Godfrey Phillips vice-president Ambarish Anand at the launch of the new pack of Red and White in New Delhi on Monday. (PTI)

New Delhi, Jan. 5: Tobacco major Godfrey Phillips India (GPI) is all set to introduce half-a-dozen cigarette products in the next fiscal and is drawing up a strategy to persuade bidi smokers to upgrade to cheap cigarettes. “While GPI will not actually start making bidis, we have an ambitious plan to occupy that space,” said Nita Kapoor, senior vice-president (corporate affairs).

Three months ago the company had launched its plain cigarette brand Tipper, which it has now taken to Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Jammu. “The low end product selling for Rs 12.50 for a pack of 10 is aimed at the bidi market, which is three times bigger in volumes than the cigarette market,” said Kapoor. “Tipper will be aggressively marketed in southern and western India.”

The domestic market for cigarettes is estimated to be 7.3 billion sticks and in volume terms the bidi market is three times the size of the cigarette market. In value terms, the cigarette market is around Rs 1,100 crore.

With the anti-tobacco legislations being further fine tuned, is this the right time to launch new cigarettes? “We have set an ambitious plan to capture at least 30 per cent market share in the coming decade and new products, across the spectrum are part of that strategy,” said Kapoor.

Asked about the impact of the increasing legislations on cigarettes, Kapoor said, “We will abide by whatever legislation the government brings in, but it should be applied to pan masalas and gutkas as well as they are more harmful. Besides, cigarettes constitute 14 per cent of the tobacco industry but contributes 90 per cent of the revenue,” she said.

GPI, is a joint venture between Modi group and global cigarette major Philip Morris. Some of the leading brands in GPI’s portfolio are Jaisalmer, Cavenders, Four Square, Red & White and Originals. The company has a value market share of 11.4 per cent and a volume share of 12.4 per cent in the cigarette industry.

The cigarette industry faces immense pressure with declining volumes and increasing government regulations and taxation. “While the industry’s growth last year was 2.5 per cent, GPI grew at 3.35 per cent and we are growing at 7 per cent compared with last year,” said Amrish Anand, executive vice president, marketing and sales.

GPI today also re-launched its old best-seller Red and White brand of cigarettes.