HEALTH IS WEALTH

New Delhi, July 29: Nestle and Mother Dairy are running neck and neck for a chunk of the domestic market for probiotic curd. The companies launched their products within 24 hours of each other. Probiotic foods are infused with micro-organisms that have various beneficial effects.

Probiotic curd, is said to help in digestion. The manufacturers believe the product will be a big hit in the country, which is becoming increasingly health conscious.

Neither of the firms, however, was aware that they were rivalling each other. “I didn’t know Mother Dairy was also entering the market,” a surprised Mayank Trivedi, general manager — dairy products, Nestle, told The Telegraph.

Paul Thachil, CEO of Mother Dairy, said, “We have been working on it for three years. We were planning to launch it on July 28 anyway. It has nothing to do with Nestle’s launch.”

Nestle’s curd — Nesvita Dahi — was launched by actor Malaika Arora Khan. Mother Dairy, on the other hand, invested an estimated Rs 5 crore in advertising campaigns and other promotional activities for its probiotic product, b-Activ.

Japanese firm Yakult, which has joined hands with French dairy company Danone, is also expected to set up a probiotic food unit at Karnal, Haryana, for Rs 136 crore. The company plans to launch its products here soon.

Probiotic foods have become popular in western countries. Nutritionist Ishi Khosla said, “Probiotics help increase good bacteria while eradicating bad bacteria from our intestines.”

“Probiotic foods help proper functioning of the digestive system,” she added.

The annual packaged curd market of the country is 40,000 tonnes. North India has the highest per capita consumption of curd. Both Nesvita Dahi and b-Activ will initially be available only in New Delhi.

People in New Delhi buy around 50 lakh litres of fresh milk everyday, of which around 20 per cent is converted into curd. As a result, the market for fresh curd is considerably big in the city.

Mother Dairy plans to launch b-Activ in Mumbai next. Nestle has decided to take Nesvita Dahi to Calcutta, Bangalore and Chennai. It will launch the product in Mumbai subsequently.

Nesvita Dahi is available in all of Nestle’s 7,000 outlets in Delhi. b-Activ will soon be available in all Mother Dairy outlets in the city.

Both the companies believe that the estimated sale of probiotic curd will be 20 per cent of the regular variety. It is expected to go up as the market expands.

Nestle and Mother Dairy said it would take some time to educate Indian consumers about probiotic food and develop a suitable cold chain for it.

“Ideally, the curd should be kept at 4 to 6 degree Centigrade. A cold chain is essential for this product as the dahi tends to get spoiled if it is not kept under ideal conditions,” Thachil said.

“It is a delicate product, which has about 10 days of shelf life,” he added.

Mother Dairy has a production facility at Thane, Mumbai. The b-Activ curd takes three days to reach Delhi from Pikhuwa, Ghaziabad.