From the Editor's Desk

A decade ago, if anybody in India was asked to name a 'fairness' cream, they would have promptly replied 'Fair and Lovely'. Today, the number of fairness creams in the market has exploded. A study shows that 60% of beauty products sold today are skin lightening products. Our nation's obsession with fairness is fully playing out today in the shopping bazaars. We have moved from just having fairness creams to fairness face washes to fairness soaps and now to fairness deodorants for under arm fairness!!! .

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At a Glance  News PepsiCo to sell 'Good for You' products in India HUL property at Worli Seaface goes under the hammer Emami, Gillette, Hindustan Unilever, P&G gain as urban men turn beauty conscious Tea deficit to be 100 million kg this year Japan's Unicharm enters Indian feminine care market New manufacturing facility in Amway's plan Trends & Insight The Rs 5 beverage story India Agribusiness Sector: A Review   News  PepsiCo to sell 'Good for You' products in India Wall Street Journal A global nutrition unit of PepsiCo selling 'good for you' products in India, is part of a broader push by the company into healthier snacks and beverages around the globe. The small, single-serving fortified-snack packs are designed for low-income emerging-market customers, selling for two rupees or about four cents. The fortified-food products are being marketed in a pilot program in some schools and villages in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh. The target is adolescent girls. The cookies and the snack packs sell under the brand Lehar Iron Chusti. The drink, which at five rupees is more expensive than the snacks, is being marketed in Maharashtra, in a joint venture with Tata Group, one of India's largest conglomerates. HUL property at Worli Seaface goes under the hammer Times of India Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) is believed to have received over a dozen bids for its seven-storey building at Worli Seaface. The building, Guilta, constructed in 1986, is expected to fetch around Rs 300 crore, market sources say. The property's land area, about 40,500 sq ft, is a little under an acre. Its built-up area is 53,595 sq ft. HUL refused to comment on the expected price or the number of bids. "The deal will take several months to fructify as each bid will have to be carefully evaluated," said a source. Though the current lease permits the land to be used only for residential purposes, industry sources said several bidders have asked for the property to be redeveloped into a hotel. Emami, Gillette, Hindustan Unilever, P&G gain as urban men turn beauty conscious Economic Times If you thought anti-wrinkle creams and body washes are girly stuff, boy, you haven't met the new urban man. Walk into any cosmetic shop and you'll find a wide variety of beauty products for men-from Vaseline anti-spot whitening cream to Olay under-eye gel. And their sales are growing much faster than women's products, making personal care product makers launch a slew of male grooming products other than shaving products, deodorants and moisturizers. In 2010, men's skincare category grew 47% in top cities compared with 22% rise in women's products, reveals market research firm Nielsen. Tea deficit to be 100 million kg this year Business Standard The domestic tea industry is likely to end the year with a production deficit of 100 million kg, despite good weather conditions and a higher crop. Last year, during January-December, production was 966 million kg and the industry expects it to be 990 million kg this year. The increase in production will just about take care of the yearly consumption increase. On an average, the domestic consumption increases by about 30 million kg every year. "The year started with a shortfall of 100 million kg. I don't think the production increase will mitigate the deficit. It will be enough to absorb the consumption increase. But this year looks much stronger than the previous year when we lost crop during the quality period," Aditya Khaitan, Managing Director of the world's largest bulk tea producer, McLeod Russel (India), said. Japan's Unicharm enters Indian feminine care market Economic Times Japanese FMCG firm Unicharm has announced its entry into the Indian feminine care market, which is currently dominated by multinational giants like Procter & Gamble and Johnson & Johnson. The company, which launched its global sanitary napkin brand Sofy, said it aims to capture around 10 percent of the market in the next three years. "The Indian feminine care market is growing rapidly. However, the penetration of sanitary napkins in India is very low. So, we see that as an opportunity and a big potential for our product," Unicharm Managing Director Yukihiro Kimura said. The company, which already sells 'Mamy Poko Pants' brand baby diapers in India, said it will initially start selling its sanitary napkin products in metros and will later move into smaller cities and towns. New manufacturing facility in Amway's plan Express Buzz Amway India, the direct selling FMCG company, will invest Rs 450 crore in the next two to three years in India, for its expansion, which includes setting up of a second manufacturing unit. As part of the company's major expansion plan there will be more touch points and brand experience centres. A core team is studying the appropriate place to set up the next manufacturing facility. In 2010, the company set up 14 new Amway Touch Points and five new Brand Experience Centres in the country. William S.Pinckney, Managing Director and CEO, Amway India said that the company has already registered a 17.5 percent growth for the first five months of 2011, registering a sales turnover of Rs. 838 crore.   Trends  The Rs 5 beverage story Business Standard Soaps, detergents, shampoo, hair oil, biscuit and chocolate majors have benefitted big time from their policy of targeting the bottom of the pyramid (BOP), made famous by the late management guru, C K Prahalad. Most FMCG companies today boast of 20-30 percent of their revenues coming from rural markets. But the going hasn't been that easy for beverage majors. For most part, these firms have struggled to make a profitable product at Rs 5. Coke's famous attempt at targeting the Rs 5 price point remained an experiment as the company struggled to manage both packaging and transportation costs at that price point. Coke as well as rival Pepsi, which also launched a 200-ml bottle at Rs 5, subsequently raised the price of the product by Rs 2, thereby vacating the slot altogether.   Insight  India Agribusiness Sector: A Review Credit Suisse Food inflation is once again hogging newspaper headlines as it has so many times in the recent past. While supply disruption in onions is partly to blame for the recent surge, the fact that this bout of food inflation is neither driven by foodgrains, nor by global soft-commodity prices reiterates the point that food inflation in India is sticky and is the result of both demand and structural supply side factors. Prices of many high-value food items such as fruits, vegetables, milk, egg, meat, fish and spices (weight of 10% in WPI) have been on a steady uptrend over the last three years increasing at anywhere between 12-25% on an annualised basis. Cost and availability of rural labour has become a major concern across the country - as a result, rural wages have been increasing sharply adding to food demand as well as raising cost of production. Sharply appreciating rural land prices are also having a similar effect. Supply, on the other hand, has failed to keep pace with the accelerating demand particularly for high-value food items, with yields largely stagnant and issues in distribution leading to poor market access and large post-harvest losses.

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