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73-year-old biscuit pioneer, Parle-G becomes Indias first homegrown Rs 5K crore FMCG brand
MUMBAI: When Parle Products launched Parle-G in 1939 during the British rule, the firm considered it a responsibility to sell affordable biscuits to Indians.
Today, the same value plank has helped the glucose biscuit brand become the first Indian FMCG brand to cross the Rs 5,000-crore mark in retail sales in a year.
In 2012, Parle Products sold Rs 5,010 crore worth of its flagship glucose biscuit brand at retail price, besting the entire domestic sales of Dabur or Godrej products and selling three times more than Maggi noodles.
This meant sales of more than 100 crore packets across sizes every month, or 14,600 crore biscuits in the entire year, that is, 121 biscuits each for the 1.2 billion Indians.
Mayank Shah, group product manager at Parle Products, said the company's realisation was around 60-65 per cent of the retail sale.
While Parle-G, with less than $1 billion in annual sales, is nowhere near the world's top-selling brands such as Coca-Cola and GilletteBSE 0.75 %, it has a healthy lead over its closest Indian rivals such as Hindustan Unilever's Wheel and Rohit Surfactants' Ghari Detergent.
VALUE PLANK PAYS OFF
Started by Mohanlal Dayal Chauhan way back in 1929 at Vile-Parle, a Mumbai suburb, Parle Products first launched an orange candy and then other confectionaries before entering the biscuits segment 10 years later.
"Launching Parle-G in 1939 was not just a business decision but also a responsibility to sell affordable biscuits to Indians (during British rule) at a time the market was flooded with costly imports," said Ajay Chauhan, executive director at the Rs 8,000-crore Parle Products and a member of the founder's fourth generation clan.
73-year-old biscuit pioneer, Parle-G becomes Indias first homegrown Rs 5K crore FMCG brand
"Even after 70 years, we haven't digressed from that philosophy and the pricing has helped the brand become a staple today," Chauhan added.
This affordability proposition is exactly what has been paying off for Parle-G despite rivals such as ITCBSE 0.07 % and BritanniaBSE -0.70 % entering the space. There was a time when Parle-G's dominance was threatened by rival brands, especially Britannia's Tiger, which targeted kids. But when Parle-G sponsored children's television show Shaktimaan on Doordarshan, it literally rescued the brand.
The company also managed to keep prices unchanged for over a decade - between 1996 and 2006 - even as the prices of raw materials such as wheat, sugar and milk escalated up to 150 per cent.
Net result: Parle-G increased its share from 67 per cent in 2002 to 79 per cent in 2012 while the share of Britannia's Tiger fell to 9 per cent from 26 per cent during the same period. ITC's Sunfeast brand too had over 9 per cent share in the glucose segment last year.
Analysts said that Parle's relentless focus on top line has driven its rivals to shift strategy from glucose to other sub-segments such as cream and cookies.
"Historical analysis of the biscuits category reinforces that even a single margin disruptive player can impact the margin profile of the entire category," Anand Mour of ICICI Securities said in a recent note.
73-year-old biscuit pioneer, Parle-G becomes India’s first homegrown Rs 5K crore FMCG brand - The Economic Times
Feeling proud because I had gone to its mother unit in Ville Parle in september 2011 during a industrial visit & managed to make a very good project.
MUMBAI: When Parle Products launched Parle-G in 1939 during the British rule, the firm considered it a responsibility to sell affordable biscuits to Indians.
Today, the same value plank has helped the glucose biscuit brand become the first Indian FMCG brand to cross the Rs 5,000-crore mark in retail sales in a year.
In 2012, Parle Products sold Rs 5,010 crore worth of its flagship glucose biscuit brand at retail price, besting the entire domestic sales of Dabur or Godrej products and selling three times more than Maggi noodles.
This meant sales of more than 100 crore packets across sizes every month, or 14,600 crore biscuits in the entire year, that is, 121 biscuits each for the 1.2 billion Indians.
Mayank Shah, group product manager at Parle Products, said the company's realisation was around 60-65 per cent of the retail sale.
While Parle-G, with less than $1 billion in annual sales, is nowhere near the world's top-selling brands such as Coca-Cola and GilletteBSE 0.75 %, it has a healthy lead over its closest Indian rivals such as Hindustan Unilever's Wheel and Rohit Surfactants' Ghari Detergent.
VALUE PLANK PAYS OFF
Started by Mohanlal Dayal Chauhan way back in 1929 at Vile-Parle, a Mumbai suburb, Parle Products first launched an orange candy and then other confectionaries before entering the biscuits segment 10 years later.
"Launching Parle-G in 1939 was not just a business decision but also a responsibility to sell affordable biscuits to Indians (during British rule) at a time the market was flooded with costly imports," said Ajay Chauhan, executive director at the Rs 8,000-crore Parle Products and a member of the founder's fourth generation clan.
73-year-old biscuit pioneer, Parle-G becomes Indias first homegrown Rs 5K crore FMCG brand
"Even after 70 years, we haven't digressed from that philosophy and the pricing has helped the brand become a staple today," Chauhan added.
This affordability proposition is exactly what has been paying off for Parle-G despite rivals such as ITCBSE 0.07 % and BritanniaBSE -0.70 % entering the space. There was a time when Parle-G's dominance was threatened by rival brands, especially Britannia's Tiger, which targeted kids. But when Parle-G sponsored children's television show Shaktimaan on Doordarshan, it literally rescued the brand.
The company also managed to keep prices unchanged for over a decade - between 1996 and 2006 - even as the prices of raw materials such as wheat, sugar and milk escalated up to 150 per cent.
Net result: Parle-G increased its share from 67 per cent in 2002 to 79 per cent in 2012 while the share of Britannia's Tiger fell to 9 per cent from 26 per cent during the same period. ITC's Sunfeast brand too had over 9 per cent share in the glucose segment last year.
Analysts said that Parle's relentless focus on top line has driven its rivals to shift strategy from glucose to other sub-segments such as cream and cookies.
"Historical analysis of the biscuits category reinforces that even a single margin disruptive player can impact the margin profile of the entire category," Anand Mour of ICICI Securities said in a recent note.
73-year-old biscuit pioneer, Parle-G becomes India’s first homegrown Rs 5K crore FMCG brand - The Economic Times
Feeling proud because I had gone to its mother unit in Ville Parle in september 2011 during a industrial visit & managed to make a very good project.