Calcutta, Feb. 28: Danone India has launched a health drink for adolescents, Protinex Grow.
"In India, we have been operating in the dairy and the nutrition segment and we have an aim to double our business here by 2020. Hence we are expanding into a new category," said Rodrigo Lima, managing director of Danone India, during the launch of Protinex Grow here today.
Protinex Grow has been launched in Bengal and Karnataka in the first phase. These states have a market share of 15 per cent and 7 per cent, respectively, of the family health food drinks business in the country.
"We have lined up 10 launches this year to expand our portfolio. We recently launched our global infant formula brand Aptamil in India," Lima said.
In India, Danone started its dairy business in 2010 and in 2011, the company acquired the nutrition business of Wockhardt to enter the Indian baby nutrition and medical nutrition markets with brands such as Protinex and Farex.
At present, the French nutrition giant offers 10 brands in India across 250 cities and 200,000 retail outlets.
The national market size of the family health-food-drinks segment is pegged at Rs 4,000 crore, led by brands such as Horlicks and Complan.
"We are aiming at least a 5-10 per cent market share in the family health-food-drinks segment by 2020 and would also have our presence in 400 cities across the country," said Raphael Radanne, general manager of Danone India.
The company has also lined up two more launches in the dairy segment with baby foods, which will be imported.
These are Neocate and a range of product of IEM (inborn error of metabolism) here. Neocate is an infant formula and is for the children who have severe allergy from cow milk.
At present, the company has two units in Punjab and Haryana manufacturing yoghurts and baby food, while the rest of the products are outsourced from four co-manufacturers.
However, with an aim to grow in India, the company is considering to reduce the price of some of its products while it has to increase volumes at the same time.
