Nestlé India is currently dogged by need to secure government approval to hand over royalty payments on all products to its parent company, Swiss giant Nestlé, but still has plans to launch a new range of biscuits and cookies on the domestic market within its current financial year, according to company sources.
Nestlé India has requested the right to standardize royalty payments for a seven-year period; to 3.5% on domestic sales and 5% on export sales. The Secretariat for Industrial Approvals has stressed however that under current Indian rules, the company may only make royalty payments on infant foods, dairy whiteners, milk and milk products; it cannot pay royalties on other items, such as confectionery.
Carlo M Donati, MD and chairman of the company’s biscuit manufacturing unit, Excelsia Foods, said meanwhile that the unit is currently being restructured and will be ready for the new product’s launch. It was acquired from Dabur India Ltd over a year ago.
Sources have suggested that the new products may be launched under the brand name “Milkmaid”, already widely known as the branding for Nestlé’s condensed milk product, however Donati did not say whether a final decision had been made.
