Zydus Cadila may foray into malted food beverage

The kids’ health beverage market with likes of Bournvita, Complan and Horlicks just seem to be hotting up. After foraying into several healthcare consumer products like Sugar Free Natura, Everyuth and Dermacare, Ahmedabad-based Cadila Healthcare Ltd., the Rs 2,300 crore Zydus group, is eyeing the malted food beverages (MFB) segment.

While officials are tightlipped about the project citing confidentiality, sources close to the development said that the company is conducting R&D on the product. At an early product development stage, the project has been kept under wraps by Cadila Healthcare. Moreover, the company is also yet to decide upon a brand name for the MFB.

The move is seen as an obvious step towards the company's attempts to consolidate on its healthcare consumer products. The company is supposedly aiming at creating a distinction between its pharmaceutical and healthcare consumer products and is believed to be mulling to shift its consumer products division to its listed company, Carnation Nutra-Analogue Foods Limited (CNAFL). CNAFL is, apparently, the manufacturer of the popular margarine brand 'Nutralite'.

Eventually, Cadila Healthcare plans to increase its brands in the healthcare and nutraceutical segments and is likely to add more products to its current portfolio. Currently, Zydus has top selling consumer products like Sugar Free Gold, Sugar Free Natura, Sugar FreeD’lite, Everyuth and Dermacare in the Cadila Healthcare basket.

The company has begun aggressive marketing and ad campaigning of its Sugar Free brand and has signed up actor Bipasha Basu as its brand ambassador. Apart from Sugar Free brand, the group's Nutralite has also been a popular product in the market.

A healthy cholesterol-free butter substitute, Nutralite is one of the largest selling table margarines in India. While CNAFL seems to have no serious competition in analogue food products category, Amul has also forayed into the margarine product segment with its ‘Delicious Table Margarine’ which may turn out to be a potential threat to Nutralite.

Cadila Healthcare's robust plans of foraying into fresh segments might give impetus to its performance given the 25 per cent growth rate in the consumer product division by the company in 2007-08.