Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Wednesday, May 03, 2006 |
|
|
|
|
|
Marketing
-
Brands Corporate - Alliances & Joint Ventures States - Other States ITC ties up with Exim Bank for Mangaldeep Mohan Padmanabhan
Flavour of fragrance Exim Bank will help locate business partners for ITC agarbattis Viable fee-based income opportunity for the bank.
Kolkata , May 2 ITC Ltd has decided to leverage Exim Bank's services to market abroad its Mangaldeep brand of agarbattis, sourced entirely from cottage and small-scale sectors. The company has signed up with the bank for export marketing services, to utilise its large overseas presence to promote incense sticks with buyers, importers and distributors abroad. As per the agreement, Exim Bank will help locate business partners for ITC agarbattis, identify customers for ITC products directly or through its associates and initiate a dialogue while ITC will finalise the deal and ensure supplies and deliveries. The agarbatti SBU of ITC is currently developing fragrances and incense offerings to be positioned as lifestyle products for the Western market. Describing this as a viable fee-based income opportunity for the bank, Mr K. Muthukumaran, General Manager, Exim Bank, told Business Line that the tie-up with ITC will facilitate showcasing of Indian cottage sector skills in supplying high quality products to mega retail establishments abroad. He said an arrangement with Mustafa of Singapore, the 24X7 mega shopping outlet in the island state, has been finalised for Mangaldeep agarbattis. The bank already has a line of credit arrangement with the mega Singapore shopping outlet. Pointing out that this was the first mega deal between a top Indian corporate and Exim Bank for export marketing services, Mr Muthukumaran said the earlier ones were with smaller players such as Haldirams and Stoneware, for buyers in places such as Budapest (Hungary) and Johannesberg (South Africa). According to Mr Rajasekharan, CEO of ITC's Agarbatti business, the company had commenced exports of Mangaldeep range of agarbattis last year in a big way. The brand is now available in countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Nepal, the UAE, Bahrain and the US. He put the export potential for agarbattis at Rs 300 crore, with the total consumer spend in the domestic market being Rs 1,200 crore. "The partnership with Exim Bank will help make quality agarbattis available to discerning customers in other parts of the world, and in the process, the cottage and small sectors which make the incense sticks for us will be greatly benefited." The initial contract to Mustafas is for supply of 2-3 container loads annually with each container valued at around $25,000.
More Stories on : Brands | Alliances & Joint Ventures | I T C Ltd | Other States
Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page
|
Stories in this Section |
|
The Hindu Group: Home | About Us | Copyright | Archives | Contacts | Subscription Group Sites: The Hindu | Business Line | Sportstar | Frontline | The Hindu eBooks | The Hindu Images | Home |
Copyright © 2006, The
Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of
this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of
The Hindu Business Line
|