Britannia Industries Ltd.

Britannia Industries has merged the sales teams of its dairy portfolio with the more established biscuits business to tap new towns and achieve greater bargaining clout with retailers. Rivals see it as a move to cut costs when margins are under pressure. The Wadia Group company has also started using cycle rickshaws to sell bread in the neighbourhood in New Delhi as part of a drive to increase the reach and speed of marketing. The integration of the sales force -Britannia’s third in four years - will help the firm gain from synergies in distribution and replenishment, and expand the reach of its dairy products manifold. Britannia makes dairy products such as UHT milk, curd, fortified milk brands Actimind, Tiger Zor and most recently gourmet cheese, for which it has tied up with a factory in the SwissAlps. The dairy division, which accounts for close to 5% of its total sales, has doubled sales in four years.