Reliance Consumer Products Limited (RCPL), a fully owned subsidiary of Reliance Retail Ventures, was established on November 30, 2022. Since then, it has built a wide-ranging brand portfolio.
Under home and personal care, it has Dozo (dishwashing bars and liquids), Enzo (laundry detergent powder, liquid and bars), Glimmer (beauty soaps), Puric (hygiene soaps), Get Real (natural soaps) and HomeGuard (toilet and floor cleaners).
RCPL, which intends to enter the dairy and frozen food market, will concentrate on value-added products like yoghurt, frozen dessert, ice cream, flavoured yoghurt etc, according to media reports. Reliance is on the lookout to acquire companies in the dairy and value-added product category, according to a report in Mint Genie.
In September, it was reported that Reliance Retail was investing Rs 300 crore of equity into RCPL. As per the last fiscal financial statement of RCPL as highlighted in a report in Economic Times, Reliance Retail had already infused Rs 277 crores.
In 2022 and this year, Reliance Consumer Products expanded its portfolio through a series of acquisitions. Storyboard18 looks at a few of them.
Campa
It was the 1970s. Pure Drinks Group, which was based in Delhi, was a pioneer in the soft drinks industry. In the late 1970s, it came up with Campa. As reported earlier by Storyboard18, in 1977, Coca-Cola was asked to pack up and leave India by then industry minister George Fernandes when it refused to follow the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act.
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As per this act, foreign players had to partner with an Indian entity, which would have meant revealing their secret recipe.
Pure Drinks capitalised on this opportunity and launched Campa. With the advent of liberalisation in the early 1990s and the entry of Coca-Cola in 1993, there were questions over the survival of Campa.
In August 2022, Reliance Consumer Products acquired Campa for Rs 22 crore. Today, it is available in Campa Orange, Campa Lemon and Campa Cola, and its initial rollout began in March in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
In August, Reliance Consumer Products announced that it would expand the presence of Campa in international markets, beginning with Asia and Africa. In September, Campa Cricket, a lemon flavoured carbonated drink, was launched. It is all set to be launched in many states, including Maharashtra, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat.
Sosyo
It was 1923, when the struggle for an independent India was intensifying. Abbas Abdulrahim Hajoori, a young man from Surat began formulating a carbonated drink and came up with a home-grown juice. It was named Socio, according to the official website of the brand.
Socio is derived from the Latin word ‘Socious’, meaning ‘to be a member’. In classical Roman times, the word also meant a ‘friend’. This name was chosen because Hajoori wanted to encourage Indian consumers to choose a home-grown drink over foreign brands.
The drink went on to become the most popular drink in Surat. But what drew the maker’s attention was that people were pronouncing Socio as ‘Sosyo’, according to its website. Hence, in 1953, Socio was renamed Sosyo.
Today, the company is operated by Abbas Hajoori and his son Aliasgar Hajoori. Its portfolio boasts of several products, including Kashmira, Lemee, Ginlim, Runner, Opener, Hajoori Soda and Seau. The drink is today available in countries such as the UAE, Zambia, Switzerland, the US, the UK, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
In early 2023, i.e. in January, Reliance Consumer Products went on to acquire a 50 percent equity stake in Sosyo Hajoori Beverages Private Limited.
Raskik and Toffeeman
Vikas Chawla, Abhay Parnekar and Satyajit Ram, three beverage experts who are former Coca-Cola employees, cemented the foundation of a fusion beverage startup in 2019. Their aim was to come up with a drink that was healthy yet delicious in taste. Soon, Raskik entered the market.
Toffeeman, whose parent company is Sweet Confectionery, a Maharashtra-based company, was established in 1983. In April, Reliance Consumer acquired Raskik and Toffeeman.
Maliban
Established in 1954 by Angulugaha Gamage Hinnyappuhamy, it is the second biggest biscuit firm in Sri Lanka. The company makes biscuits, cookies, wafers and crackers, and its products are exported to over 35 countries.
In January, Reliance Consumer Products announced that it had entered into a strategic partnership with the Sri Lanka-based Maliban Biscuit Manufactories in order to launch their biscuit brand Maliban in India.
Alan’s bugles chips
Bugle chips were introduced in 1964. Initially marketed as a ‘crispy corn snack with a unique shape’, ‘Bugles’ was chosen to highlight the snack’s corn-like shape, stated the website of Elephant Design, a Pune based strategic design and innovation consultancy.
In May, Reliance Retail announced that it was venturing into the Western snacks category by launching Alan’s bugles (owned by General Mills) in India, which was well-known in the markets of the UK and the Middle East.
Alan’s bugles will be introduced at a price point of Rs 10 beginning from Kerala and will be available in flavours such as Original, Tomato and Cheese.
Lotus Chocolate
Established in 1988, its operations commenced in 1992. In May, Reliance Consumer Products completed the acquisition of a 51 percent controlling stake in Lotus Chocolate Company.
Independence
RCPL ventured into the staples and processed foods category by launching ‘Independence’, a made-for-India consumer packaged goods brand, in Gujarat in December 2022. Products ranging from staples to processed foods, including pulses, grains, sugar, flour, biscuits, edible oils etc, will be sold by the company, according to a report in Mint Genie.
Independence’s expansion to Northern India was announced in June. Daily essentials will be made available in Punjab, Haryana, Delhi NCR, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Bihar.