INDEX

SALT FACTS
HISTORY OF TATA SALT
MANUFACTURING CAPABILITIES
PRODUCT PROFILE
SALT MARKET AND COMPETITION
TATA SALT MARKATING STRATEGYS
ADVERTISEMENT STRATEGY
SWOT ANALYSIS
AWARDS AND RECOGNIZATION
 Salt every kitchen, every home and almost every dish. Few of
us know, however, that this fine white powder has a long, interesting
history that has played a crucial role in the development and
progress of civilizations and the world as we know it today is one of
the most ubiquitous cooking ingredients — found in almost

Did you know?

Salt is the oldest food flavoring. The first written reference to
salt is found in the Book of Job, recorded about 2,250 BC.

In the Middle Ages, salt was so expensive it was sometimes

referred to as 'white gold'.

The French throw a little spilled salt behind them in order to

hit the devil in the eye, to temporarily prevent further
mischief.

Iodine is an essential micro-nutrient which helps in proper

mental development of children and prevents iodine-
deficiency disorder in adults.

Tata Salt Plus is one of the most cost-effective means of

increasing iron intake in daily diet. It can fulfill up to 50 per
cent of the family's iron requirement at Rs 17 per month
(MRP of 1Kg). Unlike other natural sources of iron, salt also
 has other advantages of being self regulatory, convenient to

use and can be consumed by everybody.

A brand worth its salt

 The history of iodized, vacuum evaporated, packaged
salt in India pioneered by Tata Salt in august 1983. Tata
chemicals, the company behind the brand take the first
credit to converting the commodity salt into high quality
branded product. To millions of Indian housewives
offered a welcome move away from the loose, unbranded
salt of questionable quality to the assurance of clean,
pure salt, certified by India’s highly trusted business
house. Tata salt delineated the standard and attributes
that consumers now demand in a product- hygiene
production, purity, nutrition, and iodine content. Thus
was born a new category in the food addictive segment.

 Over the years, Tata salt’s business has grown from

strength to strength. It has became a household name
with top-of-the-mind brand recall and has garnered 41%
share of India’s branded salt, as against 23% as its
 nearest competitor. And thanks to the purity and
reliability of the brand. The preference for it span in all
segment of the market: housewives; restaurant; industry;
manufacturer of packaged snacks, colas and namkeens;
and even the Indian government.
 The Tata salt brand has many accolades to its credit,
which stem from association with trust, reliability,
honesty and credibility, qualities inherent to the Tata
creed to business. Its jingle ‘Namak ho Tata ka, Tata
namak’ an audio mnemonic for the brand, speaks
volumes of its headship in the salt market.

 Over the last two decades, Tata Salt has lived up to its
claim of being 'Desh Ka Namak'. According to Nielsen
Retail Audit, March 2011, each month more than 50,000
metric tons of Tata Salt is sold through over 12 lakh
retail outlets reaching 50 million households across the
country. The brand has managed to achieve these robust
figures by consistently delivering health-aware products.
The key to the brand's success lies in the superior product
quality of Tata Salt.

 Tata Salt is manufactured using vacuum

evaporation technology, which makes it hygienic and
free from impurities. Also it has the requisite and
consistent amount of iodine and saltiness, thus
making any recipe that much tastier.
 Today, Tata Salt is the market leader, commanding a
share of over 62 per cent of the national branded salt
category. It has also consistently been named one of
India's most trusted food brands since 2003 by The
Economic Times Brand Equity 'Most Trusted
Brands' survey conducted by AC Nielsen each year.
While competitors have come and gone, innovative
brand building over the years has helped build and
maintain the trust consumers have placed in Tata
Salt. The initial 'Namak ho Tata ka — Tata Namak'
and path breaking 'Desh ka Namak' and most recent
'Gulmil ke' ad campaigns creatively tapped into this
emotional connect, reinforcing Tata Salt's leadership
position in the marketplace as well as in the
consumer's mind.

