ITC partners with Amway to develop range of immunity boosting products

Launches fruit juices with clinically proven immunity boosters, which will be sold by Amway's micro-entrepreneurs for a while

With sales of immunity building products seeing an uptick in demand after the Covid-19 outbreak, FMCG giant ITC has partnered with direct selling company Amway India to launch a range of products in the segment, the first being a one-of-its-kind immunity offering in fruit beverages.

Priced at Rs 130, the new B Natural + range of fruit juices contain clinically proven immunity boosters and will be sold by Amway’s micro-entrepreneurs for a limited time period, before ITC starts using its pan-India distribution network. 

“At ITC, we are unique in the number of product formats that we have and each of these formats can actually be leveraged for a specific consumer benefit with the product and nutrition science that Amway has and our ability to do product development on those,” said Hemant Malik, Divisional Chief Executive − Foods Division, ITC. He said this is the first glimpse of an immunity product and several others will be launched in the coming months. 

Reports say demand for immunity-building products has gone up four times post-Covid-19. While FMCG companies such as Dabur have posted overall losses during the fourth quarter, immunity products such as chyawanprash and honey have seen over an 80 per cent surge in demand. 

Experts say even juices are benefitting from more in-home consumption. “Apart from regular benefits of health and Ayurveda focus, juices could get the much-needed fillip to growth. We note that juices performance could improve benefiting from greater in-home consumption versus other beverage categories like carbonated soft drinks,” said ICICI Securities in a note.

According to Malik, ITC and Amway were already in talks for a strategic collaboration long before the signs of Covid19 emerged in India and the outbreak fast-tracked the partnership.

Amway India CEO Anshu Budhraja said it is piloting and testing ground and also deploying resources and science-based research to strengthen the partnership further. 

“As we inch towards the food segment, we are confident of creating immense value for people through this partnership and further solidify our leadership in the health and immunity domain,” said Budhraja.