• Investment World
• eWorld
• Brand Line
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest
• The New Manager

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Cross Currency

• Rates
  
  

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources
• In Focus
• In Depth

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• The Hindu ePaper
• Business Line
• Business Line ePaper
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

Deepak Goel

New Delhi June 8 With cigarette sales estimated to drop by 3-4 per cent this year, Godfrey Phillips India Ltd (GPIL) is betting on a more luxurious item in the tobacco product family — cigars.

The company, which has been selling cigars manufactured by Altadis U.S.A. Inc since 2003, is embarking on a market expansion drive. It plans to execute this through product promotion and other activities revolving around clubs, hotels and informal gatherings.

"We sold two million cigars last year, registering an increase of 30 per cent from the previous year. We are targeting a similar growth in the next few years," said Mr Arun Joshi, Vice President-Cigars, GPIL.

The total market for cigars in the country stood at around three million sticks last year.

Double distribution base

To boost cigar sales, the tobacco company is also planning to double its distribution base from around 10,000 outlets nationally to about 20,000 outlets by next year.

With the thrust on cigar popularity, the company is eyeing one per cent of the king-size cigarette market in the country, which stands at 500 million sticks a month.

GPIL has also started marketing Swiss cigars Davidoff recently.

The slump in cigarette sales this year would be due to an increase in excise duty announced in the 2007-08 Budget.

More Stories on : Outlook | Cigarettes

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
TV 18 floats new division

Copyright © 2007, 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