 As the brand continues to grow, an important aspect

is identifying future market needs and innovatively
addressing them. In this effort Tata Salt has launched
a bouquet of products designed to cater to specific
segments of consumers, offering them a choice of
products that come with the trust of Tata Salt. Tata
Salt Lite (low-sodium salt), Tata Salt Plus (iron-
fortified salt) and Sprinklers have been launched in
recent years further assaying the brand's commitment
to its customers.
Tata Salt is manufactured by Tata Chemicals at
Mithapur, located along the Arabian Sea in the western
state of Gujarat.
The company's manufactuing process employs vacuum
evaporation technology that ensures the end product is
untouched by hand. The process begins at Tata Chemicals'
Charkala Saltworks, located 45 km away from the main salt
plant. Here seawater is pumped into solar pans and
concentrated by the process of natural evaporation. This
brine is then carried by pipeline to the Mithapur plant where
sand and other extraneous material is removed. The
concentrate is then fed into steam-heated vacuum
evaporators from which a solid-liquid mix is obtained.

The next step involves the mix being routed through

decanters for the first level of separation. The settled solids
are then pumped into a centrifuge to separate the moist salt.
The salt is then dried and iodized — the final step before
packaging. Once the salt is ready for use, it is packed in 50-kg
bags and dispatched to 27 HACCP-certified centres where it is
packed into 1-kg retail packs ready for sale.

When production began in 1983, the plant's manufacturing

capacity was a modest 5,512 tonnes per annum. Over the
years, as demand has grown, Tata Chemicals has expanded
its capacity substantially. Today, the plant produces 450,000
tonnes every year with a manufacturing capacity of 2.5
million tonnes at its solar saltworks spread across 37,000
acres of land.

Tata Salt is amongst the few vacuum evaporated brands on the market. The
brand is currently packaged in 500g, 1 kg and 2 kg sizes with the 1 kg size being
the most popular. The 1 kg pack retails for Rs.22 MRP.
Produced on the western tip of India in the town of Mithapur, Tata Salt
reaches around 3.75 Crore Households in India according to the IMRB
Household Panel. Economic Times Brand Equity ranked Tata Salt as the "Most
Trusted Food Brand" and seventh "Most Trusted Brand" overall in its 2009
"Most Trusted Brands" survey. Tata Salt has been ranked the most trusted
food brand five times since 2004.

The Product Pass through Following Process

Iodized salt
It is table salt mixed with a minute amount of various salts of the
element iodine. The ingestion of iodide prevents iodine deficiency. Worldwide,
iodine deficiency affects about two billion people and is the leading
preventable cause of intellectual and developmental disabilities
 Crystalline salt
Samunder Crystal Salt is a refined, iodized, clean, white crystal salt. It offers
customers a purer and cleaner alternative to the loose, unbranded crystalline
salt widely available in Indian markets.

Vacuum salt
Vacuum salt is edible common salt, manufactured by evaporating sea brine in
steam-heated vacuum evaporators. It can be dissolved very quickly due to its
fine crystalline structure and is more freely available in salting-out processes.
TCL's vacuum salt is almost free from extraneous matter. 

Pure salt
Pure salt is almost pure sodium chloride and has all its inherent properties.
Although it is in a highly purified state, it still contains traces of magnesium,

which can absorb moisture from the atmosphere and render the salt lumpy.

The Indian salt market

The market for packaged iodized salt in India is estimated to be

worth Rs. 21.7 billion, with Tata Salt commanding a sales share
49.7% of the market. Domestic competitors include Annapurna,
Captain Cook, i-shakti, Nirma Shudh and Aashirvaad.

Competition in salt market

Tata Salt has got a market share of around 49.7 per cent while its
closest competitor, i-shakti from Tata Chemical Ltd which is also a
another brand of with a market share of around 14.6 per cent, a
recent ORG-MARG retail audit has revealed.
The audit shows the 15-lakh-tonne domestic branded salt market will
witness a stiff competition in the coming days as brands such as
Dandi, Surya and Nature Fresh are trying to grab a comfortable share
with intensive marketing strategies and advertisement campaigns.
ORG-MARG figures suggest that during the financial year ended 31
March 2012, on an average basis, Tata Salt grabbed a market share
of 49.7 per cent while i-shakti’s share touched 14.6 per cent. DCW
Home Products Ltd.’s Captain Cook (now with HLL) had 2.4 per cent
market share, Annapuran, Nirma Shudh and Aashirvaad had market
shares of 10.3 per cent, 16.4 per cent and 6.4 per cent respectively
and other had 2% market share. March 2012, the market share of
Tata Salt touched 49.7 per cent while Nirma Shudh’s share during the
same period was around 16.4 per cent.

