Confectionery giant Mondelez on Tuesday launched its second biscuit brand 'Bournvita' in India, five years after it first entered the segment with highly popular 'Oreo'.
"Cadbury Bournvita is our second offering in the biscuit space in India. It has been developed specially for the Indian market. Biscuits category in India is estimated to be around Rs 25,000 and has been growing steadily," Mondelez India Foods Managing Director Chandramouli Venkatesan told PTI.
Priced at Rs 10 and Rs 25, Bournvita cookies are pitched for morning snacks and would be available on shelves from May.
"Bournvita biscuits is targetted to the morning occasion, when 45% of biscuits are consumed. We have sharp focus on that occasion and we want to base this whole proposition on strong sustainable competitive advantage and that come from Bournvita brand," said Mondelez India Foods Associate Director Marketing Biscuits India and Kids Fuel AP Chella Pandyan.
He further said the extension of its health drink brand Bournvita would help its heritage and legacy along with taste in the segment.
"We wanted it to be acceptable from both as a price and product standard," he added.
The company, which is present in chocolates, beverages, biscuits as well as gums and candy segments would continue to add new brands from its global portfolio.
"India is our top 10 priority markets," said Venkatesan.
Since the past four year the company has been focussing on rural sales and has created a separate hub to cater to tier III and IV markets.
"We have a very aggressive rural drive for the last three to four years and are seeing tremendous success. Rural markets are definitely growing fast. We have sustained intervention in terms of creating market and establishing coverage there and its working well," said Venkatesan.
When asked if the biscuit range will cannablise into the beverage Bournvita's sales, Venkatesan said: "Our expectation is that there will be very low cannabalisation."
