the worldwide halal sector will be worth US $ 4.96 trillion by 2030 .

The halal industry in Malaysia is projected to grow to a value of RM400 billion ($ 90.5 billion ) by 2030 , according to the Malaysian government .

Sayantan Das , CEO of Foodpanda Malaysia , said negotiations to provide the bekal service to sister companies began before last week ’ s launch .

“ We believe the halal certification process in Malaysia is the gold standard globally and ... there is demand for this to be exported out of Malaysia ,” Sayantan said on This Week in Asia .

He said in the “ next six to 12 months ”, the company planned to assist in the establishment of similar halal delivery services in the Middle East , where Delivery Hero reportedly spent over US $ 1.2 billion to acquire several delivery firms between 2015 and 2020 , and in Bangladesh and Pakistan , where Foodpanda is active .

To ensure that all food served through the Foodpanda Malaysia bekal service complies with the country ’ s stringent halal requirements , the company launched it last week in partnership with the JAKIM , which handles halal certification .

Sayantan explained that the platform was a logical extension of the company ’ s existing delivery fleet , which had already dedicated 40 per cent of its ridership to halal delivery .

Foodpanda Malaysia recently rolled out its halal-only bekal service in collaboration with JAKIM .

Sayantan Das

It was estimated that halal delivery would account for roughly half of all deliveries once the company rolled out bekal nationwide by the end of this year .

The company worked with JAKIM to certify up to 3,000 small sellers as halal by the end of the year , according to Sayantan . There are more than 100,000 merchants on Foodpanda throughout Malaysia .

Singaporean venture firm Momentum Works estimates that Foodpanda will have a gross merchandise value ( GMV ) of US $ 3.1 billion in 2022 , making it the second-largest meal delivery firm in Southeast Asia .

However , Foodpanda had a rough year in Malaysia , where it had previously dominated the meal delivery market since launching in 2012 .

In 2022 , the Malaysian meal delivery business was dominated by the regional e-commerce behemoth Grab , which held a 60

per cent share compared to Foodpanda ’ s 38 per cent .

Grab is No 1 in Indonesia , the Philippines , Singapore , Thailand , and Vietnam , with a combined GMV of US $ 8.8 billion .

Sayantan reported “ very positive ” interest in the company ’ s bekal service during a test project , believing it would generate sizable profits for Foodpanda Malaysia .

However , Foodpanda Malaysia declined to disclose estimates of the potential contribution of its halal platform to its national GMV .

To what extent the halal economy contributes to Malaysia ’ s GDP is unknown ; however , Sayantan estimates it to be between eight and 10 per cent .

Regarding economic impact and revenue generation , “ even if we carve out a space with end-to-end last-mile deliveries amounting to even one per cent of that , we will be close to a billion dollars ”. –