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Cadbury, Nestle lock horns over Pehli tarikh adWe have ample stock of food grains: FM

: Chips and Lehar will be the centre of focus. On Pepsi’s gameplan, Gautham Mukkavilli, managing director of FritoLay India, says, “We are set to reinvigorate our product portfolio in 2008. We have appointed MS Dhoni as our new brand endorser. We are looking at new flavours and promotions. In essence, it’s action time at FritoLay.”

This comes after the company undertook a rebranding exercise last year and introduced the concept of ‘Snack Smart’ through which it reduced the amount of saturated fat in its products by 40%. Although healthy products remain a small percentage of the overall indulgent snack market, the indication is that a growing number of consumers wish to snack in a “guilt-free” manner”, say observers.

In other words, there is an extremely profitable niche available for companies wishing to compete in a market that seeks both price and nutritional values. So many of the new releases are designed to meet the desire for low-fat, less sodium, fewer calories and thus, better nutrition. Points out Pavas Bhatia, associate director at retail consultants Technopak India, “Health will drive the market as more and more brands see sense in aligning themselves with this ‘politically correct’ proposition. This is a reflection of the same sentiment that is pushing people to jog, gym and so on. And that’s the trend worldwide.”

According to Mukkavilli, FritoLay is also sharpening its focus on its premium offering, Lay’s Snax, this year. “It’s from our global portfolio,” he adds. Incidentally, the company’s new marketing campaign Chala Change Ka Chakkar has received a favourable response in Mumbai, to begin with. “If for nothing else, people are buying these products to win prizes ranging from Rs 5 to 2.5 crore. I think it’s a clever strategy to promote sales,” said a retailer from south Mumbai.