SME Times News Bureau | 04 Feb, 2019
In
an exclusive interview with SME Times, Rupan Oberoi, Sales and Marketing Head
of Amaara Herbs, said that finance is difficult for India MSMEs, mainly due to lack of proper execution for
finance from banks, and despite supports from the government.
Please tell us about your
company Amaara Herbs.
Amaara Herbs began with a passion herbs and their
use as a tea. An idea to provide an alternative to the familiar and over
saturated beverage market. India has been the land of herbs like Ashwagandha
(Ginseng), Shatavar, Gokshura, Basil, Tulsi, Ginger, Fennel, Nettle etc. but
still there is a lack of knowledge among us about the therapeutic health
benefits of these herbs.
Starting up may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but
passion for the beverage and risk-taking abilities led the twins to set up a
tea-based venture. We, Rupan Oberoi and Raunak Oberoi have been exporters of
Indian FMCG and Herbal Products for over 5 years now. Herbs like Ashwagandha,
Shatavarietc which are categorized as Herbal Supplements in India are soon to
be launched. When they discussed the idea, AMAARA HERBS was born in late 2017
and so was the mission to pass on our passion and devotion of quality tea
infused with these herbs to the Indian market.
We have recently launched Matcha Green Tea,
Flavoured Matcha Green Tea blends and many other Herbal Blends. More of the
Herb Brews are in pipeline and will be launched soon. Business prospects are
huge as we have International demand as well as domestic demand. Educating
people about the product remains the basic constraint. With general
information, people are shifting to the herbal sections and thereby a huge
demand awaits post 3 years. Our herbs are potent and full of life. These
supplements can soon replace the artificial supplement market.
What are the products you
offer to customers?
Currently we have almost 25
sku's. We have 9 of Matcha Tea blends which are all spray dried flavours. No
preservative or colour is added in the making. Additionally, we have some
speciality teas, Herbal Blends and Fruit Teas. herbal Blends are purely a blend
of herbs. We do not add any green, black or oolong to it. Fruit teas are again
all fruit and no tea. We have any herbal blends which are in pipeline and will
be launched by mid 2019.
Please tell us about the
current scenario of the Indian tea industry.
Indian Tea Market is huge.
The demand is huge. People are readily accepting the new blends which
have therapeutic advantages and facilitates one well-being. While most of the
premium tea being exported, still India awaits huge demand in Domestic as well
as International Markets. India, being a land of herbs, have been the
bestsellers of many herbs throughout many years. The herbal range is growing.
These blends are formulated by blending different herbs which might help in
sustaining a disease. These all herbs have medicinal advantages. The tea
industry is shifting to traditional market to these herbal range. The demand will
be huge and so will be the supply. Tea and Herbs is a massive, rapidly
growing but underpenetrated industry.
If a startup seeks to enter
into the tea packaging industry, what are the main steps? Does it require
certifications?
Entering a tea packaging
industry requires a good knowledge about the blends and procurement of
ingredients. Each minute ingredient and the composition is calculated and
presented so as to provide the best quality taste and therapeutic advantages.
We require certifications such as FSSAI, Organic Certification from various
instituti etc.
How different you are in
choosing the 'herbal' niche?
We procure the premium teas
from across the globe. Our herbal range is organic and quality product is
procured. Our herbal blends in a way provide the medicinal advantages to one
when consumed. For e.g., we are coming up with a papaya leaf tea which is a
blend of various herbs with papaya leaf as its main ingredient. Papaya leaf in
itself has many benefits when consumed. As said, the best way to comsume herb
is to brew them. We do brew herbs.
Please tell us about
startup opportunities in India. Do you think finance is a very difficult hurdle
for Indian MSMEs?
India, being the land of
herbs has huge potential for the startups. The demand for these will increase
substantially. There might be a time that we would be needing more companies to
jump into the herbal sector. Herbal Market will replace the artificial
supplement market in future. We have seen a rapid growth in demand for the
herbal range. people are adopting healthy ways. Finance is difficult for India
MSMEs. Though our government has been supportive enough, but proper execution
is still not there for the finance from banks.
How challenging is it to
start a small business in India?
It would not be good to say
that starting a small business is only difficult in India, it goes for many
other countries as well. Starting a business in itself is difficult, that too
in a competitive environment like india. We have had many challenges like the team.
Hiring the best personnel for your work is the key strategy to increase the
sales volume keeping in mind the quality of the tea that we are providing. A
better finance systems in India is the need of the hour where finances are
available easily!
Please tell us about your
future plans.
Future Marketing Techniques: Strategize online marketing and expand the online
presence. Offline marketing, Strategic alliance with other brands, Tie-ups with
Government entities, opening our own outlets to decrease delivery costs.
Future Projected Sales: With lined up SKU’s that we will be launching, we
project our sales to increase by 20% to 25%
Launch New Products: Venture into different segments of herbal products.
Herbal range is huge, so we have plenty of permutations and combinations to
work upon.
Subscription Box : We will be the first in India to lauch such a
campaign. We will be making a combo of 4 teas as a pack each to be consumed by
the buyer within a single day. It would be more of a prescriptive approach rather
that subscription.
Brew Pacs : Our Brew Pacs will be available for
sale in November. These packs will be served in various Hotels and other cafes.
We are already in talking terms and will get started by December thereby
providing the Herbal range in HORECA.
- We intend to increase our online
e-commerce presence.
- We will be providing our teas to
many corporates so as to replace the traditional tea beverage with herbal range
- We intend to grow rapidly not
only in HORECA (Hotels, Restaurants and Cafes) but also at gyms and dieticians.