Once market leader, these Indian brands have now no existence. Know why.

Move to market and you see flood of brands of various retail, automobile, electronics, food and other brands around you. Due to liberalization of Indian economy, various MNCs have got access to Indian market. These MNCs have established a firm position in the market and in recent years, due to India emerging as a prominent economy of the world, more brands are in pipeline to enter India. But there are some brands which ruled Indian market for decades but now have no or nominal existence in the market. Why these brands could not be profitable in growing Indian economy, we try to find out in this post. If you are thirty plus, you must have heard or used these brand products.

Gold Spot – The orange flavor carbonated drink which was established by Parle Group in 1952. Due to a new flavor in the market, the brand very rapidly became very popular throughout the country. Parle established its beverages distribution network very strong with availability of Gold Spot, Limca and Thumbs Up in all markets in the country. By 1970s, the Parle had become top beverage company of the country. In mid 90s, MNCs Coca-Cola and Pepsi got access to Indian market and there was a brand war in beverages section. Parle played it safe and sold its all beverages brands to Coca-Cola Limited which then started selling all Parle Brands under its flagship. By 2000, Coca-Cola reduced supply and production of Gold Spot whereas Thumbs Up and Limca continued to be sold. Coca-Cola did not explain any reason to stop production of Gold Spot but experts say the move was to make access to Coca-Cola’s same flavor brand, Fanta to the market.

HMT – From 1960s to mid 80s, one who planned to buy a wrist watch know what the position of the HMT watches were in the market. HMT watches could have been seen on the wrist of all Indians who would tie wrist watch. Company further expanded its business by establishing manufacturing units in various parts of the country. But, after entry of more wrist watch companies in the market, HMT faced stiff competition which the company could not overcome. Company’s market shares were gradually eaten by its competitors and it suffered losses for consecutive years. Due to consecutive five years huge loses, government decided to stop all units of HMT with effect of January 2016 and all employees were given VRS.

Ambassador – Known as status symbol till 1990s, Ambassador cars were manufactured by Hindustan Motors Limited. Ambassador was known for its power and stability and was most preferred car till 1990. With various automobile giants entered in Indian market, Ambassador got stiff competition from Hyundai, Toyota, Ford and others. All companies offered various innovations and comforts in their vehicles where no such innovation was made in Ambassador cars. Resulted, people started inclined to other cars and Ambassador had to be stopped manufactured in 2014 due to consecutive losses faced by the company.

Subhiksha Stores – First company entered in the market with concept of direct from manufacturer to consumer, Subhiksha entered in retail market in 1997. Company further invested huge in the expansion of its stores throughout the country and by 2006, Subhiksha had 420 stores all over the country. Company promised to sell FMCG, Vegetables and all household products at most competitive prices in the market. People thronged to Subhiksha stores and apparently Subhiksha concept was looking very successful. Suddenly people who would visit Subhiksha stores saw shutters locked of all stores and company cited some technical reason and promised to reopen the stores very soon. But this never happened and company was vanished after huge debt and losses. Company even could not pay salary of the end months to its staff. Most probably why company could not sustain the preliminary success was due to failure in supply and distribution channels. Company rapidly opened the stores throughout the country without providing the stores with proper in and out distribution channel. The lack of ground work made the company sink in the market.

Bajaj Chetak – ‘Hamara Bajaj’ (Our Bajaj) was most preferred two wheeler of Indians. The geared scooter was used by people to commute and travel short journeys. 1990s were the heydays of the Bajaj Chetak with its sale setting records every year. By 2000, people got inclined towards motorcycles and Hero Honda ate market share of the Chetak. Honda provided people with gearless and self start Activa which totally kicked Chetak out of the market. Bajaj eventually stopped manufacturing the Chetak. Thus, once the most popular vehicle ended up with such circumstances. Bajaj never focused on improving the Chetak and no innovation was done for a long period. A monotonous product can never last long, with time and circumstances innovations have to be done.

BPL – Established in 1963, British Physical Laboratories BPL had very strong grip in electronics market especially in TV segment. From 80s to mid 90s, BPL was top TV selling company in the country. In 1990, company total revenue was 4500 crores. With various Korean and Japanese companies like LG, Samsung entered in Indian market, BPL got tough competition. Samsung and LG provided various innovative features in TV which BPL could not. BPL network stared reducing and later company transferred its TV business to other businesses.

Kelvinator – The most preferred brand for those who bought refrigerator from 80s to mid 90s. This brand too became prey of tough competition and later sold its all manufacturing units to whirlpool. The kelvinator name was however retained with the owners later on which joined with Electroloux company.
There are several more brands which got vanished in rising competition despite being erstwhile a prominent brand.

The company which marketed its products with proper channels of promotion, distribution and most importantly innovation, continued to survive else rest perished in the competition. There are various Indian origin brands which consistently increased their market shares despite stiff competition. Hero, MDH, Parle, Dabur, Videocon, Tata, Reliance are the brands which remained untouched with competition effects, of course due to their strategic approach.