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Kohinoor Mandal

Recently in Panjim (Goa)

, THE Eveready brand, which is celebrating the centenary year of its presence in India, has been valued at Rs 660 crore. The brand belongs to Eveready Industries India Ltd, the flagship company of the BM Khaitan Group.

According to Mr Deepak Khaitan, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, the valuation exercise was carried out recently by Ernst & Young.

"This was done only for our own knowledge. There is no special purpose behind this exercise. However, it will be mentioned in our next annual report for the previous fiscal," Mr Khaitan told newspersons at a press conference.

The company has embarked on a year-long celebration for the Eveready brand, which was kicked off at a function here recently. According to Mr Khaitan, the company's decision to have Amitabh Bachchan as brand ambassador has worked wonders.

Meanwhile, the company has decided to extend the brand to other products. To start with, a non-battery item will soon be introduced in the market under the Eveready brandname.

"We have already started working on this aspect. Everything is likely to be ready within the next three months. I would not like to disclose the name of this item at this point of time," he said.

Mr Khaitan said that the price of Eveready batteries would be increased by 5 per cent from May 1.

In fact, all battery manufacturers, including Nippo, Novino and BPL, have endorsed the hike. "Rise in the global zinc prices has forced us to increase battery prices," he said.

The company is also contemplating the launch of eatables under the Greendale brand, which was launched a few years ago. At present, the packet teas of Eveready are known as Premium Gold, Tez and Jaago. However, these brands operate under the umbrella brand of Greendale.

Later, addressing the company's sales force, he said Eveready was targeting a sale of two billion batteries within the next three years. This would help the company increase its market share to 50 per cent from the existing level of 46 per cent.

Eveready first crossed the one billion battery sales mark during 2003-04. Nippo is the second largest player in this sector with 28 per cent share in the market. The industry is growing at 12 per cent per annum.

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