Makers of Baba chewing tobacco now launch Pass Pass Pulse candies

----Noida based DS Group aims to touch a Rs 100 cr turnover from Pulse candies in around a year

Noida-based Rs 6,500 crore diversified conglomerate DS Group, which was test marketing its new hard-boiled candy 'Pass Pass Pulse' in Rajasthan and Gujarat since the last few months, today launched the candy here. It plans to have a pan-India launch within the next six months and hopes to touch a turnover of Rs 100 crore from Pass Pass Pulse alone in around a year's time.

The Noida-based Group, which is best known for its chewing tobacco brands Baba and Tulsi and paan masala brand Rajnigandha, entered the confectionery segment with Pass Pass Chingles. It now aims to expand the portfolio of Pass Pass from traditional mouth fresheners to mini-chewing gums to hard-boiled candies. Shashank Surana, vice president, new products development, DS Group, said that the hard-boiled candies segment is clocking the fastest growth rate at around 9-10 per cent.

The overall confectionery segment is estimated to be around Rs 14925 crore in India, which is divided into non-gum-non-chocolate (NGNC) segment (Rs 4,800 crore), chocolates (Rs 8400 crore) and gums (Rs 1725 crore). Of this, the NGNC segment is further divided into hard-boiled segment (Rs 1800 crore), eclairs (Rs 1600 crore) and others (Rs 1400 crore). Surana said that "Nearly 86 per cent of the hard-boiled candies are priced at around 50 paise, only 14 per cent are priced around Re 1. Mango is the most popular flavour (raw mango and mango account for 26 and 24 per cent of the category," Surana said.

At present, the Group's confectionary business is just about Rs 154 crore, but with the addition of Pulse it aims to clock a Rs 100 crore turnover from Pulse candies itself within a year. "We received a phenomenal response during the test marketing phase; the robust demand actually pushed back our launch as we were not able to supply. We are planning to launch a couple of more flavours as well go for a national launch within the next six months. We also plan to add at least two more contract manufacturers to the current list of four," Surana claimed.

DS Group is getting the Pulse candies manufactured at Jamnagar and Ahmedabad in Gujarat, apart from Uttarakhand and Hyderabad as well.