All major players in the Rs 1,200-crore (Rs 12 billion) ice cream market are set to adorn a health-oriented look this year by offering more such products. Amul has already launched probiotic health and wellness ice creams and is also offering sugar free variants. Mother Dairy has decided to expand its naturally flavoured offerings along with its new packaging. HUL introduced Moo ice cream under the health and wellness umbrella. Aavin has also launched a low-sugar ice-cream.
For long, McDonald's has been riding on the affordability plank, advertising its prices that are apparently a throwback to an era. Now, it has to share the plank with India's oldest fast food giant, Nirula's when it comes to people picked from sepia tone menus. In spite of a rise in input costs, homegrown fast food chain Nirula's, which a-decade-and-a-half ago was the only one of its kind in Delhi, has slashed its prices.
They might have made little headway in the market so far, but leading Chinese consumer electronics companies are busy drawing up big plans to expand their footprints in India. After acquiring Anchor Daewoo's appliance business last year, Haier is on the prowl for some local brands. TCL is getting ready to expand its product range to mobile phones and home appliances.
In terms of price, Tag Heuer mobile phones will be positioned at the top end of the market and cost about Rs 2,21,000. Switzerland-based Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy group, which owns the brand, has decided to launch the phones in India at the same time as their global launch.
In a sharp mid-course correction, Karan Bilimoria, the NRI beer maker, is in talks for a distribution tie-up in the US with Anheuser-Busch, whose Budweiser lords it over half the beer market in that country. While Cobra managed to hold its own in the SABMiller-dominated South African beer market, it managed only flat results with Krait Prestige, which was marketed as the world's first Champagne Lager.
The rankings on the value are set to change. A role reversal is silently taking place in the Indian consumer durable business landscape. LG, which has built a huge reputation and amassed a significant market share on the back of affordable pricing, is consciously promoting higher end products. The Korean company has undertaken a strategic initiative to position itself as a maker of premium consumer electronics.
Camera makers are getting bullish on Indian markets as the consumer base here is increasing. Major camera brands are banking on retail sales in India. For this, Nikon has tied up with consumer electronics retail chains such as Croma, while Sony India has exclusive retail store network. Samsung has tie-ups with Reliance Digital, Croma, and other multi brand outlets. But all the brands face stiff competition from grey markets that are canabalising the brands' share in retail.
With the wine market in India poised for heady growth, liquor companies are ready to uncork their best wines. Currently, the Indian wine market is estimated at 1.2 million cases (one case has 12 bottles of 750 ml each), with imported wines accounting for a mere 200,000 cases.
Bullish on the Indian market, Japanese companies dealing in consumer durables are all set to strengthen their presence in India by targeting niche categories and expanding their reach to tier-2 markets. The Rs 25,000-crore consumer durables market in India is currently dominated by Korean companies -- LG and Samsung.
Major ad agencies face a rise in attrition rate, as top officials change jobs at the beginning of the year.
In an attempt to tap the growing market for lifestyle products, the Videocon group plans to come out with laptop computers, mobile phones and gaming solutions by the last quarter of 2008.
The Indian advertising expenditure is doubling every four years primarily dominated by spends on television and print campaigns.
Premium British ale brands such as Abbot Ale, Fuller's London Pride, Broughton, St. Peter's, Spitfire and Hobgoblin Ale are expected to make their entry into the hotels soon.
The Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation, which owns the Amul brand, is all set to introduce sugar-free chocolates across the country, targeted at diabetics. This comes soon after the company had launched sugar-free ice-cream. India has become the diabetes capital of the world with almost 35 million people suffering from the disorder. And their population will continue to grow at a fast pace, say experts, because of Indian dietary habits and a sedentary lifestyle.
Vijay Mallya's United Breweries has held a vice-like grip over the Indian beer market with the Kingfisher, Kalyani and Sandpiper brands. With 137 million cases (12 bottles each), it has a 45 per cent market share. But now multinationals are closing in on UB.
Firms use imported pulp as Indian oranges have lower juice content. The Indian orange is yet to catch the fancy of beverage companies, foreign as well as Indian. Dabur, the leader in orange-based packaged juices with a 54 per cent market share, sources orange concentrate from North and South America for its 'Real' brand.
Still drinks, nectars and packaged water sales are maturing quickly to grab a major share of the Indian beverages market, according to "The 2007 India Soft Drinks Report" by Canadean, the global beverages research company.
Dire warnings that the future wars will be fought over water may come true sooner than anticipated, albeit with a flavour. At least four behemoths, three of them multinationals, will soon mount an assault on the flavoured water market.
Having failed to receive even a lukewarm response to the open tender for marketing India as a tourist destination overseas, the ministry of tourism has decided to extend the deadline by over a fortnight to mid-August.
Sources close to the development said this could happen at a meeting of the company's board of directors on Thursday.
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