Hyderabad: S Niranjan Reddy, Minister for Agriculture, today released a Report on ‘Marketing Strategy for Telangana Sona Rice’, a study executed by Indian School of Business, PJTSAU and Department of Agriculture, Government of Telangana.
Talking about the report and the importance of the study, Agriculture Minister emphasized the need to deal with both demand and supply carefully and create the required balance through proper branding and marketing strategy.
Happy to release this important report brought out by ISB and PJTSAU, he said.
The Minister also urged ISB to conduct more such studies for other Government innovated products like Tandoor Dal, Palamoor Palli, and Telangana Cotton.
The study was conducted to create a marketing and branding plan to increase awareness of the Telangana Sona rice variety. The report points out that the awareness about Telangana Sona Rice is low when compared to other popular brands even though its benefits are much superior to other rice brands. The report says that ‘Health’ and ‘Taste’ are two attributes that consumers consider important while buying rice.
The report recommended an awareness strategy by involving digital and TV influencers and Kirana Stores. It suggested branding Telangana Sona as a healthy as well as a tasty alternative to daily consumption of rice. Telangana Sona Rice is a Paddy variety which is innovated by PJTSAU as RNR-15048. Some of the salient features of Telangana Sona are a distinctive flavor, higher protein composition, carbohydrates, energy, Vitamin B3, and low glycaemic index.
It is also a climate-smart variety and is suitable for both Kharif and Rabi seasons. It is fine-grain, high-yielding, good quality, and has high blast resistance. It is advantageous for farmers, as it grows in a relatively shorter time.
Dr. Janardhan Reddy, APC & Secretary, Government of Telangana, opined that the collaboration between Govt. of Telangana, PJTSAU, and ISB is the first of its kind collaboration to market government innovated products. A marketing strategy is the need of the hour for the last mail connectivity.
Dr. V Praveen Rao, Vice-Chancellor, PJTSAU opined: There is a need to have a strategy for 5-10 years of the action plan to strengthen the brand. The partnership with ISB will certainly help in this regard.
Professor Rajendra Srivastava, Dean ISB said: “For successful outcomes of any product innovations, it is important to have a good marketing strategy. This is best possible through collaborations. It is heartening to see that a strong partnership between ISB, PJTSAU, and Dept. of Agriculture, Govt. of Telangana emerged to bridge the gap between public sector innovations and a marketing strategy. I congratulate the Govt. of Telangana and PJTSAU for this important initiative. ISB will be happy to bring academic rigor into public sector decision making.
Along with the Minister Niranjan Reddy, the meeting was attended by Dr Janardhan Reddy, APC & Secretary, Department of Agriculture, Govt. of Telangana, Dr Praveen Rao, VC, PJTSAU, Professor Madhu Viswanathan, Professor Marketing, ISB; Professor DVR Seshadri, Director, Centre for Business Markets, ISB; Sundeep Jammalamadaka, Associate Director, ISB and Dr Sridhar Bhagavatula, Senior Manager, ISB.
