With HUL's pullout, Vindhya Valley struggles to survive in Madhya Pradesh

After Hindustan Unilever Ltd’s pullout, the state’s first own brand, Vindhya Valley, is now struggling to survive. In the absence of a proper marketing strategy, and due to frequent policy changes, the brand has attained only 20 per cent of its target.

“We need to work out a proper plan once again. Against the targeted 500 self-help groups, we only have 54 under the fold despite the fact that we have earned a name in qualitative and pure product portfolio, which includes spices, honey, pickles and papad,” a government official explained, and said, “after HUL’s pullout last October, we need to re-design our technical and marketing strategy”.

 

Consumer goods giant HUL had come together with the state government to create a new business model in 2002. The umbrella food products brand, designed to be marketed by HUL, was the brainchild of then Chief Minister Digvijay Singh and HUL chairman MS Banga. Initially, it included four products - red chilli powder, turmeric, coriander and some basic spices used for cooking.

With “100 per cent purity” tag, HUL’s marketing team not only developed the brand but also worked out the details of a media campaign, packaging, design, quality standards and control mechanisms. The owner, Madhya Pradesh’s Khadi Village and Industries Board, however, has no breakthrough to show. According to the data available with Business Standard, during the first phase from 2002 to 2006, the brand clocked sales figure of Rs 2 crore. While during the second phase (2006-07 to 2010-11), with a committed support of Rs 15 crore from the Union government and the state government, the brand recorded a continuous decline in sales, which slipped to Rs 3.18 lakh (against a target of Rs 3.74 crore) from Rs 46.85 lakh (with the target of Rs 2.24 crore).