Date:26/11/2004 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2004/11/26/stories/2004112602420900.htm

Back Girijan cooperative embarks on product diversification drive

Our Bureau

Visakhapatnam , Nov. 25

THE Girijan Cooperative Corporation (GCC) here has taken up product diversification to make its brand `Girijan' more popular.

Girijan Honey was the only GCC product which was widely known till 1999, though soaps, shikakai and soapnut powder produced by the corporation were also in the market.

With the launching of nine more products in 2002, currently GCC is marketing 13 products including tamarind, rajma and amla.

It is making efforts to launch new products such as tamarind paste, soapnut shampoo, amla muraba (seasoned in honey, which improves resistance) and maradugeddalu (a root used in preparing squash and ayurvedic formulations as a syrupy base).

"Success in establishing retail products in consumer market has encouraged us to bring more minor forest produce into the fold of retail business,'' said the GCC Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, Mr A. Vidyasagar.

Value addition: Value-added products which will be launched soon include gum karaya (useful for food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industry), dry amla/emblica officinalis (ayurvedic, pharmaceutical and FMCG industry) and poapathri/gymnema sylvestre (powdered form of gymnema with other ingredients for preparing morning tea for diabetics).

Attractive packaging, massive advertisement campaign on January 1 and January 26 (Ugadi), August 15 and November 1 (GCC Formation Day) and the appointment of 125 distributors all over the State has enabled the corporation make further inroads into the retail market.

Distributors have also been appointed in New Delhi, Chandigarh, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Madurai and Bangalore. An agreement will be signed soon with the Tribal Marketing Federation appointing it as the franchisee for selling GCC products outside the State.

The turnover of the corporation, which was a paltry Rs 65 lakh per annum till 1999, is now in the range of Rs 50 lakh to Rs 60 lakh a month. The turnover was Rs 79 lakh in 1999-2000. The corporation recorded a turnover of Rs 5.82 crore in 2003-2004, an all-time high.

During the first half of the current fiscal, the turnover amounted to Rs 3.82 crore as against the projected annual turnover of Rs 7 crore.

Among all the brands, Girijan Honey continues to be the most sought-after product. Honey which used to be consumed at the rate of 30 tonnes per annum in the retail market has now gone up to 30 tonnes a month.

"Demand is phenomenal but procurement has become a problem now. The procurement has been raised from 1,000 to 4,000 quintals a year by initiating several measures," Mr Vidyasagar said.

The GCC, during the past four years, has been able to increase its revenue from selling honey from Rs 30 lakh to Rs 3 crore a year, soap nuts from Rs 8 lakh to Rs 1.2 crore and tamarind from zero to Rs 60 lakh.