THE TASTE OF MONEY

Agreen bright raw mango candy began making waves two years ago.

The product, launched in 2015, with a liquid aam panna centre, overwhelmed competition and in just eight months of its launch, it became a `100-crore brand. Now, two years after its launch, Pulse candy is worth over `300 crore. It’s made by the DS Group, manufacturers of the Rajnigandha pan masala.

“We discovered that the confectionary sector was rather stagnant, despite having a vertical growth potential. We also found that

kachcha aam or raw mango was the most favoured flavour, capturing a 26 per cent market share while other mango flavours had 30 per cent share,” said DS Group VP (new products) Shashank Surana.

This revelation made them think out of the box — to package a tangy mango candy. “We saw mango was a favourite taste in India. But the common practice was to eat raw mango with something tangy. That’s how we got the idea of a powder-filled candy,” Shashank Surana says.

And why name it ‘Pulse’? “Because it sets your pulse racing,” came the glib answer.

It took two years to produce Pulse. Within a month of launch, demand was so high shops started selling the `1 candy for an additional 50 paise and after a year, there was a supply crunch. In January, 2016, the DS Group started scaling up production and so far, the one-rupee candy has clocked `300 crore in sales, beating MNC blue-chip brands such as Oreo and even home-grown Parle.

The company now plans a foray into Canada, the UK, and the UAE.

Two years after its launch, Pulse candy, on sale for `1.50 is worth over `300 crore