Kraft to go solo for biscuits foray in India

Kraft Foods, the world's largest cookie maker, which recently made a binding offer for Groupe Danone's global biscuit business, will soon launch its international biscuit brands in India on its own.

Early this month, when Kraft bid for Danone's biscuit range, it left out the Indian and Latin American biscuit business interests of Danone.

The company executives said Kraft was planning to launch many of its globally renowned products, including biscuit brands Oreo and Ritz; chocolate brands Toblerone and Milka; instant coffee brand Maxwell Coffee House; and cereal brand Post in India soon.

Tod Gimbel, director, corporate affairs, Asia Pacific, Kraft Foods, said, "At present, Tang-powdered beverage was the only product in the company's Indian portfolio. In the near future, consumers will be able to buy Kraft's iconic brands across a wider geographic area and significantly larger number of stores in India," he added.

Though some of these brands are currently available in some parts of the country, the distribution is extremely limited.

On increasing investments in the country, Gimbel said, "With a large consumer base and an increasing spending power, India continues to be an attractive investment destination for any multinational companies (MNCs), including Kraft. While we can't predict what may or may not happen in the future, what we can say is that Kraft will keep exploring every opportunity around the world to build international scale, and give us access to new categories, capabilities and technologies."

In 2006, Kraft re-launched Tang-powdered beverage on its own. This was after the Altria group's (the parent company of Kraft, previously known as Philip Morris) Indian subsidiary KJS India snapped ties with Dabur Foods, with whom it had a distribution arrangement. The company had even set up a factory in Hyderabad in early 2002, but the market was not ready to accept the Tang brand.

Gimbel said Tang had consistently delivered against Kraft's expectations. "We achieved the primary entry objective of establishing a national distribution infrastructure. Now having established a strong national distribution network in the top markets and top-end trade, Kraft would like to leverage this distribution infrastructure for other focus brands in its powerful global portfolio," he said.