The traders on their part have different ways to meet the customer demand and make huge profits. They mix variety of long grained rice brought from the markets of Delhi and Punjab and sell them in consumer packs as basmati rice.

A lot of companies have started distribution of basmati rice in Chennai market. "But they have been selling long grain varieties like, Sherbati or Haryana Gaurav as basmati rice. Speaking to The Financial Express, Gurnam Arora, joint managing director of Satnam Overseas Ltd said, "the rice packed in consumer packs or gunny bags in Chennai is branded as packed in Punjab or Haryana and sold at very high premiums. "The only way to stop thismalpractice at the expense of the consumer is the popularisation of branded basmati,' he added.

According to him, by 2005 the entire traditional and hybrid basmati rice sold in the country will be under some brand. "Brand equity is going to rule the basmati rice trade," Arora who was in Chennai said last week.

"It has been observed that more and more customers have shifted to branded basmati rice and have shown steadiness in buying the same rice over and over again. Even those who have been buying unbranded rice at less prices have been shifting to brands and this trend will continue," he said. The brand preference is all throughout the country and predominant in states like Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala.

Of the 1.5 million tonnes of traditional basmati rice produced in the country, about six lakh tonnes are exported and the rest is marketed in the country. About 30-40 per cent of the basmati rice sold in India is already branded, Arora said. Therapidly growing consumer awareness will necessarily pave the way for total branding.

Branding is yet to pick up in the non-basmati segment mainly because it is not economical as their low price cannot bear the load of branding. Now customers choose rice according to their local names like Andhra Sona, White Ponni, among others. Arora believes that gradually branding will be a norm in this sector also. Traditional basmati is so unique that it cannot be duplicated or cultivated elsewhere. It is a product of north Indian plains.The motivated efforts by the American company Rice-Tec to duplicate basmati has not succeeded. Its rice "does not come anywhere near to our basmati. They have achieved nothing but create a media hype in the world", he said.However, we have to be vigilant to maintain the exclusivity of basmati rice, he added. Rice-Tec attempts to patent its variety in the UK as `Taxmati' has been effectively stopped. The same will be dome with the move to patent `Kasmati' also. ``Rice-Tec wants topiggyride on basmati name. But we are very firm on stopping that," he said. The rice exporters have set up a basmati development fund, by contributing Rs 100 for each tonne of rice exported to it to challenge the patenting by Rice-Tec in the US and to protect the geographical exclusiveness of basmati globally, Arora who is also the president of the All India Rice Exporters' Association said.The Delhi-based Arora and his team was in Chennai to relaunch Satnam's popular `Kohinoor' brand of traditional basmati rice in the southern markets.

They have also launched `Trophy' brand of basmati, the hybrid variety which costs Rs 45 a kg against Rs 70-75 for Kohinoor. Satnam has a marketing arrangement with Mahvir Traders, the distributors of Nirma brands. Satnam with global turnover of over Rs 325 crore, exports traditional basmati rice to 17 countries in the world. It has domestic sales worth over Rs 90 crore and commands about 30-40 per cent share in the branded segment through its vast distribution network of 82super distributors, 320 stockist and 1,50,000 retail outlets.

It also exports ready to cook `Rice-n-Spice', a mixture of basmati rice, dehydrated vegetables, selected spices and mushrooms among others in collaboration with Haegens Holland.