While Dhara fortified its groundnut oil with vitamins A and D, its refined vegetable oil has joined the club with low absorb technology.
Better late than never. At a time when consumers are looking at healthy options in whatever they eat, Dhara has decided to fortify its products with vitamins A and D. While Dhara fortified its groundnut oil with vitamins A and D some months ago, now it’s the turn of Dhara refined vegetable oil to join the club with low absorb technology that ensures low absorption of oil in food while frying. The new variant purportedly stays good over repeated frying and retards the deterioration of the vitamin A present in the oil.
With a changing market, Dhara says, it has broadened its focus to include health. “As a responsible manufacturer and marketer we consider it our duty to inform consumers about the right consumption habits,” says Dinesh Agrawal, chief operating officer, Dhara. “Like every food item, edible oils too should be consumed moderately.”
Dhara has been showing signs of aggression over the past few years. It was presented in an all new avatar with an updated logo and packaging to target young and health conscious consumers three years ago.
Agrawal says India is among the top five edible oil consumers in the world behind the USA, China and Brazil, but the country is heavily dependent on imports. “In the year 2010-11, India is estimated to have imported approximately 55 per cent of its requirement. In fact, over the last three years, the share of imports has been more than the domestic production,” he points out.
According to a recent ICRA report, the demand for edible oils in India has shown a steady growth at a CAGR of 4.43 per cent over the period from 2001 to 2011. The growth has been driven by improvement in per capita consumption, which in turn is attributable to rising income levels and living standards. However, the current per capita consumption levels of India (at 13.3 kg/year for 2009-10) are lower than global averages (24 kg/year).
In terms of volumes, palm oil, soya bean oil and mustard oil are the three largest consumed edible oils in India, with respective shares of 46 per cent, 16 per cent and 14 per cent in total oil consumption in 2010. Given the high price consciousness and varied taste preferences of Indian consumers, ICRA expects these three oils to continue to account for the bulk of edible oil consumption in the country.
The edible oil market in India is dominated by national players namely, Adani Wilmar (Fortune), Ruchi Soya (Nutrella and Mahakosh), Cargill (Nature Fresh and Gemini), Bunge (Dalda) and Mother Dairy. Marico (Saffola) and Agro Tech (Sundrop) operate in the niche blended oil space. Besides the large national players, the industry is characterised by many regional players that are strong in their home turfs.
Last year Dhara clocked a turnover of Rs 350 crore. This fiscal, the brand is targeting sales of Rs 650 crore. Agrawal says that the last two years have been spent carefully re-crafting the brand’s distribution and communication strategy with heavy investments in expanding distribution and exposure in the regional media, besides improving on ground visibility and point-of-sale engagement. “The distribution has been scaled up to reach 2.5 lakh outlets. We are evaluating possibilities of broadening the portfolio with the introduction of new variants. The new products could be in the specialised or blended oil space,” he adds.
