Now, Baba’s brand set to shake up pooja materials market
nachiket.kelkar@hindustantimes.com MUMBAI:
The ₹10,000-crore market for incense sticks and material for worship (pooja samagri) is set to get a branding shake-up soon.
Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali Ayurved, after creating a flutter in the market for medicines and FMCG products, including biscuits and instant noodles, will now boost its Astha brand under the home worship category.
“This (agarbatti, dhoop, pooja needs) is a very fragmented market. The entry of Patanjali will grow the organised market, and the overall market will also expand,” said Kaustubh Pawaskar, an FMCG analyst at broker- age Sharekhan.
The agarbatti (incense stick) market alone accounts for ₹4,000 crore of the ₹10,000-crore pie, and at least half of this market is fragmented with many small players spread across various states.
Patanjali has been selling agarbattis for the past couple of years under the Madhuram brand, but is now set to launch a wider range of products used in poojas, such as lamps.
“We already sell agarbattis under Madhuram brand. Now, we will grow the market further with Aastha. We will use natural ingredients,” Patanjali spokesperson SK Tijarawala said.
The company said it would create 50 million additional jobs by outsourcing the manufacturing of these products to cottage and small-scale firms.
It will sell the products through 300,000 outlets across the country, including its own stores, supermarket chains and the general trade, Tijarawala said.
Patanjali expects the market to grow from ₹10,000 crore to ₹50,000 crore in the next 10 years.
Mysore-based NR Group is currently the largest player in the agarbatti market, through its Cycle brand of products. The company sells a billion incense sticks a year, and claims a 25% share of the organised agarbatti market, based on Nielsen data.
However, the group, which also sells pooja material, said it was unperturbed by Patanjali’s plans. “I think Patanjali’s pooja samagri foray will be interesting. This category is unorganised and unbranded. We have launched our pooja material under the ‘Om Shanthi’ brand with good success,” Arjun Ranga, MD of Cycle Pure Agarbathies, told HT.
Cycle, which has Amitabh Bachchan as the brand ambassador, is foraying into the north Indian market, and is doubling its distribution reach and introducing newer products, he added.
Apart from Cycle, ITC is also a major player in the agarbatti market with its Mangaldeep brand, which is growing at a compounded annual rate of over 20%, and is the fastest-growing agarbatti brand in the country, according to officials.
“The entry of any new player will make the category more dynamic and help grow the market in the short-term. At the same time, the category is highly fragmented and regionalised, and it will be challenging for any new player to find a foothold,” said VM Rajasekharan, CEO, agarbatti and matches business, ITC.
Over the last few years, Patanjali has aggressively expanded across FMCG and personal care categories riding on the ayurveda platform, forcing established players, including HUL, Colgate, Godrej and Dabur, among others, to strengthen their ‘natural’ products portfolio.