utrine Confectionery Company, the leader in the Rs 750-crore sugar-boiled confectionery market in India, now wants a share of the deposit candy market as well. To this end, the Rs 180-crore company has launched four new deposit candies - Rose Milk toffee (25 p), Nutrine Eclairs (50 p), Hazelnut Eclairs (Re 1) and LC Bon (Re 1). The company says it will launch more products in the segment over the next five to six months. Says K Siva Mohan Reddy, executive director, Nutrine Confectionery, "We have a significant presence in markets with a population of one million plus; we need to strengthen our presence in other markets."

Nutrine�s aggressiveness may be sudden but not without reason. Growth in the Rs 1,600-crore confectionery market has slowed down over the last few years. In fact, in 2003, the organised market for confectioneries in India declined by almost 3.5 per cent from Rs 1,495 crore (in 2002) to Rs 1,443 crore. Add to this the intense competition from MNC players and the task for Nutrine seems all the more daunting. Interestingly, the bulk of the action is restricted to the deposit candy segment (Rs 850 crore) with players such as Perfetti Van Melle, Wrigley, Cadbury and homegrown ITC pumping in crores of rupees in some attention-grabbing advertising. ... more