| The Mumbai-based Rs 885-crore Marico Industries Limited, a leading fast moving consumer group (FMCG) player, is at present test marketing two new products in the hair oils segment and hopes to launch them in the next one year.
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| Saugata Gupta, head of marketing, Marico Industries Limited, told Business Standard that the company has started testing a cool oil called ‘Maha Thanda’ in the Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh markets and the initial results were positive.
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| “Though we have not set ourselves any time frame for the launch of this oil, we expect that it would be launched across the country in the next six months to one year,” Gupta said.
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| He said that another value-added coconut oil, ‘Sampoorna’, was being test marketed in the markets of Maharashtra.
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| “The initial results have been positive and the company has high expectations from this oil,” he added. Gupta, however, said that the company as of now does not have any plans of combining cooling and coconut oils together in hair-oils segment.
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| Gupta said that the company plans to launch ‘Kaya Skin Clinics’, which offer scientific USFDA-approved dermatological procedures to enhance appearance of the skin, in the southern parts of the country.
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| “At present, we have a total of 14 clinics, with one more clinic just being opened in Mumbai. We would be investing substantially in these clinics across south India during the current fiscal,” Gupta said.
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| Gupta, however, refused to comment on the exact investment and the number of clinics that the company was planning to open during the current fiscal.
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| Kaya Skin Clinics would operate under the banner of Kaya Aesthetics Limited, a subsidiary of Marico Industries Limited.
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| “The Kaya Skin Clinic venture would also help Marico move up the value chain in the personal care business through newer products and services in the skin care space,” he added.
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| According to Gupta, the company’s flag ship brand – Parachute Coconut Oil – has seen a four per cent rise in sales after the brand was relaunched last year and Saffola, the edible oil brand of the company, has also seen a considerable rise.
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| “We are also looking at other value-added products like 'Parachute Jasmine' whose market share increased by around 33 per cent last year,” Gupta said.
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| The company is also looking at the extension of Saffola brand into value-added products and services in the area of health care.
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| “Till now people saw the brand as only a therapeutic product and only used it when they had some sort of a heart problem. Now, we plan to stretch the brand as an extension of heart care and more as a preventive product,” Gupta said. |
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