Marico to end marketing Nissin's Top Ramen brand

Diversified edible oils and personal care company Marico Ltd will discontinue distributing of the Top Ramen and Cup Noodles brands of Nissin Food's Indian subsidiary, Indo Nissin Foods Ltd, from 1 April 2008 to focus on its on products.

The alliance between the two companies was due to have ended in March 2009.

Marico has been distributing the Top Ramen and Cup Noodles range of products in India since 1998, when it entered a marketing and distribution alliance with Indo Nissin Foods, to strengthen the revenues from its distribution network, which used to then service a turnover of only about Rs500 crore.

It had initially covered even marketing by Marico. However, when the agreement was last renewed in 2006, the alliance was scaled down to cover only distribution.

Since 1998, Marico's the sale of own brands from its Indian consumer products business have more than trebled.
 
"Our size and portfolio of brands have grown smartly over the past few years," said Saugata Gupta, CEO, consumer products business. "The imperative now is to channel our energies into brands from our own stable".

It says Indo Nissin Foods has also achieved a "critical turnover mass" at which it is keen to set up a distribution network in India to service its own products.

"The increased scale of business has prompted the companies to end the agreement, a year in advance - with effect from 1 April 2008," Gupta said.