Nestle India Announces Pan-India Launch of New Maggi Variants

Nestle India Ltd. announced the pan-India launch of new variants of Maggi instant noodles, as it gears up to fend off competition from rivals like Patanjali Ayurved and ITC Ltd.

Two new variants - ‘Maggi No Onion No Garlic Masala’ and ‘Maggi Hot Heads’ - have been introduced, Nestle India said in a press release. The company also re-launched its cup noodles range, and introduced a new variant - ‘Maggi Hot Heads Cuppa’.

Maggi Hot Heads Noodles variants will be available for Rs 20 to Rs 22 a pack. The “No Onion, No Garlic” variant will only be available in Gujarat, Mumbai and Katra initially, for Rs 15.

These new variants were launched in Delhi and Mumbai on June 16, and will now be available throughout the country, a Nestle India spokesperson told BloombergQuint in a telephonic interview.

Snapdeal Alliance

Nestle India has partnered with e-commerce portal Snapdeal for online sale of the new variants. This is a continuation of the partnership that began in November 2015, when Nestle used Snapdeal to relaunch its Maggi noodles.

Maggi had been banned in India for five months for allegedly containing lead beyond permissible levels.

Competition Hotting Up

Nestle India’s launch of new variants come at a time when Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali Ayurved is making inroads into India’s noodles market. Rivals like ITC are also preparing to launch new variants to protect their market share.

VL Rajesh, the divisional chief executive of the foods division of ITC, told BloombergQuint in July that the company was developing new variants in its technology center in Bengaluru, to complement its flagship Magic Masala brand of noodles.

Last week, Baba Ramdev launched an advertising campaign targetting multinational firms, in which he accused rivals of selling products at exorbitant rates.