Ayurvedic products company Himalaya has entered the nutraceuticals space with HiOwna-Junior, a nutrition supplement drink for children.

Himalaya Drug Company will soon have a separate division for nutrition products, and this is the company’s first product in the segment.

Nutra-health drink

It is a prescription nutra-health drink targeting kids between 2-10, and will be marketed only through doctor’s prescriptions, Mr Philipe Haydon, Chief Executive Officer of the company’s pharmaceutical division, said.

The product will compete with other nutrition supplement drinks like Abbott’s PediaSure, British Biologicals’ Kids Pro and Wockhardt’s Protinex Junior.

HiOwna is priced around Rs 180 and targets “urban children who are apparently healthy but are deficient in micronutrients”.

New products

Himalaya, under the new division, will launch similar products — HiOwna, a general health drink and HiOwna-PL for pregnant women, in the next eight months, and products for weight-loss, full meal replacements and diabetes care in the next few years.

The company is also working on nutrition biscuits and products like cereal bars, Mr Haydon said.

The company expects the nutrition division to be a Rs 300-crore unit in the next five years, contributing about 25 per cent to revenues of the pharmaceuticals division.

Nutrition market

Currently, the pharma division contributes about 40 per cent to the Rs 1,200-crore Himalaya group. The nutrition market in India is estimated by Frost and Sullivan to be $1,480 million, and the market is expected to reach $2,731 million in 2016.

The verticalisation is part of the company’s larger strategy to create more divisions within its pharmaceuticals and personal care divisions. The company will also create separate verticals for dermaceuticals, oral care, nutrition and oncology in the next few years.