Incense stick manufacturer N.R. Ranga Rao & Sons plans to double the market share of its flagship Cycle Pure Agarbathies brand in the next three to five years, according to a top executive.
“While the industry is growing at 4-5%, we are growing higher than the market,” said Arjun M. Ranga, managing director, Cycle Pure Agarbathies. “Currently, we have healthy double digit [growth] and we would like to double it.”
The plan is to achieve the goal through increased production capacity, expansion of product range, roping in more distributors and expanding retail outlets. N.R. Ranga Rao & Sons, which was founded in 1948 in Mysuru, started working towards the goal of doubling market share two years ago.
“While the organised domestic market size is pegged at ₹5,000 crore to ₹7,000 crore, we have 20% share of it.
“This is through consistent invention of products and reduced cost. Today, we are producing 12 billion sticks per annum and our products are sold through 12 lakh outlets,” Mr. Ranga said.
“Though our products are well known in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, we would like to be the first choice of prayer products in the country. We have also introduced premium incense stick brands — Woods, Yagna and Dasara — priced at ₹5-10 per stick instead of the regular ₹1 per stick,” he said.
Export revenue
Asked about exports, he said it accounted for 5% of the total revenue. However, he was not willing to share the numbers as it was a privately held firm.
“Our focus will be on growing the domestic market and we are not looking at acquisitions for growth,” Mr. Ranga added.