In this
article
we have
explained a brief overview of Tata Salt marketing
strategy. India’s first packaged iodized salt brand was
launched by Tata Chemicals in the 1983. The
production of salt was by sheer luck. In 1983, the Tata
Chemicals needed fresh water for its boilers that
produced soda ash at its Mithapur plant in Gujarat.
Fresh water being scarce in the area, they started
processing sea water. In the process, salt of high
quality was produced as a by-product.
Tata Salt was the first of its kind to be manufactured in
India by using vacuum evaporation technology. It
helped Tata to create a successful niche for itself.
Today it continues to occupy a leadership position in
the packaged salt segment. Tata Salt marketing
strategy has helped the brand to feature consistently in
list of “The Most Trusted Brands” since 2004. Today, it
commands the sales share of Rs. 3.74 billion or almost
49.7% of the market share in India.

Tata Salt marketing strategy has focused on core values

of Tata Group. It has launched successful campaigns
consistently and also launched different variants to
meet new challenges.
Desh Ka Namak campaign
Maine desh ka namak khaaya hai. Even in this day and age of
mercenary materialism and unmitigated cynicism, these
simple words have an earthy appeal that goes straight to the
heart. For cached in this phrase lie all those old-world
sentiments of honesty, integrity and loyalty — not to
mention patriotism — that stir the soul. And it is this aspect
of patriotism that salt brand Tata Salt has relevantly touched
upon in its latest advertising campaign (created in sync with
the brand's new positioning line of Desh Ka Namak by Bates
India), unveiled in mass media to coincide with Independence
Day.

What is heartening about the Tata Salt campaign is that in

terms of execution, it has steered clear of the 'drum-roll and
tricolour' trap. Instead of doing the predictable wearing-your-
patriotism-on-your-sleeve routine, the campaign celebrates
the 'everyday' nature of patriotism, highlighting small deeds
of selflessness that reflect a respect for the greater good. In
the process, the campaign rises from being solely about
Indianness to being about good citizens.

A brief look at the campaign — which consists of one

'montage film' and six 'extract films' — will explain the point.
The ads essentially draw from the integrity of the man-in-the-
street to showcase noble acts of duty that easily get taken for
granted. So, for instance, there is this lady doctor who, at the
end of a tiring day, decides to see that 'one more patient' —
even though it's well past her consultation time. Then the
railway linesman who, sheltering under an umbrella to keep
out the torrential rains, methodically checks every nut, bolt
and plate on a railway track (he even turns down an
invitation to warmth and tea from a colleague, as he goes
about his job). Or the elderly taxi driver who graciously turns
down a 'reward' from a passenger who, while alighting from
the cab, had left her cellphone behind (which the driver has
subsequently returned). Or the traffic policeman who sternly
declines a bribe from the driver of a car he has pulled up for
some offence. One telling shot has a passerby taking the
extra effort to shut a 'leaky' roadside tap…

The interesting thing about the campaign is that at no point

does the advertising explicitly say that the Rs 160-crore brand
is the desh ka namak — that is only implied. For instance,
even the voiceover at the end of the commercials merely
says: Aisa kharaa namak jiska kharaapan desh ke karodon
logon mein chhalakta hai.
The essence of the Desh Ka Namak campaign seems to be
bolstering mindshare. That explains the manner in which the
advertising taps the "broader and more fundamental aspects
associated with salt", as Mehan puts it. "The new paradigm is
to bust clutter using an emotional platform, instead of
focusing purely on the functional properties of salt, which has
been the traditional approach of marketers."

