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The most precious moments are those when we get an

opportunity to remember and thank everyone who has in some
way or the other motivated and facilitated us to achieve our
goals.

First of all I thank to GOD ALMIGHTY for giving me power to pen

down the term paper in its present shape. I thank the entire
teaching staff especially
‘  ‘  ‘  ‘ for
sharing his valuable knowledge with us & for providing his able
guidance and support. I also thank to my classmate who every
time helped me out and encouraged me for carrying out the task.

I fall short of words to thank my family, who stood beside me

while completion of my task.







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The ‘  ‘  is a multinational corporation
based in Mumbai, India with operations in 25 countries
including Thailand, Dubai, Singapore, Myanmar, Laos,
Indonesia, Philippines, Egypt, Canada, Australia, China,
USA, UK, Germany, Hungary, Brazil, Italy, France,
Luxembourg, Switzerland, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Vietnam
and Korea.

A US$ 28 billion conglomerate, with a market

capitalization of US$ 31.5 billion, over 50 per cent of its
revenues flow from its operations across the world. The
group is a major player in all the industry sectors it
operates in. The Group has been adjudged the best
employer in India and among the top 20 in Asia by the
Hewitt-Economic Times and Wall Street Journal Study
2007. The origins of the group lie in the conglomerate
once held by one of India's foremost industrialists
Mr. Ghanshyam Das Birla. He bequeathed most of these
companies to his grandson, Mr. Aditya Vikram Birla ± the
father of the current Chairman of the group, Mr. Kumar
Mangalam Birla. Mr. Kumar Mangalam Birla is the
grandson of Mr. Basant Kumar Birla, who heads his own
independent business conglomerate. Several other
members of the Birla Family, own and run their
independent business groups.‘

‘
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The Grasim-Suitings case involves the FREEDOM

FABRICS, which was entered into the market in 1993 by
Grasim-Suitings. This marketing plan summarizes the
company¶s situation at the time the FREEDOM FABRICS
was introduced, and the different marketing strategies
that we believe would be best for Grasim-Suitings and
their new fabrics.

‘'' ‘(‘' +$*,‘) $,$)‘

The marketing strategies include proposed strategies

involving product, price, place, and promotion.

‘,$‘)'' ‘

Included in the marketing plan are pro-forma income

statements for Grasim Suitings if they were to launch the
product, and also if they were to choose not the launch
the product. Also included is an advertising budget.
‘
‘
‘
‘
‘
‘
‘*‘ *))‘

‘-$‘*) ‘

.‘O




Clothing evolved within few years of evolution of

mankind, and advancements have continued ever since.
Such advancements include the quality, designs etc.
Companies, other than Grasim-Suitings, that have
entered into the FABRICS market includes VIMAL, JCT,
RAYMOND, REID & TAYLOR.

ñ‘Å 


Consumers first purchased Fabrics without much

knowledge or information concerning the product¶s
quality. As new product development increased, and
consumers became better informed about the quality of
Fabrics, they began to focus their interest not only on
good quality but on better designs also because
consumer interest and FABRICS purchases began to
increase, advertising and promotion also began to
increase, which lead to the development and addition of
the super-premium product class. The super premium
product class was a ³sub-category of Fabrics partly offset
by downward pressure on average showroom prices in
mass-merchandise channels,´ in metropolitan cities.
Consumers began to purchase fabrics based on the
specific quality each company had to offer.

‘-$‘
'*‘

.‘˜ O


‘

Grasim Industries Limited was incorporated in 1948; it is

the largest exporter of Viscose Rayon Fiber in the
country, with exports to over 50 countries. This, along
with Aditya Birla Nuvo can be considered as the flagship
companies of the AV Birla Group. Indian Rayon
rechristened as Aditya Birla Nuvo Ltd in 2005. It is the
world¶s largest producer of Viscose Rayon Fiber with
about 40% market share. Textile and related products
contributes to 15% of the group turnover. Given below
are a brief description of the different companies under
the umbrella of Aditya Birla Group involved in Viscose
Rayon Fiber, Textiles and Garments.

