he performance of Heinz in India is a bit like the open bottle of Heinz Tomato Ketchup you see in the ads, quips a top-level Mumbai-based marketing executive with a devilish chuckle. "The lid is open, you can see the yummy ketchup inside, but you could fall asleep just waiting for the ketchup to emerge from the bottle." The jibe, however uncharitable, isn�t far from the truth, going by the 10-year record of Heinz India. It came into the country in 1994 by buying out the consumer products division of pharmaceutical company Glaxo in a Rs 210-crore deal that gave the 100-per cent subsidiary of HJ Heinz Co a readymade portfolio of brands such as Complan, Glucon-D, Nycil and Farex.


Today, a decade after its entry, Heinz has an India turnover of just Rs 400 crore, and none of the brands it acquired from Glaxo have registered impressive growth. What�s more, the company has introduced only one original Heinz product in India - its flagship Heinz Tomato Ketchup - out of a basket of more than 3,000 Heinz products available globally. "Heinz India," to quote a market analyst, "has virtually been in a self-enforced state of limbo for too long."
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