Schauna Chauhan Saluja, Parle Agro

Under Schauna Chauhan Saluja, Parle Agro is growing despite all the odds

In the January-MMarch quarter, Parle Agro's flagship brand Frooti regained the second spot in the Indian mango drink market, outselling PepsiCo’s Slice, afteraft a decade. While Coca-Cola’s Maaza was still perched at the top wwith a 48 per cent share, Frooti had a 25.6 per cent share of the `6,300-crore mango drink market, according to Nielsen.

About a year and a half ago, Parle Agro had relaunched Frooti in an effort to differentiate it from rival brands. The company began intensive campaigns with its celebrity brand ambassador, actor Shah Rukh Khan, to woo both children and adults. The effort seems to have paid off. “We have increased the market share after the relaunch. Touch wood, we are going strong,” says Schauna Chauhan Saluja, Chief Executive Officer, Parle Agro. Indeed, Frooti’s market share rose 160 basis points in one year.

The 40-year-old Saluja, the eldest daughter of company founder Prakash Chauhan, leads the charge of Parle Agro amid growing competition from multinational beverage giants. “As a retailer, we are the largest seller of Frooti. The relaunch of Frooti has worked out well, connecting the brand with the youth. The company has expanded well amidst intense competition from MNCs,” says Devendra Chawla, Group President - Food, FMCG, Brands at Future Group. Frooti grew its sales by 12 per cent last year while the category growth rate was just 1 per cent. Parle Agro has now embarked on repositioning of its carbonated apple juice Appy Fizz, roping in actor Priyanka Chopra as its new brand ambassador. The company has seven beverage products including bottled water brand Bailley. It has also forayed into the food market with its brand Hippo. Saluja counts the construction of a manufacturing plant in Uttarakhand as her biggest achievement this year. “It is a plant that has been designed with the best process flow for manufacturing… We are also focusing a lot on simplifying the business with the use of automation,” she says. The plant would be up and running by December 2016. Saluja plans to set up the next plant in Karnataka in 2017/18.

Saluja, who completed schooling from International School at Kodaikanal, got a Bachelors degree from the Business School in Lausanne. Joining the family business subsequently was a logical step. After all, Saluja had grown up watching her father work from close quarters. She joined the company's board as a director in 1999 and

Parle Agro had relaunched Frooti to differentiate it from rivals ... the effort has paid off