Box Packs More Popular inAssam and the North East: Sanjay Parikh
In Guwahati, the capital of Assam, and across the entire North East region, pouch packaging has very limited demand. Consumers here strongly prefer box packs. Sharing this information with Sugandh India, Mr Sanjay Kumar Parikh, head of North East Agencies, said that products priced at ₹10 and ₹20 MRP are the most in demand in the economy segment. After that, box packs priced between ₹40 and ₹50 MRP perform strongly in the market. He added that regardless of the price range, customers generally prefer box packaging over other formats.
North East Agencies has been active in the agarbatti business since 1999. He said that his father started the business from their hometown, Jorhat. Since then, the firm has been associated with brands such as A. Ravi Raag, Wonderland Incense, Charu Brand, Fresh Fragrance, and Krishna Kala.
He told Sugandh India that their market network extends from Golaghat,Sivasagar, and Guwahati to Dibrugarh, Tinsukia, Jorhat, Imphal, and Itanagar in Arunachal Pradesh. Their head office is located in Jorhat itself. According to him, all their brands are performing well in the market, while economy products, especially in the ₹60 MRP range and below, have the highest demand.
He further explained that premium products from the Fresh brand are also performing very well. One of Fresh’s products is available in a price range from ₹90 MRP up to ₹1000. Within the Fresh range, Fruity, Nature Fresh, and Oudh variants are highly popular. In the Charu brand, several products in the ₹10 and ₹20 range, along with 7–8 products in the economy category, are widely preferred. Apart from these, Blue Square, White Square, Three-inOne, Charu Sandal, Maa Bhawani, Radha Krishna, and Five Star are also performing well in the market. Several economy products from Krishna Kala also enjoy strong demand. In the ₹10 and ₹20 segments, Mix and ARC Sandal are among the better-performing products.
Sanjay added that brands such as Man Mandir, Rupali, Darshan, Zed Black, Cycle, ITC, Balaji, and BIC are also performing strongly in the market. They also handle products from SS Domestic of Jalgaon and Mysore PS.
Replying to another question, he said that the dhoop category accounts for nearly 8–10% of the market, with wet dhoop being more popular. The trend for dry sticks is also gradually increasing. In this segment, A. Ravi Raag zipper packs, Zed Black, and several other brands are performing well. In the sambrani cup category, products such as A. Ravi Raag, Forest Bahubali, and Cycle Naivedya are witnessing good demand.
He further stated that consumers in the region prefer all kinds of fragrance notes, although rose and sandalwood remain the most preferred fragrances. According to him, the market in this region is quite similar to the Siliguri market of West Bengal.
