Tata Chemicals extends presence in essential foods with launch of i-Shakti Dals

Tata Chemicals today announced it was expanding its presence in food essentials beyond salt, extending its i-Shakti brand by launching India's first national brand of pulses - i-Shakti Dals.

The company has launched four popular varieties of pulses, chana, toor, urad and moong (including whole green moong and green chilka) in the Indian market.

The price range of the pulses is between Rs95-Rs100 for a 1kg pack and these would be available in 1 kg, 500 gram and 250 gram packs. The distribution would be executed not only from traditional 'Kirana' stores and modern format food retail chains, but also from the group's Tata Kisan Sansar outlets and its existing strong salt distribution network that markets i-Shakti Dals across the country.

The i-Shakti range of pulses would be introduced in a phased manner initially in Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat and later extending the availability to the rest of the country.

Rallis India chairman and Tata Chemicals vice chairman R Gopalakrishnan said about the foray, ''As dal has been an integral part of almost every Indian meal, we are happy to introduce an initiative that is holistic in nature and takes due care in every process - from seed to food, therefore the term 'from farm to fork'. Through this we aim to work towards creating a healthier future for our country.''

Tata Chemicals managing director R Mukundan said, ''i-Shakti was launched with the mission to not only to increase production of pulses in India to help bridge the existing gap between demand and supply of pulses in the country ; but also provide better / reliable quality, hygienic pulses to Indian household. Leveraging upon the synergies in the farm and consumer space, we are happy to have managed to influence a sizable section of the Indian farmers' community to undertake pulses' cultivation and see the fruition of our efforts in this direction.''