ñ‘
'*‘/0$%&$‘

The purpose and main focus of the Grasim textile is to

give its customers a good quality suits and to deliver
clothing quality. Examples of
products in this industry include suiting¶s, shirting¶s,
trousers.
 ‘8     
‘
By the early 1990¶s there were many different companies
that focused on suitings, with the leader being Grasim-
Suitings. By 1991, Grasim-Suitings held the number one
position in India for the sale of suitings, accounting for
39% of the Indian fabrics market. The company¶s sales
and profits were increasing each year, and by 1991 sales
Totaled ³1.03 billion dollars, while profits totaled 9.8
million dollars,´. At this point in time Grasim had
introduced two different types of Fabrics to the market,
the Grasim Classic and the Grasim Plus.

‘-$‘
 +$‘

.‘  

The fabrics market is spread worldwide mainly targeting

showrooms, and large cloth retail stores. The Fabrics
market in the past had few types of Fabrics, while today¶s
market carries many various types of Fabrics. This may
have been due to lack of consumer concerns with what
type of FABRICS they desired.

ñ‘ 
 
 


Many FABRICS purchases are unanticipated, ³with

consumers purchasing Fabrics once having requirement
or according to their pocket. Forty-eight percent of
Consumers claimed to purchase suit according to their
budget, the trigger to purchase a new suit for 70% of
them when there was a need for it. Eleven percent
decided to switch to a new suit after seeing their friends,
and only 3% admitted to purchasing on impulse,´.

Þ‘ª 



In most cases consumers only need one to two Fabrics a

year. ³Sixty-five percent of consumers had more than
one suit, 24% wears a suit at work, and 54% had a
special suit for special occasion,´.

k‘˜   


Many consumers base a lot of their purchase decisions on

how comfortable they feels after wearing the suit,
whether the quality is good enough, whether the price of
fabrics is suitable. They also base their purchases around
the ability of the fabrics to ³impress others´.
When it comes time to purchase a fabric, there are three
different consumer groups. That are-

¤‘ Price conscious
¤‘ uality conscious
¤‘ Design conscious
‘-$‘
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‘
.‘
      


‡ VIMAL SUITINGS
‡ JCT FABRICS
‡ RAYMONDS
‡ REID & TAYLOR

ñ   8 


1.‘ India has a large fiber base, and ranks as the world¶s
third-leading producer of cotton, accounting for 15
percent of the world¶s cotton crop.
2.‘ In the manmade fiber sector, India is the world¶s
fifth-largest producer of polyester fibers and filament
yarns and the third-largest producer of cellulosic fibers
and filament yarns
3.‘ India is the world¶s second-largest textile producer
(after China), and is diversified and capable of
producing a wide variety of textiles.
4.‘ India¶s textile and apparel industry benefits from a
large pool of skilled workers and competent technical
and managerial personnel.

     




1.‘ Policies of the Government of India (GOI) favoring

small firms have resulted in the establishment of a
large number of small independent units in the
spinning, weaving, and processing sectors.
2.‘ Discouraged investments in new manufacturing
technologies, and limited large-scale manufacturing
and the attendant benefits of economies of scale.
3.‘ Low levels of technology and produce mostly low
value-added goods of low quality
4.‘ India¶s textile industry depends heavily on
domestically produced cotton.
5.‘ The GOI policy reserving apparel production for the
SSI sector had restricted the entry of large-scale units
and discouraged investment
6.‘ India has high energy and capital costs, multiple
taxation, and low productivity, all of which add to
production costs.

ø 8
  

 

) Grasim is the lowest cost producer of VSF in the
world. It is the most integrated fibre producer with the
chain stretching right from Forest to Pulp to Fibre to
Yarn. All most all the intermediate inputs are captive.
Besides, their in-house engineering division enables us to
grow in a most cost effective way.

$%-*, On technology front, they produce all the

three generations of man made cellulosic fibres from an
in-house developed capability through research and
development. Their research and development efforts are
not limited to fibre stage alone but extend to entire
textile value chain. While the plantation and related
activity is carried out at Grasim Research Institute (GFRI,
Harihar, India), the Product innovations are carried out at
Birla Research Institute (BRI, Nagda, India). For value
chain related activities, a state of art ³Textiles Research
& Application Development Centre´ has been established
at Kharach, Gujarat-India to entire textile value chain
from yarn to fabric to garments.

