Last year, a 50-member team of students from Harvard Business School made a quick touch down at a farm in Gurgaon near Delhi. No, they were not part of a budget holiday team, nor were they here to soak in the unadulterated sunshine of incredible India. Their mission was to pick up some vital tips from Vinod Kapoor, chairman of Keggfarms, one of the oldest poultry breeding organisations in the country, established in 1967. Best known for pioneering genetic breeding of poultry stocks in India since 1972, Keggfarms can be credited for introducing Delhi-ites to the concept of branded eggs.

What is unique about the Keggfarms business model is that unlike in the commercial poultry, the same bird is used for both meat and laying of eggs. And mind you these are not the regular eggs that you see at your friendly neighbourhood kirana shops.

Their tan-coloured shells, bright yellowish orange yolk and firm albumen distinguish the eggs that come out of the Keggfarms. They are produced by disease-free, specially-bred laying hens in the company?s hygienic farm facilities. The hens are housed in stress-free sanitary conditions on litter. They have access to plentiful sunshine and are fed a nutritionally rich and balanced diet of maize, rice derivatives, soya, sunflower, limestone, vitamins and other organic plant products together with ample greens. The feed contains no antibiotics, hormones, chemical stimulants or any other ingredient that may have a carryover effect on the consumer.

Tired already? Gorge on some Keggs?the brand under which the farm?s eggs are retailed?boiled, scrambled or poached, as you like?

But remember Kapoor is one of the small but dedicated bunch of people who are working hard to make Indian consumers accept the idea of branded eggs and shell out a 40-50% premium as well. These are the eggs you see neatly packed in moulded fibre packing, lining shelves at the Big Bazaars, Spencer?s and other supermarkets near you, marketed by farms such as

Suguna, Keggfarms and Bajaj Poultry, among others.

Of course, it is still a very small market. ?Only 3% of the eggs sold in India are branded eggs,? says Ricky Thapar, treasurer, Poultry Federation of India. But poultry firms see this as a market ready to grow as health consciousness among consumers increases.

?We are not selling eggs as simple branded products; we are marketing them as value added foods,? says KK Thirumozhi Raja, manager, marketing, Coimbatore-based Suguna Poultry Farm, part of Suguna Group, the largest poultry enterprise in the country with a turnover of Rs 2,030 crore in 2007-08.

Although the per capita consumption of eggs in the country is still low compared with developed countries, India has emerged as the fourth largest egg producer in the world with a production of 48 billion eggs, per annum. And it is just in the last few years that we have begun to see value-added eggs or organic eggs at the organised retail stores and other specialised outlets.

The industry acknowledges that low consumption is an issue, and had tried, in its own way to address the problem. Remember, the Sunday ho ya Monday, roz khao ande campaign of the nineties? (See box below.) The campaign promoted the habit of eating eggs as part of one?s daily diet, helping the country?s per capita egg consumption to grow from a mere 27 per head, per annum in 1993-94 to 41 by 2005-06. It has crossed 50 per head per annum mark since then.

For branded eggs to take off, prices have to be competitive. Says Raja, the prices of branded eggs are higher because the cost of production is high. The company, for example, uses specialised feed for birds to produce the Suguna Heart eggs, that have considerably less cholesterol. The feed cost is estimated to be 150% higher than regular chicken feed. All in all, the company offers four varieties of value-added eggs, each fortified with specific vitamins, and nutrients to help maintain a balanced diet and healthy lifestyle of people. Says Raja, ?The eggs are collected frequently, cleaned by wiping with approved liquid, graded in the grading machine, packed in the six eggs capacity PVC or pulp boxes with hologram and labels.?

Most of these companies marketing premium eggs agree that the Indian consumer is price sensitive and that there is need to educate consumers on the why value-added eggs command the mark up. Sanjay Bajaj, promoter of Bajaj Sanjay Poultry Farm, says one way to grow the market for branded eggs is to improve the width of distribution. ?Our focus is to supply to neighbourhood stores because people don?t visit the big department stores as often as they drop by at neighbourhood grocery stores.?

?Consumers would take their own time to migrate from conventional eggs to branded eggs,? says Raja of Suguna. An official with the National Egg Coordination Committee (NECC), the apex body for poultry farmers, acknowledges that a big cause for worry for the consumers has been the frequent reports of bird flu in Assam, West Bengal and Sikkim over the last couple of years. Questions have been raised about the hygiene and quality standards of poultry firms, as still more than 50% of the poultry industry remains with small time and unorganised sector.

To deal with the issue of hygiene, NECC had earlier appealed to the government to suspend all projects and programmes aimed at promoting backyard poultry farming, especially, in the eastern states where India shares a porous border with Bangladesh. The committee had noted that recurring declarations of bird flu in a few backyard poultry farms were damaging the perception of the entire poultry industry, including the organised sector, jeopardising the livelihood of millions of people dependant on this industry, as also standing in the way of overall growth.

Perhaps it?s time for yet another advertising campaign to woo consumers?Sunday ho ya Monday, have value-added ande.BW

Ande ka funda

•India is fourth largest producer of eggs at 48 billion eggs per annum

• The per capita consumption is only 47 eggs per person per annum; compare this to European Union and the United States, where the per capita consumption is 230 eggs per person per annum

• Indian poultry industry is estimated at Rs 20,000 crore and more than 2 million people are involved with the industry directly or indirectly

• The industry is growing at 7-8% per annum (broiler growth: 11%; layer growth: 5%)

• It contributes 8% of the value of livestock and 2.5% of total agriculture products

• India?s exports of poultry products increased from Rs 318 crore in 2006-07 to Rs 441 crore in 2007-08. Processed egg products accounted for about 48% of the exports.

Just eat it

Eggs are one of nature?s most perfectly balanced foods, containing all the protein, vitamins (except vitamin C) and minerals essential for good health.

Today?s large egg contains only a moderate amount of fat, with about 5 gm in only the egg yolk (1.5 gm saturated), 213 mg of cholesterol and 75 calories. Eggs can easily fit into your daily fat limit.

The break up:

Calories: 80

Protein: 6.3 gm

Carbohydrates: 0.6 gm

Total fat: 5.0 gm

– monounsaturated fat: 2.0 gm

– polyunsaturated fat: 0.7 gm

– saturated fat: 1.5 gm

Cholesterol: 213 mlgm

Sodium: 63 mlgm

Eggs are considered a complete protein because they contain all nine essential amino acids, or the building blocks of protein. Scientists frequently use eggs as a standard for measuring the protein quality of other foods. Protein quality is expressed as biological value, which measures the rate of efficiency that protein is used for growth. At 93.7%, eggs score higher than any other food.

Source: NECC