 Hello and welcome to the Euforium Talk Show. Our guest today is Anjana Ghosh, CEO of Exotic Fruges. FMCG veteran Anjana joined this family-run business last year when the company decided to rope in a CEO to accelerate its growth. Welcome to the show Anjana. Thank you. Anjana, you worked in Bislady for 15 long years before joining Exotic in your kind of, you know, comfort zone. And how challenging or different these six months have been for you? Well, rightly put by you, I was really, of course, the initial years with Bislady was because when I joined Bislady, it was in the similar capacity. It was a company with about 200 people at a time. And when I left Bislady after 16 years, it had reached almost around 3,000 people. So that was my journey from 200 to 3,000 in Bislady. And yes, rightly put, the fragment of my career with Bislady, I felt that, yes, now, you know, that there is not much to be done. And I had gone into a comfort zone. And that's when I think our current promoters, promoter, Mr. Raju Saigal had pushed me and he said, now you have done enough there. Although we are a small company, but would you like to join? And this decision for me was really, very, very, you know, difficult to take because I thought that I had to put in, you know, 16 years building a brand with Bislady, of course, Bislady, mentor was Mr. Anjana. And with him, and now again, to, you know, back to starting a journey again and trying to work with a company which is around, say, 150 floor. So that was a very difficult decision for me. But I waited for some time. I didn't really rule out. But at the same time, I wanted to sort of check out, evaluate, as to what, how, how would it affect my career moving ahead. So I did a bit of understanding about the brand. Because at Bislady, the brand was already built. And when I had to move to exotic, the brand has to be built. So that was the biggest challenge. And so when I did at Bipstake, I went into the market and tried to understand how, what is exotic, how exotic is, you know, currently, the brand G-Roo, the flagship brand. How is it, you know, sort of accepted in the market. So I found two very key things that came to me is that the consumers that I met, they all told me that, you know, of course, brand, it is a nice product. It's a good product. But, you know, nowadays, we don't see it. So it's not available. So my next, you know, interaction was with the trade, the retailers and the customers. And they also said, Madam, the brand is good, but it doesn't come. So then I thought it's a good challenge to have a good, you know, a problem to have that the brand is accepted, the consumer wants it, the trade wants it, but somehow it is not reaching. So then it becomes an easier task for me that the distribution has to be ranked up, the production has to be ranked up. And I said that this is something which really sounds that, yes, you know, I can get things together and take it up. So that's when I decided I'm, and in all this in the process, I told Mr. Saigal, yes, I'm ready to join because this is something which I will be creating from the scratch because the want is already there then, but journey becomes much easier. So that's how I accepted it and post for five months now I'm here. So we would like to know how exotic is placed in the tough non-alcoholic beverage market? I see this company exotic is absolutely, it's not a new company, the brand is new. In fact, this brand had created its own niche by starting the Jira Masala in the year 2007 when the Jira Masala did not exist. So it has its own first more advantage and Jiru as a brand is well known to the consumer and the taste is well established, consumer wants it. Yes, and it is a 15 year old company, not sure you know. And in the last 15 years, they have been growing well at around a category of say 30% here on your profit-making company, completely independent, the promoter family was running it. The next generation have joined about say for five, six years back, Mr. Saigal was running the company. So it is a promoter driven company but the values of the company as the family is, it has its own niche, it has its own role. So I don't think it is absolutely, you know, because yes, I have worked with a promoter driven company even in the slurry. So they're the promoter's values and the other promoter's values are quite similar because they are more tuned towards customers, their internal employees, the environment of the organization is very, very conducive for people to sort of work, learn and achieve milestones. So as a company, yes, it's on the, you know, probably level of any other good organized company would be. But yes, the turnover is small because it started from zero to where it has reached now. But yeah, the value system is in place and the company is well. I think, yes, we can build much better but yes, the foundation is quite strong. Anjana, you mentioned about Juru and we learned that you are going to rebrand it as J. So can you please, you know, explain us the rationale behind the rebranding? Well, you see when after, of course, in 2007, probably Juru was the first mover. It was the only Jira drink which existed. Prior to that, they only wanted to brand locally available in the south, not really in the north, not the entire concept of Jira drink was more tuned to the Shikanzis that they would drink during the summertime. In Bombay again, the Jira drink was