Tata Chemicals angles for 20% topline growth
Business Standard — September 18, 2002

New Delhi: Tata Chemicals Ltd is targeting a topline growth of 20 per cent for its salt business during the current financial year after repositioning its brand, Tata Salt. Last year, Tata Salt touched a turnover of Rs 150 crore.

The company has reaffirmed the positioning of the brand which is based on purity ,while the new advertising campaign, Desh ka namak, launched for the brand is a shift from the rational platform to a more emotional one.

"Till now, we used the rational platform to promote the brand by focusing on purity, iodisation and free flowness but then we decided to use the emotional platform and therefore we launched the new campaign," said Kapil Mehan, vice president (sales & marketing), Tata Chemicals.

At the same time, the company will strengthen the distribution network for the brand. Mehan said while the company has appointed new distributors, it is eyeing any town with a population of more than 20,000 to push Tata Salt.

The company will also focus on upgrading the Tata Salt brand. It is looking at launching the product in dispensers. This apart, the company will also take a decision soon on whether to roll out its Samundar brand of salt in other markets. Currently, it is available only in Tamil Nadu. The brand, priced at Rs 5 for a kg compared to Tata Salt which is priced at Rs 7.50 a kg, is targeted at the lower segment of consumers.

Also the company is studying the markets in South east and West Asia for its Tata Salt brand. "We will study the market for the first couple of years," Mehan said.

According to Mehan, Tata Salt has a market share of 38 per cent in the branded salt segment.

"Our aim is to maintain our market share in India," Mehan added.

He said that the branded salt market is estimated at Rs 1,000 crore in India. The unbranded segment constitutes about two thirds of the total salt market. The conversion rate (from unbranded to branded salt) is estimated at 15 per cent a year.

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