 +$) On marketing front, their reach extends to the
entire globe, through marketing offices. On a global level,
their major strength is in spun-dyed fibres and now other
specialities such as Non-woven, Modal and Excel have
started penetrating in global markets. Their brand ³Birla
Cellulose´ is firmly entrenched in the market. Their value
added marketing services comprising of technical,
logistical, financial, marketing and informational support
have enabled us to emerge as the most preferred
supplier of VSF in world. Our offerings whether from
India, Thailand, Indonesia or China are all marketed
under the mother brand ³Birla Cellulose´ and sub brands
Birla Viscose, Birla Modal & Birla Excel. An umbrella
brand has enabled us to create a common identity for our
product across the globe irrespective of its production
origin and creating of awareness and consumer pull.

‘
 ‘  ‘
‘
If we look over the various factors affecting fabric
marketing plan are-

% ‘$*& *'$*‘(% )‘

¤‘ $', -%‘(% )‘

Plan could be affected in hilly areas because this fabric

range not suits the needs of cold places.
 ¤‘ %*'%‘(% )‘

As it is well an economic crisis has hit the whole world so

it would surely affect our plan also, as it will affect our
pocket to spent more on promotion which could affect the
success of freedom fabrics.

¤‘ $,1,&$ *'$*‘(% )‘

Policies of the Government of India (GOI) favoring small

firms have resulted in the establishment of a large
number of small independent units in the spinning,
weaving, and processing sectors, which could affect the
plan.
‘


‘
 ‘
‘

¤‘

‘
‘
VIMAL spent 700 CRORE in media¶s support to introduce
its new Reach suiting range; JCT spent 200 crore to
launch its new range. This would a force us to increase
our promotion budget.‘
‘
¤‘

‘
‘
Customers interest changes day by day, so we have to
move according to their interest otherwise it would have
a severe affect on our strategies.
‘ ‘
‘

‘
‘
‘
‘
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‘
‘

Mission of Grasim is to capture its no. 1 position in textile

market as it use to be in early 80¶s. so it again launched
its one of the best range in suiting to attain its goal.

‘
‘
‘
‘2
‘

The purpose and main focus of the Grasim textile is to

give its customers a good quality suits and to deliver
clothing quality. Examples of products in this industry
include suiting¶s, shirting¶s, trousers

‘ $*$ ‘' +$*,‘) $,‘

.‘€  

  


The brand was earlier positioned as a Modern Fashion

Brand. The positioning was reinforced by a series of new
fibre launches . The collections like Aqua Soft, Ice Touch
etc kept the brand in the limelight. The brand used the
tagline " Power of Fashion" to convey the positioning.
Now the brand has changed its positioning. Grasim has
roped in the Bollywood Super hero Akshay Kumar as the
brand ambassador. The tagline has been changed to "
For the Self Made". The TVC featuring the actor is now on
air.
The repositioning is very significant for the brand because
of the nature of competition that it faces. The
competition is not only from the textile brands but also

from the Readymades. Every day we have

new brands cropping up. In the brand competition ,
brands like Mayur , Reid and Taylor, Raymond's have
stepped up their campaigns.
Grasim wanted itself to be relevant and hence this
attempt.The brand now has changed its personality from
a Fashionable brand to an Ambitious Brand. According to
a report in Agencyfaqs, the brand has broadened its TG
to include the rural and small town markets where the
Ready To Stitch wears are still popular. The new TG is 35
+ male from smaller towns who are informed, fashion
conscious and ambitious. In that way the choice of the
brand ambassador is apt. Akshay is known for his humble
beginnings and his struggle in life as a cook, a martial
arts trainer and then to stardom. Hence the brand
ambassador and the new positioning has many things to
share.
The new TVC also tries to relate the life of the actor and
the brand. Impressive thought. The brand has now
adopted the mainstay marketing philosophy of most of
the readymade brands now existing in the market.
Get a star to endorse it. In that way Grasim has forced
itself to move to the popular road ( easy one ) . The
brand is expected to spend around 7- 8 crore on this
exercise. Remember that Grasim has become popular on
the strength of the innovations in fabric rather than
emphasis on promotions. Grasim was perceived to be an
upmarket elite brand. The brand was also sold at a
premium. Infact this is a brand that has used EVENTS to
promote itself as an upmarket fashionable brand. Grasim
was the brand that came out with the first Mr India
contest which is running in its 12th Year. When it was
launched, the contest evoked lot of PR and media
attention which inturn benefited the brand.

