Media Watch (From 15th August 2019 to 24th September 2019)

By Ankit Kumar
• PepsiCo places its chips in southern markets with local tastes, food habits (19 Aug 2019)
With southern markets on its radar, PepsiCo India is drilling down into local tastes and food
habits to develop local and hyperlocal variants while rethinking its positioning tactics. It has
just launched a variant for Lay’s that seeks to replace the traditional papad (rice and lentil
crispies) as a meal-time snack, for the Southern market. Lay’s Wafer Style comes close on the
heels of its launch of another product aimed at the same market, Kurkure Masala Munch with
gingelly (sesame seed) oil, a taste earlier catered to only by hyperlocal labels.
Source: Business Standard
• Consumer firms widen rural reach to tide over slowdown (20 Aug 2019)
Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies are seeking a deeper foothold in the rural
areas as part of a broader strategy to regain volume growth in the coming months.
Homegrown packaged consumer goods firms such as Marico Ltd and Dabur Ltd are either
expanding their reach or looking for ways to improve the quality of their existing distribution
network in the rural areas besides launching smaller and lower priced packs to target rural
consumers.
Source: Livemint

• India's consumer confidence drops in August: Report (22 Aug 2019)

The index prepared by Thomson Reuters in partnership with Ipsos said that the downward
movement in PCSI has been continuous since May 2019. Consumer confidence in India has
declined by 3.1 percentage points in August compared to last month, according to the latest
India Primary Consumer Sentiment Index (PCSI). PCSI is calculated on the basis of 4 sub-
indices which include jobs, economic expectations, investment and current personal finance
conditions, which were down 1.7 percentage points, 3 percentage points, 4.1 percentage
points and 3.7 percentage points, respectively.
Source: Livemint
• Instagram aims to create a positive environment, will restrict posts on cosmetic surgery,
weight-loss products (19 Sep 2019)
Facebook-owned Instagram has announced to restrict people under age 18 from viewing
posts from celebrity influencers that promote cosmetic surgery and various weight-loss
products. Certain posts will be hidden from users under age 18 while others will be removed
from Instagram as well as parent company's platform Facebook.
Source: The Economic Times
• Zomato rolls out 'Gold' program on delivery (21 Sep 2019)
Online food delivery and listing platform Zomato has extended its Gold program to delivery,
taking its popular program beyond eating out to now ordering in. Gold on delivery could
significantly disrupt the market as it will give complementary offers to its members.
Source: Livemint