Rasna sweetens offerings with 2 malt-based health drinks

India: India-based instant fruit concentrate manufacturer Rasna has ventured into the malt-based health drink market by launching two new products chocolate-flavoured ‘Honey Vita’ and almond-flavoured ‘Badam Vita’ under its ‘Rasna Native Haat’ brand. This new venture will have a significant impact on the consumer health drink industry in the years to come. The newly launched products portfolio includes chocolate-flavoured honey vita and almond-flavoured badam vita. Honey Vita is targeted primarily at children and will compete against established health drink brands such as Mondelez’s Cadbury Bournvita, GSK’s Boost, and Complan. The company will promote its new product as a health drink with less sugar. Rasna chairman and managing director Piruz Khambatta was saying:  “Sugar has become one of the key concerns for consumers and all-brown beverages contain a lot of it. Since it is difficult to replace sugar with artificial sweeteners in a category mostly targeted at children, we have decided to reduce the sugar content and introduce honey. “The idea was to create a product which can compete with Bournvita, Complan, and Horlicks, but with the goodness of honey.” While Honey Vita will be made available in stock-keeping units (SKUs) of 100g, 500g, and 600g, Badam Vita will be introduced in 200g SKU. The malt drinks have been launched on the e-commerce site, Amazon. They will be sold through the company’s distribution network, which focuses on the top 30 cities of India. Khambatta was further quoted as saying: “I believe this category has potential for growth, as mothers are willing to spend money on nutritious products, especially from tier 2 and 3 towns.” To promote the newly launched brands, the company has hired start badminton player Saina Nehwal as its brand ambassador. According to BlueWeave Consulting, due to rising standard of living, changing lifestyle and high level of consumerism, there is a growing inclination of Indian consumers towards healthier food and beverages. This has now become an emerging trend in food industry that makes positive impact on malted health drink market. Well-known malted health drink products available in the country include names like Horlicks, Bournvita, Complan, Boost, Milo, Amul Pro, etc. South India has the largest market share in malted drinks market. The market is divided into white and brown powder i.e. without cocoa powder and with cocoa powder consisting barley or corn malt. Nowadays, manufacturers have a range of brands pleasing separately to kids, adults and the entire family. Across international markets, it has been seen that the growth of the middle class has driven the uptrend in food industry in general and health beverages in particular. Middle-class consumers in India seek malted drinks that can help to manage good health for day-to-day challenging life. Thus, manufacturers are trying to combine the best raw materials with various innovative product concepts. Interestingly, several brands such as Boost, Complan and Bournvita have already repositioned themselves as health drinks. This is completely aligned with market realities, as greater health consciousness, aspirations for higher standards of living and comfortable disposable incomes become the main drivers of consumption patterns. Players are also bringing new packaging trends, which are attracting consumers to explore the products. Hence, this new venture will have a significant impact on the consumer health drink industry and will expand phenomenally in the years to come. According to the upcoming report by BlueWeave Consulting on “Global Malted Drinks Market, By Type, By Distribution Channel, By Region- Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends & forecast by 2018-2025”, the global malted drinks market is projected to grow significantly during the forecast period. Malt beverage is a fermented drink in which the principal component is the grain, or seed, of the barley plant. The cereals are predominantly kept in water for germination; later they are dried, boiled and processed into dry powder. The dry powder is also known as malt which is supplemented with vitamins, minerals, fiber, and protein for adding nutritional value. Malt contains half sweet as normal sugar and generally used as a healthier alternative sweetener. Parents opting for healthy and nutritional products for their children’s, high demand for quality products, increasing health awareness, growing nutritional concern, rising number of nuclear families, increasing product endorsement by companies are some factors, which are expected to boost the malted drinks market globally.