But the managers at Grasim wanted the brand to look at

the masses. From the elite premium club, the

brand wanted itself to be more affordable.

The logic behind the current repositioning is to make the
brand a Masstige brand. Hence the brand chose to go in
for a undifferentiated celebrity approach. By doing so,
Grasim is putting its entire brand equity at stake and that
too on a celebrity. Grasim could have done so with out a
celebrity. Now look at the plight of Mayur suitings which
took Salman as its brand ambassador. Now Salman is in
Jail and can the brand bank upon Salman?
I am not jumping into conclusion that the new positioning
of Grasim is not good.
I feel that it lacks the depth and is too much depending
on the endorsers rather than the brand itself. After the
contract with Akshay ends, what will the brand do next ?
Can it survive with a model? NO !It will have to find
another celebrity who was self made . The brand has put
itself into a vicious circle and it may have to depend on
one celebrity or another. Personally I feel that a brand
should stand for itself not on any real person ( celebrity).

I think that the brand had made an error in believing that

the guys in semi urban and rural markets are only
influenced by celebrities . I am sure that they are pretty
confused by the plethora of celebrity endorsements and
may be looking for a change. Those fashion conscious
customers of Grasim will be wondering what happened to
this fashionable brand suddenly changing its personality.
Akshay is definitely a right celebrity to endorse the brand
with the new positioning.

ñ‘

    


By differentiating a product, it creates a difference that

sets certain products apart from other products, and also
targets certain market segments.

Grasim-Suitings will need a product differentiation

strategy that will make the FREEDOM FABRICS unique
from all other Fabrics already available on the market.
The company will also need a strategy that will appease
to certain consumer segments. By coming up with this
strategy, it in return will cause Grasim-Suitings to
increase profits and market share.

The main area of this strategy¶s focus should be placed

on the design and quality of the FABRICS. For example,
we suggest Grasim make sure the consumers know that
the quality they provide is best in that price range, and
that no other FABRICS on the market is designed this
way. We suggest that a picture is placed on the fabrics
package showing the different designs. This way the
consumer will be able to differentiate the FREEDOM from
all other Fabrics.
We suggest that Grasim-Suitings package the FREEDOM
FABRICS differently than the other FABRICS companies.
We think that the Fabrics¶ packaging should be very
colorful in order to draw customer attention away from
other suiting range. The name FREEDOM should also be
placed on the packaging in a distinct font.

 ‘  

    


Our main focus here is on the customers. We want them

to be able to get the most for their money. By producing
a superior FABRICS, that offers more qualities than the
other Fabrics available on the market, at or
around the same price as the competition, consumers will
hopefully want to purchase the FREEDOM FABRICS over
the others. There will be more qualities offered at no
extra charge.
The price of the FABRICS if positioned as a mainstream
product will have to be equal to the prices of the other
Fabrics already available on the market. If the FREEDOM
FABRICS is profitable and there is a high percentage of
consumer demand, then Grasim-Suitings might want to
consider increasing the price of the FABRICS by a small
margin.

4. ª







Grasim-Suitings¶s mission strategy is to be successful in

the FABRICS market, and hope the FREEDOM FABRICS is
not a failure. They will strive to gain a competitive
advantage over other companies, while producing a
profit, and satisfying the wants and needs of buyers. A
goal of Grasim-Suitings is for the FREEDOM FABRICS to
add utility or value to its consumer¶s lives.

‘ ,$‘' +$)‘

Over the last decade, people have become more

confident and the positive attached to a well designed &
a branded fabric. People have accepted branded fabric as
an essential part of life.


 ‘‘

The clothing market con is broadly divided into two

segments:

¤‘ Organized sector dominating 36%of the market.

¤‘ Unorganized sector catering to 64% of the market

   ‘‘

The segments that are targeted are as follows:

.‘ ,$‘‘

¤‘ Youth segment (20 - 30yrs): goes for stylish

¤‘ Core targets (30+): goes for quality

ñ‘
*$‘

¤‘ Lower, constituting 5% of market share

¤‘ Middle, constituting 35% of market share
¤‘ Higher, constituting 65% of market share
‘
‘
 ‘
3‘

‘-$‘ %‘

.‘Æ 



The product in which this marketing plan focuses around

is the FREEDOM FABRICS. Production began in
September 2008 when the company put together a
research team whose purpose was aimed at testing the
design & quality of the fabrics, how the company would
market the product, and how the company would gain a
competitive advantage over others. Grasim Suiting¶s
mission was to ³develop a superior, qualitative,
designable suiting range´.

