Ibef Loan To Push Nargis Tea Brand By September

The first loan from the India Brand Equity Fund (IBEF) will be provided next month to Project India Blend (PIB), a company promoted by five top tea companies in the country - Williamson Magor, Tata Tea, Warren Tea, Goodricke and Rossell, according to H M Parekh, chief executive officer of PIB.

This fund will be extended to promote the 'Nargis' brand of tea in the Russian and CIS markets.

After several rounds of discussions between the IBEF trust and PIB over interest rate, repayment period and the promotional efforts to be put up by the latter, the details of the funding would be finalised by next month. 'Nargis' tea, launched last year, notched up sales of 1 million kg.

 

With a $1.5 million (Rs 6 crore) budget for the current fiscal, PIB has set an export target of three million kg. Apart from intensifying its marketing efforts in Russia and CIS markets, the company is also eyeing Poland and Egypt.

"But that will take some time and now we are concentrating on additional promotional efforts in CIS and Russia", said Parekh. The promotional campaigning of the company is handled by Leo-Burnett.

The corpus of the IBEF is Rs 65 crore, including the Rs 50 crore contributed by the government.

The IBEF trust is a 15-member one, P Prabhu, commerce secretary as chairman. The trust has been formed to provide fund to companies to promote their products overseas.

Moreover, PIB will start exporting South Indian tea and the Darjeeling variety next month. Only northern orthodox, CTC blend and tea bags are exported under the 'Nargis' brand name now.

The South Indian tea will be provided by Tata Tea and Harrisons Malayalam These several varieties will be marketed under the same brand name but with separate packet designs and colours.

With a strong food distribution network, the company has about 2000 sq metre of warehouse space in Moscow and covers around 40 per cent of food outlet in Russian cities.