A pack of regional brands is content with their thumping dominance in their respective categories. For them, being the 'biggest in a state' is as good as being the 'largest in the country'
(Clockwise from left)Ghanshyam Khandelwal (right) and Ashish Khandelwal of BL Agro; the second generation of JK Masale Group (from left) Ashok Jain, Chandra Kumar Jain, Bhagchand Jain (seated), Jai Kumar Jain and Jitendra Jain; MP Ahammed of Malabar Group; Siddhant Kamath of Naturals Ice Cream; MN Jaganath (left) and A Balaraju of Dairy Day; Shaju Thomas of Popees; Sanjay Sharma of Orkla India and Siddharth Shah of SS Mobile
If happiness and beauty are states of mind, then self-perception too is a state of mind. Okay. Does this mean a cat can perceive itself as a tiger? Can David feel like a Goliath? Really? Well, it depends. When a cat pounces on a rat, it mimics the hunting skills of a tiger. Ditto for Davids. If a brand happens to be the biggest in a state or a region, and is bigger than the national brands—Ghari is bigger than Wheel, Nirma and Surf in Uttar Pradesh (UP); Star Cement is bigger than UltraTech, Ambuja and others in the Northeast; Balaji is bigger than Lay’s and Bingo in Gujarat, Wagh Bakri is bigger than Tata Tea in Gujarat—then it’s no longer a David. It’s a Goliath in that state.
Now, a state like UP, which houses a combined population of Germany, the United Kingdom and France, can be perceived either as a state or a country. “When I am already the biggest in UP, why do I need to have a pan-India aspiration?” reckons Ashish Khandelwal, managing director of BL Agro, which owns the biggest mustard oil brand in UP, Bail Kolhu. “I don’t have pan-India aspirations. With over 70 percent market share in UP, I lord over a huge territory,” says Khandelwal, who rolled out Bail Kolhu in 1994. The brand is among the top three players in Delhi NCR, and has big rivals such as Fortune, Emami and Dhara.
Khandelwal is not alone in exhibiting such a state of mind. MN Jaganath too swears by the same ideology and mindset.
The biggest ice cream player in Karnataka, Dairy Day is among the top three brands in Tamil Nadu, closed FY24 with an operating revenue of ₹680 crore and a PAT (profit after tax) of ₹28 crore, and gets 68 percent of its revenue from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
(This story appears in the 09 August, 2024 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)