Grasim-Suitings referred to the FABRICS as a ³Designer

innovation, because researchers used designer motion
analysis to track consumers¶ dressing movements and
consequent levels of satisfaction. By studying consumers
dressing sense, and focusing on areas of the interest that
had developed excessively in minds of customers,
researchers were able construct a newly designed
FABRICS. The research team tested and experimented
with the fabrics by taking response from the customers.
This led to the introduction stage of the product life cycle,
with the ³launching´ of the FREEDOM FABRICS to the
fabric market.
ñ‘Æ
  

The main design of the product concentrated on the

interest of the customers. The FREEDOM FABRICS
included three different categories of suiting, each having
its own responsibility. The company was focussing on
research and development. It had so far spent Rs. 25-30
crores on the fabric R & D centre.

At present, the company was concentrating only on

men's suiting. It was doing a survey for women's wear.
However, the company is in the women's wear through
its garment segment under the brand name `Allen Solly'. ‘

‘
‘
‘
 ‘Å



   

The FREEDOM FABRICS can be classified as either a

homogeneous or heterogeneous shopping product. Some
consumers may see it as a homogenous product because
they see all Fabrics as the same, and place their
attention on the lowest prices. Others may see the
fabrics as a heterogeneous product because they see the
need to ³inspect for quality and suitability´.
‘ 

Under a niche-positioning strategy Grasim-Suitings would

price the fabrics at Rs. 900-2350 a miter. Under a
mainstream-positioning strategy, the company would
price the fabrics at Rs. 1300-4650 a miter. If the fabrics
was sold to professionals ³eighty percent of sales would
be priced at Rs. 900-2350 a miter; the remainder would
be sold at Rs. 1300-4650 a miter.

‘˜

Recognizing the power of fashion to position itself as a
market leader in the new millennium, the Rs. 300 crore
textile divisions of Grasim Industries, a part of the Aditya
Birla group, has announced major revamping of its
premium brand `Grasim Suiting'.

After years of being a traditional brand bearing the trade-

mark `Gwalior', Grasim Suiting is now re-positioning
itself as a fashionable brand.‘‘

‘  
‘
The price budget for promotion was set at 1200 crore.
The company¶s promotion plan was to go through huge
add campaigns. Grasim-Suitings planned to promote the
freedom fabrics, by the help of bollywood star Akshay
kumar who is brand ambassador of company.

Grasim has roped in the Bollywood Super hero Akshay

Kumar as the brand ambassador. The tagline has been
changed to "For the Self Made". The TVC featuring the
actor is now on air. The repositioning is very significant
for the brand because of the nature of competition that it
faces. The competition is not only from the textile brands
but also from the Readymade. SO it has to promote its
product considering ready made garments also.

‘) /*‘

.‘C
Æ
   

Aside from convenience stores and large showrooms,

many malls played a key role in the distribution of
Grasim suiting products. ³Mass merchandisers gained
share due to increased in-store promotional support´.
Because of the increase in the demand for suiting
products, stores began shelving more suiting products.
This was a big advantage for Grasim-Suitings because
there would be more room in the stores for them
to market the new Freedom fabrics. Marts also played a
big role in the distribution of Grasim products.

.‘8 
 


Æ
   

Since many of the retail stores began to open more

hanging space, this would allow for Grasim-Suitings to
situate the freedom where they thought it would gain
attention from consumers. The only drawback about
distribution for Grasim-Suitings was marts. Grasim-
Suitings did not hold the market share for the distribution
of Fabrics in marts. ³With a dedicated sales force, ready-
mades¶ dominated this market. Without dominating the
retail market for Fabrics, Grasim-Suitings would have to
focus more strongly on other retail locations, considering
in 2005, ³22% of all Fabrics were expected to be
distributed to consumers by retail stores´.

