Akansha Pandey (cbedit@imaws.org)
Bail Kolhu, the leading brand of BL Agro, an FMCG company recently launched a television commercial #RasodeMeinMardHai starring Bollywood actors Pankaj Tripathi, Manoj Bajpayee and Nawazuddin Siddiqui persuading men to take up the kitchen duties and share the load.
Speaking to Chef Bharath at the event, Ashish Khandelwal, Managing Director, BL Agro highlighted the increasing use of mustard oil in cooking. “Bail Kolhu Kacchi Ghani Mustard Oil is the company’s flagship product commanding 60-65% of the company’s total sales volume. Post COVID, people have become cautious of what they are consuming and how is it going to affect their health. We have seen a shift among people preferring to buy mustard oil over the refined one and the mustard oil sales moving from the unorganised sector to the organised one,” he said.
The refined oil has been in prime focus since last 15-20 years, whereas the market has recently opened up for mustard oil. Going forward, he feels innovation and apt marketing strategy can push the envelope further for the mustard oil product category. The oil is widely sourced from India itself followed by Bangladesh and Bhutan. The government has taken some good initiatives due to which the mustard crop production has increased by 25-30% this year.
Out of the total sales of the mustard oil at BL Agro, 40% comes from the B2B sector – old distributors and wholesalers while the rest 60% is growing from the B2C segment. One of the challenges why the direct B2B business from the HoReCa industry got stagnant, is because of the delayed payment schedules, confesses Khandelwal.
Alongside, Sunflower oil was the major product that was imported from Ukraine and this was the peak season. The Russia-Ukraine War has had an impact on the import of sunflower oil but since it is a premium oil product, the category it caters to isn’t much price sensitive.
Presently led by Chairman – Ghanshyam Khandelwal and Managing Director – Ashish Khandelwal, BL Agro Industries Ltd. was formally founded in 1988 and is based in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh.
