Oswal brand is a trendsetter in production and packing- Prakash Oswal
Miracleinspired other brands even in Bengaluru
The Oswal brand from Pune is a trendsetter in the agarbatti and incense industry in Maharashtra with innovation in fragrances and packaging of their products. Speaking to Sugandh India, the head of the company Mr Prakash Oswal said that his father MrHimmatlaljiOswal had started trading in incense products as a side business in 1956. At that time, there were only local brands from Hukkeri and Jalgaon. At that time, there were not many big brands and companies. While the Oswal brand’s special Bhavana, Amardeep and Miracle products with their distinctive fragrances are quite popular, the roll, box, triple layer and Miracle gift packs have their own identity in the market. The Oswal brand is also well known in Bengaluru, the centre of the agarbatti industry. While high quality premium products from Bengaluru are spread throughout the country and exported globally, Oswal has also made a name for itself here.
Mr Prakash Oswal, in a conversation with Sugandh India, said that he did not know much about agarbatti production. Nevertheless, the trading of agarbattis along with raw materials used in the production of masala agarbattis was carried out from their place. This is how he earned his experience in the business. He said, “I entered the business at a very young age and had it on my mind to do something special and different. Then I started and created the first brand, Special Bhavana, in 1980. It was in a round packaging of 40 grams on yellow paper. People liked it very much, and its demand started increasing. After this, Amardeep was made in the medium range. This was also a new and trendy product. We introduced packing boxes of 100 grams and 200 grams to the market. This was a new experiment in box packaging. In response to a question, he said that I always felt that I should bring something new to the market, and hence I always kept thinking about new trends.”
Talking about ‘Miracle’, a luxury incense agarbatti brand that was launched 15 years ago before Diwali in 2008, he said, it was a limited edition launch. ‘Miracle’ was distributed to the elite customers in his network. He distributed a few samples to his distributors and wholesalers as well. ‘Miracle’ was received well by those who used it. They produced a second lot. The response was even better than the first. The popularity of Miracle can be gauged from the fact that products similar to Miracle started coming up from Bengaluru, which in itself is the most prime incense hub. A person from Bangalore visited a distributor in Sangli and showed him his version of Miracle.Miracle had its fair share in and around Bangalore market. MrOswal remarked that Bangalore is not an easy market to sell such luxury brands. The city is full of it. Despite this bottleneck, ‘Miracle’ made its way through the hearts and minds of his clientele.
MrOswal remarked how other manufacturers were inspired by his packaging style with minor changes: proof enough of how much his brands influenced the market and customers. He said that the box comes with three-layer, in which the product remains safer in weather and every condition and the print is also visible in it. After that, they brought special Bhavna whose MRP was also higher. It is packed in boxes of 100 and 200 grams. Later many people came up with similar products and packing, but it was started by Oswal Company. He said that the Oswal brand has about 30 products and it also has different variants in incense sticks and dhoop sticks. He said that he is not working in the wet dhoop, but has recently started the production of Sambrani cups. On the question regarding the challenge as a producer, he said that earlier the production of incense sticks was very low, but now it is increasing a lot. Earlier in making incense sticks, there were complaints about it being irregular in shape and size. There used to be difficulty in drying during the rainy season, but now machines and dryers have arrived. Many types of challenges have ended with this.
In response to a question, he said that till 1990, our market was in almost all the major districts of Maharashtra including Solapur, Kolhapur, Miraj, Sangli, Dhule and Aurangabad and distributors were appointed here. Now our products have reached the villages as well. Then we expanded the market in Gujarat and Telangana and we also have distributors in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Apart from this, our products are also supplied in Bengaluru, Chennai, Odisha, Kolkata and Andhra Pradesh. We did not get much response in Rajasthan, but we are trying in Punjab. However, retail goods go to many states in boxes and bundles. He said that initially it was tough for us in the industry and we experienced some losses, but gradually everything got better. Well, in today’s time, even to sell gold, it has to be advertised. He said business was very good during the festive season and there was a growth of about 50% compared to last year.
