Wednesday

01


March , 2017
Ganesh tickles the taste buds through small sachets
00:00 am

B.E. Bureau


The Indian summers are synonymous with  Ganesh’s drinks and syrups. Ajay Mimani, Director, Ganesh Products, spoke to BE’s Ankita Chakraborty about his wide range of products and his expectations from the Indian market.

 

Q. What are the challenges faced by Ganesh after the recent demonetisation drive?

A. There were no challenges faced by Ganesh immediately after the demonetisation measure. However, the market faced certain payment issues as our vendors were affected by the process. The sale was down for a while but we haven’t lost any business. Although we are preparing for Holi, we are unsure as to how the sales figure would turn out  to be.

Q. What were your expectations from the Budget 2017?

A. We expected some simplicity in tax exemptions, which was absent. Although the Budget focused on farmers, it will take a lot of time to be implemented and would not help us much. The GST rate for food products is around 18% and we feel it is quite high. As the food processing industry is directly related to the farmers, we feel the taxation should be less.

Q. What are your new ranges of products?

A. Before Holi, we have tweaked our product packaging. We have introduced a number of gift packs. We have already launched sachets of tomato sauce and pickles which will be launched after Holi. This is aimed mainly for the rural market and we are stressing easy usability.

Q. How are you penetrating the rural market?

A. Currently, we are not going in bulk packaging but focusing on small packs of 7-8 gms. These products are priced at `1 sachet and are being made available in rural as well as urban markets. As our main content is sugar, which is quite costly. We are keeping the packaging small for cost cutting measures and easily affordability.

As of now, we are mainly focusing on the rural areas of West Bengal. We will gradually cater to rural areas of other states. Small bottles of sauce, pickles and other sherbets will start from `20.

Q. What are your current marketing strategies?

A. We associate ourselves with many events organised by clubs and associations before holi. We also market through many national channels. Barring the festive season, we generally focus on advertisement in the print media.

Q. What are your expectations from the government?

A. We want the government to set up some food parks which should be situated within a radius of 15-20 km from the city. Subsidies should be given for more than 15-20 years.  Government should promote the MSME sector as it has big potential. Tax structures should also be simplified.

 

 

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