With new products, the company seeks to beat dependence on seasonal demand.
Come April, there will likely be many more reasons (read flavours and products) for diehard liquid-guzzlers to say, ‘I love you Rasna’. The popular soft drink concentrate maker is set to launch juices, nectar and fortified water, according to Piruz Khambatta, chairman of Rasna.
For this, Rasna has floated a separate unit, Rasna Beverages, for which an investment of around Rs150 crore is being made.
The company has also tied up with a European company for branding and licensing agreement. “In one category, the product will be launched entirely in the foreign partner’s name as it has more premium brand recall. In other categories, we will have the branding of Rasna on some products,” said Khambatta.
Although the ready-to-drink juice segment already has players such as Dabur and PepsiCo, fortified water, a kind of diluted juice, is virgin territory, says Khambatta.
This marks Rasna’s shift in focus to the premium end of soft drinks as “demand and potential for growth are higher in this category”.
Observers endorsed Rasna’s strategy saying demand is fairly inelastic and margins higher at the top end of the market.
The strategy is expected to shield Rasna from the seasonality of the concentrated powder market where sales are brisk only during the summer.
For similar reasons, Rasna, Khambatta said, has been increasingly fortifying its offerings with vitamins and minerals. This will also make Rasna more attractive to the health-conscious customer, he said.
Rasna’s earlier plan to launch an energy drink has been shelved for now due to concerns about obtaining prompt regulatory clearances, he said.
Rasna commands an almost 85% share of the Rs750-crore dilutables market where it is planning to launch one more product. Details are still under wraps.
It is learnt the seven-plant company will launch its eight unit by year-end in Guwahati.
Sales this fiscal will likely touch Rs450 crore. If the coming summer proves good for sales, growth could around 40% next fiscal, he said.
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