NourishCo Beverages, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Consumer Products Ltd (TCPL), has witnessed strong growth in revenues as well as volumes in this fiscal year despite the pandemic, on the back of distribution and portfolio expansion. The liquid beverages arm of TCPL is known for brands such as Himalayan Natural Mineral Water, Tata Gluco Plus and Tata Fruski.
Vikram Grover, MD, NourishCo Beverages Ltd told BusinessLine, ”Despite the pandemic, we have seen over 100 per cent growth in terms of turnover and close to 150 per cent growth in terms of volumes so far in this fiscal year. Also, brand Himalayan has broken even in the last quarter for the first time in its long history.”
In 2020, TCPL had bought 50 per cent stake of PepsiCo in NourishCo which was set up as a joint venture in 2010.
“Since this development, we have been focusing on leveraging capabilities of NourishCo to scale up our brands by driving distribution and availability. We have grown our distribution by about 50 per cent in terms of the number of outlets,” he added.
In a bid to expand its packaged water portfolio, the company is testing a new product called Tata Nature Alive in select markets. This is positioned as a mass premium mineral water brand between Tata Copper Plus Water and the Himalayan at the premium end. “We felt that there is a strong opportunity for us to launch another offering to increase the total addressable market for our portfolio while increasing access to natural mineral water for consumers,” he added.
Products with ethnic twist
At the same time the company has expanded distribution of its drinks brand Tata Fruski to newer markets such as Odisha, Bihar, Delhi-NCR, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. “With Fruski we are seeking to upgrade consumers from unbranded to the branded drinks space. We are offering a product range with an ethnic twist that are inspired by drinks that are sold at every street corner of India. We will be adding a whole host of products to this range,” Grover said.
The company is also playing in the functional beverage category with Tata Gluco Plus Jelly product. Grover added that the product, which has energy and functional credentials and plays at the cusp of snacking and beverages, has witnessed strong offtake. “ This is in line with our focus on tapping into some of the emerging opportunities in the ready-to-drink segment with an emphasis on health, wellness and functionality,” he added.
For beverage players the upcoming summer season will be critical to chart recovery growth path as the last summer season sales were hit due to the pandemic.
“In recent months, we have seem that growth has picked up for the ready-to-drink category with the impact of the pandemic weakening. So we are looking ahead to a great summer backed by stronger distribution and availability of our products. We have a strong pipeline of innovations which will be launched going forward. Also we still cover only about 25-30 per cent of the addressable market and one of our endeavours is to expand the overall distribution coverage across the country ” Grover said.