Taking a leaf from the Campa playbook

SIL IS BANKING ON PRICING AND NETWORK STRENGTH TO CHALLENGE INCUMBENTS

- GEETIKA SRIVASTAVA

RELIANCE CONSUMER PRODUCTS (RCPL) has revived SIL with ₹5 noodle packs and ₹1 ketchup sachets among other things, signalling how the conglomerate intends to negotiate one of India’s most crowded, low-margin consumer markets. With the help of a familiar brand name, it is trying to jump entry barriers through price, betting that scale will do what advertising alone cannot — that is, turn trial into habit.

For Reliance, competitive pricing is not simply a short-term penetration tactic. Megha Raturi, head of marketing at RCPL, frames it as structural rather than promotional. “SIL’s product and pricing strategies have been developed on the foundation of RCPL’s core philosophy — to deliver ‘global quality at affordable prices’,” she says, adding that the pricing is backed by ongoing investments in supply chain efficiencies to sustain affordability at scale.

Instead of building a new brand from scratch, the company has leaned on a legacy name with considerable recall — particularly outside metros — while giving it a contemporary makeover. Raturi says the reintroduction of SIL marks RCPL’s formal entry into packaged foods, with plans to scale it into “a one stop solution for consumers’ packaged foods needs,” expanding across consumption occasions.