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Friday, Jan 05, 2007
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Diversification Alkem Labs forays into health foods segment Debdatta Das
"The products will be marketed through the OTC (over-the-counter) route and not the way ethical medical food is generally sold."
New Delhi , Jan. 4 Alkem Laboratories Ltd, a $130-million Indian pharmaceutical company, has forayed into the foods sector with a wholly owned subsidiary Alkem Health Foods Ltd. Alkem Health Foods recently rolled out two of its brands, Jeevanprash, a low calorie, sugar-free health supplement, and Majesta, a low calorie sweetener, targeted at the cardiovascular and diabetic patients. "We have just forayed into the health foods sector with an initial investment of around Rs 80 crore," said Mr Sharad Kasarle, Vice-President and Head, Alkem Health Foods Ltd. "We at Alkem have identified tremendous potential in the health food industry as more and more consumers are becoming health conscious. Through our innovative healthy and tasty foods with nutritional values, we will increase health awareness amongst the consumers," he added. "The products will be marketed through the OTC (over-the-counter) route and not the way ethical medical food is generally sold," said Mr Kasarle.
More products
The company also plans to roll out an entire range of low calorie juices, jams, jellies, chocolates, cookies and other confectionery items by March. "Though we are not competing with the FMCG companies, we expect each of our product to capture at least 2-3 per cent market share of the category they belong to," Mr Kasarle said. The company has planned marketing spends in the range of Rs 25-30 crore for 2007-08. "We are going to use various means of marketing, be it the print medium, television ads or the radio. We also plan to promote the products through various below-the-line campaigns such as health awareness programmes and medical conferences," he added.
In talks with retailers
Alkem Health Foods also is in talks with modern organised retailing majors such as Food Bazaar and Reliance for greater visibility of its products in their retail outlets. Besides this, the company also has plans of opening its own retail outlets that will exclusively sell its herbal and nutraceutical supplements and the range of health foods. "Though much has not been formalised, we plan to open around 25 outlets in 2007-08. The roll out procedure should start within the next two-three months," Mr Kasarle said. He, however, declined to reveal the investments involved to set up the retail venture, saying that it was too early to comment on it. The company expects to achieve 20 per cent of the overall sales from Alkem Health Foods, while targeting a turnover of around Rs 200-300 crore from the new food initiative within the next three years.
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