Reliance launches new brand on Adani’s turf

Reliance Consumer Products Ltd, the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) arm of Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd, on Thursday launched its packaged goods brand Independence in Gujarat, entering the home turf of rival Adani Wilmar Ltd.

Independence will sell a wide range of products under several categories, including staples, processed foods and other daily essentials such as sugar, dal, biscuits, sunflower and groundnut oil, besan, wheat flour and bottled water. Its products will be available at kirana stores in select markets in the state for now.

Apart from Adani Wilmar, the brand will wrestle for market share with the likes of Tata Consumer Products Ltd, Patanjali Foods and ITC Ltd.

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Analysts said Reliance’s move is bad news for incumbents, especially Adani and Patanjali, and to some extent for Tata Consumer, as they operate in the same categories as Independence.

“In the FMCG space, it takes a lot of time for new players to impact as shelf space in kirana is limited, and there are very entrenched incumbent brands,” said Abneesh Roy, executive director of institutional equities at Nuvama Wealth Management.

Roy, however, said the market is wide enough to accommodate three to four players.

The company plans to develop Gujarat as a “go-to-market” state to stabilize execution for its FMCG business, even as it prepares for a national rollout.

The move marks Reliance Consumer’s push into India’s fast-moving consumer products market, where it had limited presence through several private labels sold at Reliance Retail stores.

Some of these brands are also available in general trade.

Reliance has also tried to acquire local brands to drive scale and presence across FMCG categories.

For instance, earlier this year, it acquired the soft drinks brand Campa.

“I am happy to announce the launch of our own FMCG brand, Independence, which brings a wide choice of high-quality and affordable products, including edible oils, pulses, grains, packaged foods and other daily need products,” said Isha Ambani, director, Reliance Retail Ventures.

The company is collaborating with trade partners, including manufacturers and kirana stores, to create quality products and offer enhanced business opportunities to its partners.

In the coming months, the company plans to step up the launch to cover FMCG retailers across Gujarat.

The high-decibel integrated launch is supported with on-ground visibility and sampling activities in Ahmedabad, complemented with outdoor and print, radio and local television ads.

At the company’s 45th annual general meeting earlier this year, Ambani said Reliance would push new fast-moving consumer brands into the market and scale the presence of its private labels.

“I’m excited to announce that this year we will launch our fast-moving consumer goods business. The objective of this business is to develop and deliver products that solve every Indian’s daily needs, with high-quality products at affordable pricing,” Ambani had said.

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