‘
‘
''*%*‘ $,$)‘

.‘    

It has been proven that increasing promotion has lead to

an increase in consumer demand. Both Grasim-Suitings
and their competitors spent a lot of money on the
promotion of their new products. ³VIMAL spent 700
CRORE in media¶s support to introduce its new Reach
suiting range; JCT spent 200 crore to launch its new
range. ‘
‘
= 

˜


Because competition was increasing, these companies

saw it necessary to increase their spending on promotion.
Companies began to offer purchase deals, such as
discounts, special percent off coupons, and many other.

ñ‘




³Total media spending for the category, primarily on

television advertising, was estimated to total 55 crore in
1992 and 70 crore in 1993,´. Between the years 1998
and 2007, Grasim-Suitings ran four different
commercials. Each commercial had its own marketing
situation, platform, execution plan, and tag line. The
marketing situation that the last commercial dealt with
before the introduction of the freedom fabrics was
³keeping fashion & latest trend in minds.´ Grasim¶s copy
platform for this commercial stated, ³for the self made.´
Grasim¶s execution plan was, ³Armed to the latest trend
in fashion where the designs were soldiers.´ And Grasim¶s
tag line was, ³Grasim- For the self made,´.
‘

‘
 ‘ 
‘

IN marketing research we go through various steps:-

¤‘ $(*$‘-$‘ /$'‘*‘ $)$ %-‘/0$%&$‘

Here the objective is to set a plan for launching a product
named freedom fabrics.

¤‘ $&$‘-$‘ $)$ %-‘*‘

Then we have to a plan for conducting our research so
that we could earn maximum information.

¤‘
$%‘-$‘*( '*‘

Now we collect the information regarding our needs,

through various procedures & methods such as
questionnaires, market analysis etc. It is the most
expensive part of research plan.
 ¤‘ *4$‘-$‘*( '*‘
Then we have to analyze that information accordingly to
make it purposeful.

¤‘  $)$*‘-$‘(**,)‘
Then we have to present the findings that are relevant to
major marketing decisions facing management.

¤‘
+$‘-$‘$%)*‘
After going through the procedure at last we make the
decision to go through our plan.
‘
‘
‘  
 ‘
‘
In the textiles sector, GRASIM has suffered a setback. A
worsening market environment in the suitings sector,
plagued both by over-capacity and intense price-
competition, has slowed this sector.

To turnaround the business in the first phase, your

Company has kickstarted several proactive initiatives. A
cohesive, well-orchestrated, customer-focused
manufacturing and marketing strategy has been
blueprinted. As you are aware, we have already
contemporised the Grasim brand, pegging it on the new
superior quality range launched and novel fashion
connotations.

The distribution and retail network has been given a shot

in the arm. The µGrasim¶ and µGraviera¶ brands have
become more visible today than ever before supported by
aggressive marketing. Apart from these endeavours, we
have recoursed to relentless cost cutting.
‘
 ‘5‘‘
‘
Aggregate revenues grew by 13% year-on-year (YoY) on
the back of better performance of all of its businesses,
with the exception of the Textiles sector.
Improved efficiencies, economies of scale and higher
cement prices, aided overall profitability. Operating
profits grew by 21% from Rs. 756.3 Crores last year to
Rs. 911.5 Crores in FY 2007. Profit before extra-ordinary
items and taxes attained a robust growth of over 60%
from Rs.263.2 Crores to Rs.420.8 Crores. After adjusting
for employee separation costs and profits from the sale of
the software division, pre-tax profits soared by 74% YoY
to Rs.427.9 Crores while net profits jumped 62% YoY to
Rs.377.9 Crores during the year.
‘
 
 ‘‘ ‘  ‘

Highlights (Rs. in Crores)

     
Gross Turnover 5,582.4 4,982.3 12.0
Net Turnover 4,821.7 4,272.6 12.9
Operating Other Income 18.0 17.1 5.3
Non-Operating Other Income 89.7 71.2 26.0
PBIDT 911.5 756.3 20.5
Interest 238.8 256.1 (-)6.8
Depreciation 251.9 237.0 6.3
Profit Before Tax &
Extra-Ordinary Items 420.8 263.3 59.8
Profit on transfer of
undertaking 18.4 - -

Employee Separation
compensation 11.4 17.8 (-)36.3
Profit Before Tax 427.9 245.5 74.3
Tax 50.0 12.4 304.9
Profit After Tax 377.9 233.1 62.1

C 

Gross revenues have grown by 12% YoY to Rs.5,582.4

Crores on account of strong growth in sales volumes and
realization of Cement, VSF and Chemicals.
The gross revenues of Cement and Fibre divisions have
risen by 17% and 14% respectively, while that of the
Chemical division has registered an
improvement of 26% YoY in FY 2007.

m  

Apart from interest and dividend income, your Company¶s

other income consists of operating receipts of the units
and bill discounting charges. Other income increased by
22% YoY from Rs.88.3 Crores in FY 2006 to Rs.107.7
Crores in FY 2001, mainly on account of increase in
interest and dividend income.

