NourishCo, a joint venture between PepsiCo and Tata Global Beverages, today said it is looking for a national roll-out of its first fully developed energy drink ‘Lehar Gluco Plus' at the earliest.

The company, which has just started a pilot market study for the product two days back in Maharashtra, said it would sell the drink under a ‘Tata' brand in the future.

“As we see the result (of the market study), we will scale it up. Our objective is to roll it out nationally as fast as possible,” NourishCo CEO, Ms Punita Lal, told PTI on the sidelines of a summit organised by American Express.

Without giving a time frame when the firm will launch it nationally, she said within one year, NourishCo is looking at test-marketing it in other States.

“We will scale it up first in Maharashtra. The objective of the product is to go deep before we go wide. Within the next one year, we want to go to other markets,” Ms Lal said.

Asked about the future branding strategy of the product, she said, “Over time we will migrate to ‘Tata Gluco Plus'. We believe that the ‘Tata' name is very unique and has formidable appeal to consumers from the lower income segment because of the heritage that the brand brings in. That's really the work we are doing.”

Last year, PepsiCo and Tata Global Beverages had announced forming a 50:50 joint venture to cater to the non-carbonated ready-to-drink beverages segment and focus on health and enhanced wellness. The joint venture agreement was completed last month.

While ‘Lehar Gluco Plus' will be the first product developed by the joint venture, NourishCo had entered into a brand licensing and a manufacturing agreement with the Tatas for marketing the latter's Himalayan brand of mineral water.

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