Nestle to launch new Maggi variants

A month after re-launching its popular noodles brand Maggi in India, Nestle says that the company is working aggressively on regaining its lost ground by launching other variants of the brand such as oats noodles and cup noodles in 3-4 months.
“We will launch other variants of Maggi noodles such as oats noodles, aata noodles and cup noodles in three to four months,” Nestle India CMD Suresh Narayanan told PTI on the sidelines of CII national FMCG summit 2015.
The company relaunched Maggi masala noodles on November 9, five months after it was banned by the FSSAI following a Bombay High Court order.
After its re-launch, the company has sold 50-60 million packs of Maggi noodles so far as against 300-400 million units it used to sell in full year before crisis.
Last week, the Supreme Court had ordered re-testing of Maggi noodles by an accredited laboratory at Mysore and not in Chennai as sought by the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission while staying the proceedings in connection with the government’s Rs 640 crore law suit against the company that is pending with the apex consumer body.
Read: SC stays NCDRC proceedings against Maggi, directs testing by Mysore lab
“The matter is subjudice, samples are being sent to to CFTRI Mysore, so I don’t want to comment on it but I would say that it is question of trust and credibility of Nestle organisation. We have performed all due diligence before coming back into the market,” Narayanan asserted while speaking about the apex court order.
Before the crisis, the company distributed Maggi noodles through 1,500 distributors across country, while, currently it does so through 1000.
“Right now we are selling through 1,000 distributors… we are ramping up our distribution network and we plan to reach all 1,500 distributors soon,” Narayanan told PTI.