TOP INDIAN BRANDS THAT HAVE GONE TO FOREIGN HAND

THUMPS UP

A cola drink introduced in 1977 to offset the expulsion of American Coca Cola

Company, an Indian brand by Parle Group gained a near monopoly in India with

government closing the door to foreign companies/brands. When Government

of India again opened its doors to multinationals, Thumps Up lost its will to fight

with its resource packed international brands vis Pepsi and Coca Cola. It sold out

to Coca Cola Company in 1993 in order to make quick money after enjoying a

near monopoly for almost 15 years. As Thumps Up had a huge market share,

Coca Cola Company decided to keep the brand alive rather than kill it to give

competition to Pepsi.

HAMAM

Hamam, one of the oldest Indian beauty soap brands, has created itself as a trustworthy brand in the market.

It is a natural soap category with low pricing. It was owned by Tata Oil Mills Company (TOMCO). It was taken

over by Hindustan Unilever Limited when it acquired TOMCO in the year

1993. Hindustan Unilever Limited continues to keep this brand alive as it is

one of the trusted brands with strong brand loyalty in soap segment in

Indian market. HUL did try to repackage and modify the brand but they

found out that by changing the composition of the soap they were losing

the loyal customers, so HUL have gone back to old composition and is

using ‘trust’ and ‘quality’ as this brand’s salient points in marketing it.

KISSAN

The preserved food division of United Breweries Group (UB Group) was not doing

well as compared to its liquor division. So, UB Group sold its food section along with

Kissan brand to Hindustan Unilever Limited. Now Kissan is another of HUL’s Indian

brand. HUL has revived and added more desi flavor to Kissan brand. Also, more items

such as salt, rice, spices, chilli powder, atta, etc were added to Kissan brand and

hence taking this Indian brand to another level.

MALTOVA

This favorite Indian heath drink was brought by GlaxoSmithKline Beecham

Consumer Healthcare Linited from Jagatjit Industries in the year 2000. Now with

well known brands GlaxoSmithKline – Horlicks, Boost, Viva and Maltova – it has

become a market leader in Indian health drink market. Viva has been

repositioned as a traditional family health drink and Maltova as a tasty chocolate

based health drink for the kids.

 

KWALITY WALLS

This brand of ice cream found in every nooks and corner was a pioneer in the field

of ice cream manufacturing in India. Kwality later ventured out from ice cream

sector to restaurants. In 1995, Kwality tied up with Hindustan Unilever Limited,

move that took this Indian brand to international market. Hindustan Unilever

Limited introduced Kwality Walls ice cream to India and the world beyond, a very

profitable venture indeed.

LAKME

Lakme started as a subsidiary of Tata Group in 1952. This Indian cosmetic brand

was not making any profit. It had two options after perennially losses, one to close

this brand and second sell it to another company. Tata Group took the second

option and Lakme Limited formed a joint venture of 50-50 with Hindustan Unilever

Limited in 1996 and later in year 1998 sold this brand to Hindustan Unilever Limited,

a conglomerate in consumer goods sector. And today Lakme is a household name in

cosmetics in India as well as abroad..

LIMCA

Coca Cola Company bought Indian brand Limca along with Thumps Up when the

Indian government opened its door to foreign companies. It tried to kill this brand

as well but found out that lemonade is a favorite of Indians during hot sweltering

summers; it was revived as a tangy and refreshing drink. Limca is still one of the

top brands in soft drink segment in lemon flavor. With better marketing by Coca

Cola Company, this brand is still going strong

Source: http://www.buzzom.com/2010/01/top-indian-brands-that-have-gone-to-foreign-hand/