Nestle has recently launched a new brand in the 1500 crore infant ( kid's) foods market. The company has launched its global brand - Neslac in the Indian market. The Indian infant food market is a difficult market to survive because of regulatory constraints. The market is governed by Indian milkfood substitutes feeding bottles and infant foods (regulation of production, supply and distribution ) act 1992. There is a restriction in advertising infant food products.As an established player in the market, Nestle has an advantage since its brands like Lactogen, Cerelac are very famous and has tremendous brand equity in the market. Hence even without ad support, these brands are growing. But for a new player, establishing in this market will be a of the tough one because regulations.
So it is interesting to see Nestle launching Neslac in the Indian market despite these regulatory constraints. Neslac is not an infant food but a milk food for kids above 2 years. The brand is positioned as milk for growing kids. So this brand may not come under the purview of the above act. Neslac is currently running a campaign announcing the launch of Neslac.
Neslac is a global brand with presence in various markets under different names. In Pakistan , this brand is marketed as Nestlac Honey, in Malaysia
Nestle already has another brand Nido which is a similar product but targeted at a higher age-group.. I have a feeling that Nestle has replaced Nido with Neslac ( just a hunch.)
It will be interesting to see how the highly regulated market will respond to this high profile launch.
