Dalmia Consumer Care, an FMCG start-up of the Rs 1,200 crore (Rs 12 billion) Dalmia group, has launched Vardan, a bidi without tobacco.
The new bidis are claimed to simulate the pleasure of tobacco and mimic the kick without the ill effects of tobacco.
They have been launched in 16 cities since June 12 and Hyderabad is the 17th city. A 20-bidi pack costs Rs 4.50.
"We successfully test -marketed the product in the four metros in March and April with about 110,000 customers. Our blind tests (not revealing the product does not contain tobacco) showed that over 80 per cent rated the bidis as good to excellent against the current brands," Kartik Raina, the COO of DCC, said.
The company has spent about Rs 10 crore (Rs 100 million) on research for the product and earmarked another Rs 10 crore on marketing and advertising campaign in the next twelve months.
By December 2003, the product will be launched in 150 cities and by March 2005, it is expected to be available in 1,250 towns.
"We are likely to launch one of the four tobacco alternative products the company is working on- - cigarettes, chewing substance, kimam and zarda -- in the next 12 months," Raina said.
Every 6.5 seconds, one person dies in the world because of tobacco usage.
In India alone, about 800,000 people die every year. Vardan will help arrest these, Sudershan Banerjee, the MD and CEO of the company, said.
"We plan to export the bidis to Saarc countries first and then to countries such as US and UK where a large percentage of Indian Diaspora lives," he added.
About Rs 25,000 crore (Rs 250 billion) worth tobacco is consumed in the country annually, of which the bidi industry market size is between Rs 12,000 crore (Rs 120 billion) to Rs 15,000 crore (Rs 150 billion).
Fifteen crore (Rs 150 million) bidis are sold in the country every hour and 108 billion bidis sold per month. Andhra accounts for 10 per cent of country's bidi consumption.
Dalmia is currently working on plant-based formulations for respiratory diseases like asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonatory disease. It is also working on herbal drugs for diseases like diabetes, kidney and bile stones, hepatitis and arthritis.
