Dainik Bhaskar to launch 'Bhaskar Salt' in UP

A group better known as a brand name in television channels, newspapers and cable television in the country, the Rs 1,700 crore Dainik Bhaskar group has now entered into marketing its flagship FMCG product "Bhaskar Salt" in Uttar Pradesh.

Talking to Business Standard, the director, Maya Fragrances, distributors for the Bhaskar group's FMCG products in Uttar Pradesh, Mohanlal Sharma, said though the marketing for Bhaskar Salt had been under way for the past month, the product shall be formally launched in Uttar Pradesh on July 23 with the opening of the office of Bhaskar Venkatesh Pvt Ltd, the FMCG arm of Bhaskar Group.

He said in Uttar Pradesh as well as the rest of the country, there were a large number of salt brands active in the market and compared to these brands, "Bhaskar Salt" was a recent entrant.

So instead of capturing the branded salt market where "Tata" dominated the scene, the Bhaskar group aims to take over the "unbranded" salt segment that was still prevailing strongly in the market despite a ban on marketing of non-iodised salt.

According to Sharma, considering the tough competition ahead, he expected initial sales to barely touch Rs. 1 to Rs 1.5 crores in the first year of the launching of the salt in Uttar Pradesh, but sales were expected to pick up with an extensive marketing campaign that would be launched in the coming months, that included offering "freebies" to retailers with the salt packets.