more as Jaljira which was available, you know, ready to drink at a restaurant or at a hospital, right? So when this bottle concept came in and prior to that, yes, partly also had doubled with this idea of Jira drink invention but it never took off. So I think what first they have broken the barrier of that, you know, ready mix drink, fresh drink to bottle drink, that advantage Juru already had taken up and they have given a bottled version of Jira and they have the first mover advantage and they were doing good. But today when I look at the market, there is n number of Jira. There is 192 grams of Jira across India because this Jira somehow is a very, you know, known kind of an ingredient with the consumer and it is also associated unfortunately with that as a digestive drink. So when I looked at Jira, Juru or any other Jira drink, it automatically gets slotted with, you know, consumption of after food and it gets associated very closely with food. So when it gets associated with food, then the consumption becomes limited because, you know, you will drink a Jira only after food, you will drink maximum one. Then again, the consumption is more aligned to the consumer who I say probably codified 40 plus. The young beverage drinking consumer is completely disconnected with this kind of drink because they believe that they don't need it. Then this 192 brand across India are very locally distributed. So every brand is doing a niche market in the other area. So they get branded as a local brand. So this is the kind of, you know, environment in which currently Jira drinks are and Juru is also. So if I had to sort of break these barriers, it has got a very firm barrier around itself. You can't just come out of this barrier with the main Jira. So if I, it had to be broken, it had to, you know, sort of come out of this and try to address the new segment of consumer. And today, the maximum beverage drinking consumer is the young consumer. They tend to, you know, sort of probably 25. They are consuming the beverage in all occasion and multiple times in a day or a week. Now, if I have to address, if I have to go and offer this drink to them, then of course it cannot be Juru because they are not associated with the brand. They just do not want to. And that's where when I thought that we have to come out of this whole now legacy of being a Jira drink because then you get slotted very much as a digesting drink and not really a funneling. And as far as the taste of Juru is concerned, it is fantastic. So everybody loves it. Probably if it even appeared to, you know, the segment that I'm talking about, the PG that I'm talking about, they love the drink. But again, just because the branding is so much sort of aligned to being a local brand and Jira, it has to be only consumed with food. So they don't really enjoy it in their parties or they would not want to be seen around with a Jira. That's where the thought came in that we have to come out of this whole branding legacy of the brand that it is a Jira drink and that's where the rebranding and the entire exercise happened. Very interesting proposition, I guess. It was actually a big challenge because a brand which is built on its core proposition of being a Jira, good taste in Jira drink, to break that and come out of the Jira was a real challenge. And because the entire perception of the brand has to be changed. So of course, yes, but then we did a bit of research. We understood the consumption patterns of the new generation, the so-called ZNZ. And we understood that, yes, if we just do change the proposition, because it's a good tasting drink, it will be accepted. And yes, even internally, we had a lot of debates and discussions to change a brand which has a legacy of being a good Jira brand to completely come out of the identity of Jira. Very interesting, J for Z. Okay. What is the share of carbonated and non-carbonated categories in terms of volume or maybe revenue? And I would also like to know from you how has consumer behavior changed in between these two categories over the years? See the beverage category as such across India is a 60,000 third category, which is a huge category. So if you take a 60,000 third category, so you can understand the consumption of the brand. So maybe in the food category, the FMCG food category beverage is the largest consumption, largest consumption. And in that carbonated drinks, because carbonated again is somehow very much associated, because it is carbonated, it is associated with celebration and fun. So when you have a party, you will never sit with a still drink like a fruit juice or something, you would always want to have something which is bubbly, bubbly means carbonated. So out of the beverage, 60,000 for 80% is ruled by the carbonated segment, because that's the celebration part. When you want to have fun, when you have to have party, you will always bring in a carbonated drink, your folks and the pipsies and the spikes. So that's how the carbonated rules the beverage consumption. And about what is carbonated, I mean, what is the portion in carbonated and non-carbonate categories within Exotic? So within Exotic, the carbonated category is again 80%, because zero is with carbonation. And that is our function land and in fact, more than 80%, it's around 85, almost close to 90% is zero. And I've got still drinks, that is the Kachar, Palaketta and Nibu Masala is the other 10%. On which we are working now to also take that up in a big way. Because yes, as you were talking about the consumer behavioral change, yes, the consumer also wants something new. Consumer is now torn between a carbonation and a still drink. Carbonation still is his consumption when he is enjoying. And the still drink, that is the food juice and the other categories are consumed when he feels that I must have something healthy. So that is even in today in the consumption pattern, 20% of that carbonated is only ruled by the juices and the other variants, which doesn't have carbonation. 