Food and beverage dominates top 10 list of regional brands

MUMBAI: You can't blame city slickers for assuming that most Indians cook their food in Fortune or Saffola oil, munch on Lays snacks, dip their Marie biscuits in Tata Tea, and wash their linen with Surf or Tide detergent. These, after all, are some of the top-of-mind brands that sell well nationwide, particularly in urban hot spots.

Now spare a thought and more for companies like Kaleesuwari Refinery, DSM Foods, Saj Industries and Hasmukhrai & Co. They may not ring a bell in uptown India but their brands - Kalesuwari's Gold Winner refined sunflower oil, DSM's salty snacks, Saj's Bisk Farm biscuits, and Hasmukhrai tea - are robust leaders in their respective regions (south, north, east and west, in that order).

Indeed, as data from Nielsen indicates, India's leading regional brands are primarily in the food & beverage categories - cooking oils, biscuits, salty snacks (or namkeens), tea & coffee - with a sprinkling of soap & detergent labels.

Points out Saugata Gupta, CEO of national consumer products marketer Marico: "Categories such as oil and detergents are largely sectors where a strong supply chain and distribution help the regional players build scale."

F&B categories work well because they cater to regional tastes. For instance, Sapat and Hasmukhrai tea in the west would be very different from the beverage Today Tea that sells in the north.

According to Nikhil Joshi, managing director of Sapat Tea, the Indian tea market has been broken up on a socio-cultural basis.

"Historically, there has been a break-up of tastes and requirements according to communities and cultures. This has enabled local players to build strong brands over time. Local marketing techniques and efficient supply chains help the brand become strong in a particular region," explains Joshi.

Adds Nielsen India executive director Roosevelt D Souza: "Regional players seem to have better success in specific regions, primarily driven by reach, focus, availability and differentiated pricing. Better distribution, affordable pricing and equity building have helped drive acceptance and consumption."

Whilst many of these regional labels are keen to make a national play, a few of the brands on the Nielsen top 10 lists are not quite aware of their regional strength. A Manickavel, managing director of the Guntur-based Bharathi Soap Works, for instance, says: "We have never thought we could be in the top 10. We are just too small a company."

Bharathi, which makes around 10 brands of washing soaps and powders such as 'Triple-X', 'Blue Diamond' and 'Green Diamond,' customises its brands to suit pockets in the south. For example, Triple-X enjoys huge customer loyalty in Telangana district as it suits the use of hard water available in those areas.