The Hindu : Business : ITC to leverage Exim Bank's services to export agarbattis

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Business

Business

ITC to leverage Exim Bank's services to export agarbattis

Special Correspondent

The bank will help locate business partners for the incense sticks

KOLKATA: ITC has signed up with Exim Bank for leveraging the bank's `export marketing services (EMS)' to promote ITC agarbattis with buyers, importers and distributors abroad.

The bank will help locate business partners for the incense sticks and initiate negotiations with them while ITC will finalise the deal and ensure supplies and deliveries, ITC said in a press release.

Lifestyle product

ITC commenced exports of its Marngaldeep range of agarbattis last year to countries like Singapore, Malayasia, Nepal, the UAE, Bahrain and the U.S. The release claimed that the product had been received favourably with consumers, appreciating the innovative `fragrance-locked packaging.' ITC is now developing fragrances and incense offerings that are to be positioned as lifestyle products for the western market.

EMS is among the new initiatives of Exim Bank, which has launched this service for Indian companies through its network of overseas offices in Washington, Budapest, Johannesberg, London and Singapore.

V. M. Rajashekharan, chief executive of ITC's agarbattis business, said this partnership would help ITC make the quality product available to consumers across the globe, thereby benefiting the cottage and small-scale sector producers.

K. Muthukumaran, Exim Bank general manager, said the bank felt that rural enterprises could make a mark in the international markets with proper guidance and support provided by corporates and institutions.

It may be mentioned that in an industry dominated by multiple local brands, ITC's Mangaldeep was set to emerge as the only national brands.

Four of ITC's small-scale manufacturers were among the first in the country to receive ISO 9000-2001 certification for agarbatti making.

ITC has a tie up with the Khadi and Village Industries Commission for this project.

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