80% is still carbonation. So the consumption, consumer behavior is changing slightly, but that category is big. Consumer, the new consumer that we are talking about Zensi, they have a very different attribute. They do not want something which is a routine. They want to sort of break every status for which probably the earlier generation had held on to. So this generation wants to challenge everything. And in challenging everything, we also want to sort of experiment with new things. So if you see the current trends across the beverage market, you will see there is a new category of beer which is coming, which is the craft and beer. So now that this new generation of consumers do not even like to have just the boring beer. So similarly, they are getting bored with folks, I mean, but the Polars or the oranges and the lemons, they want something new, they want something innovation. So that's the niche which is getting created in the consumption demand. That's where we want to claim. We want to get into a segment where we will avoid, we will have carbonation about it. But at the same time, we will want to be something new. So the consumer that is looking out for new drinks, he will want to have a new variant problem for him every year. That's how we plan. Okay. You mean to say you might enter into beer category also? No, no, no, no. I was just giving you an example. Okay, it would be interesting to know about your strategic roadmap, I mean, for which I the company wrote in. Oh, well, see the company currently is at, as I said, 150 crore. We want to become a thousand crore company in the next five years. Because that's the need of the art today. If you have to survive in a very competitive environment, that's emerging now, you have to be a big player. You cannot remain a small player. So that's the need. And that's where we are moving, that we want to be a thousand crore in the next five years. So that's the strategy that we have put for ourselves, for which we have inducted people because people are the base of any organization. So people are all coming. And now how do I expand the distribution, expansion of sort of manufacturing units, etc, etc. I would like to know your media mix also, media strategy, are you going to change it? What is the milk? I mean, what is the share of digital and to this thing? See, currently, if you ask me, very frankly, I haven't even thought about that. Because I strongly believe that for a brand, the distribution has to be in place. And you have to be available everywhere. And that's where you can start your communication strategy. Because if your consumer has to connect with your brand, the brand should be available. So if you ask me truly, my first year plan is only to increase distribution. And in this year, we will only concentrate mostly on digital, because that's the medium where I can build in the initial engagement with my consumers. And maybe the below the line, that is at the point of sale, visibility, etc. But not really a very good medium. Okay. And now, now last question. Women professionals, they often have to push through many barriers to build alliances, to influence, to convince others. What was your experience when you started off your career? And do you see any changes in the boardroom discussion now? Yes, I always get this question. But fortunately for me, throughout my journey, I am now in the industry, almost for about 35 years, out of which 15, 16 years has been FMCG. Prior to that 15 years, I was working quite for putting up, I was in projectings of putting up silly plans. And if you see the steering is a very dominant female dominated kind of an industry where females have no sort of entry at all. But in that fully male dominated zone two, I was a lady who was managing projects and putting up silly plans. And I never thought that I had any kind of, you know, sort of, I was deprived of anything that the men enjoyed in the industry. In fact, I was taken care of because I was used to be in a projecting only girl and the rest for all. So I feel that not depends on you as a person. As to how you conduct yourself, how you're building your own strength. And so if you allow to be predicted, then you get predicted. Otherwise, if you don't allow that people should have some advice with you if you stand, if you have your own standing. And if you contribute equally as the men do, I don't think that there are any kind of, you know, shades that you don't get the right opportunity. And I've always had opportunity and I've always worked in an environment which was always dominated by men and female were always a minority. But I think I got all my opportunities and I was appreciated throughout my career. Thank you so much for taking time out on speaking with me for you. Thank you. Thank you so much. And all the best. Thank you so much. you