  ˜ÆC 

Improved asset utilisation, better operating efficiencies

and ongoing cost cutting measures have enabled your
Company post superior operating profits.
Your Company¶s operating margins have improved from
17.7% to 19.3%, in turn pushing profits by an impressive
21% YoY Rs.911.5 Crores in FY 2007.

 


Interest charges have gone down by 7% YoY to Rs.238.8

Crores in FY 2007 due to the positive impact of debt
restructuring and repayment carried out
during the year. The raising of low cost funds for part
financing capex and general corporate requirements
enabled the Company reduce interest charges
even further.


Æ   

Depreciation charges have increased by 6% YoY from Rs.

237.0 Crores to Rs.251.9 Crores because of the
commissioning of the new cement plant in Tamil
Nadu during April 2006.

 C!

Consequent to an impressive 74% YoY growth in pre-tax

profits, tax provisions have gone up from Rs.12.4 Crores
in FY 2000 to Rs.50.0 Crores in FY 2007.

€ 

Your Company¶s net profits have soared from Rs.233.1

Crores in FY 2006 to Rs.377.9 Crores in FY 2007,
reflecting a growth of 62% YoY. Net Profits
excluding profit on sale of undertaking increased by 54%
to Rs.359.5 Crores. Earnings Per Share thus grew by
62% from Rs.25.4 per share in FY 2006 to
Rs.41.2 per share in FY 2007 while Cash Earnings Per
Share has gone up from Rs.51.3 to Rs.68.7 during this
period.‘
‘
‘
‘
‘


 ‘ ‘ ‘

It is the most crucial point because if the implementation

is not done correctly than we will not be able to achieve
our goals. A great marketing plan can be sabotaged by
poor implementation.

So we must have a superior performance over time

depended upon flawless execution, a company culture
based on aiming high, a structure that is flexible and
responsive, and a strategy that is clear & focused.

‘
 ‘  6 ‘ 5‘

 
‘  ‘

For controlling Grasim has to focus on its 4P¶s

1. 


The product, the FREEDOM FABRICS, is a product that

should add value to a buyer¶s life. It should also add
utility, and meet the wants and needs of targeted
consumers. The product should be unique and different
from all similar products that are already available on the
market. The strategy is to differentiate the product¶s
design and packaging, which in return will cause
the FABRICS to stand out.

ñ‘ 
‘
The price of a product says something about the quality.
Even though the quality of the FREEDOM FABRICS will be
significantly higher than other leading Fabrics, the price
of the FABRICS will be determined by the prices of the
other Fabrics already in the market. This pricing strategy
is a result of positioning the FABRICS as a mainstream
product rather than a niche product.

 ‘
‘
The most important part of marketing is how a product
will get from the seller to the buyer. Many products go
through a channel of distribution, which involves,
manufactures, wholesalers, retailers, and consumers. The
Distribution strategy proposed for the FREEDOM FABRICS
is through marts, exclusive showrooms, cloth retail
stores.

Þ‘  
‘
Product promotion is communication spread through
advertising, publicity, and sales promotion. We suggest
that Grasim-Suitings advertise their products by using
commercial, magazine ads, the radio, ads that are to be
placed in dentist offices, billboards, and the sides of
buses. Advertising is done to promote new products,
remind consumers of existing products, and also promote
the image of the company at hand. We also suggested
that Grasim offer special coupons and rebates through
their other products, and also food products. Also,
Grasim could benefit from the usage of in-store displays.

  78‘
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¤‘ www.grasimindia.com‘
¤‘ www.thehindu.com‘
¤‘ www.timesindia.com‘
‘

8‘
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¤‘ Book of marketing management by
KOTLER, KELLER, KOSHY, AND JHA.‘
‘