In the past, Tata Salt too had played upon the rational 'purity'
aspect of its offering — purity which it linked to the 'vacuum
evaporated technique' of packaging and the 'saltiest salt'
claim of the brand. However, it's not as if with the new
campaign, the brand has severed all ties with the purity
proposition. It has simply 'grown' purity to fit both the
rational and emotional manifestations of the word. "This
campaign is all about purity of thought and action, and is
juxtaposed to the purity of the brand," says Rajeev Raja,
executive creative director, Bates India.

The campaign idea itself stemmed from a consumer insight

linked to the idiomatic usage of the word salt. "If you look at
it, salt has great significance across languages," points out
(JS) Mani, senior vice-president and general manager, Bates
India. "You say someone is 'worth his salt', you call someone
a namak halaal. Salt represents character in human beings.
We saw an inherent romance in salt that could become a
campaignable idea.

"The creative idea was actually fairly simple," Raja takes up.
"Salt is a very basic necessity — a little bit can change the
complexion of food. Now what we did was draw a parallel to
small acts of integrity and loyalty that, collectively, change
the nation. And we linked it to desh ka namak khaana —
something like giving a part of yourself to the nation as a
form of repayment. And desh ka namak tied in with Tata
Salt."
SWOT Analysis

 Strength
 1. The company holds a monopoly in some key
products, such as iodized salt and water purifier.

 2. Strong R&D set up and patented products in

both India (Tata Chemicals Innovation Center) and
Africa.

 3. The brand name of Tata signifies trust and

customer loyalty.

 4. Export sales in diverse regions of Europe, East

Africa, South East Asia, and the Middle East

 5. String brand equity and top brand recall in the

industry

 6. Has a strong workforce of around 5000

employees
 Weakness
 1.Operations limited to India and Africa, limited
global penetration
 2. The facilities in India near Mithapur, Gujarat
have witnessed several renovations due to
earthquakes, labor strikes, social upheavals, etc.

 Opportunity
 Low penetration of agricultural products in order
to minimize transmission and distribution in the
market.

 Implementation of Accelerated Power

Development & Reforms Program (APDRP) to
prevent losses occurring due to power theft,
pilferages and improper billing

 Africa is a big prospect for future growth and initial

setups in The dark continent can bring revenue
flows in the future, especially from the consumer
goods segment.
 Acquisitions of Brunner Mond of UK, General
Chemical Industrial Products Inc. of USA and the
ammonia-urea fertilizer complex in Gabon have
resulted in increased capacities

 Seed research and development is in full swing

with the Joint venture between Tata Chemicals
and Singapore’s Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory.

 Threats
 Contractors’ and labor strikes, especially in Eastern
India at Haldia have resulted in shutdowns and
major reshuffling of the management.
 African communities focused on preventing the
industrialization of their environment have
launched small-scale uprisings on the construction
of soda ash plants in Tanzania.
 Anti—dumping and trade regulations are
becoming increasingly stringent and prohibitory .
Awards And
Recognition

2010
 Hall of Fame award at the Economic Times Brand
Equity Survey 2010.
2009
 Named 'Most Trusted Food Brand' by Brand
Equity Survey 2009, conducted by AC Nielsen.
  Gujarat Safety Council Award for TCL, Mithapur.
Named Superbrand by Superbrands India.

2007
 Named India's No 1 Food Brand, and No 3 Most
Trusted Brand by Brand Equity Economic Times Survey
2008.
2006
 Wins Popular Consumer Award and title of 'Master
Brand' from Bharti Vidyapeeth's Institute of
Management Studies and Research.
2005
 Elected 'Mera Brand', consumer category, at World
Awards.

2004
 Named Superbrand in FMCG brands category by
Superbrands India.
 5-Star rating for Mithapur by British Safety Council,
UK.
2003
 Named Superbrand in FMCG brands category by
Superbrands India.
2002
 Listed among the Top 20 brands globally by AC
Nielsen's Winning Brands Global Database.
Wins Gujarat Safety Council award and certificate of
honour by Gujarat Safety Council.