World's longest Basmati grain

Marks Masafi's foray in food sector

Rice produced by KRBL, world's largest rice miller

Dubai, February 13, 2007: Masafi, the regional market leader in the bottled mineral water industry, announced its foray in the food sector as the exclusive distributor of India Gate Classic Basmati Rice in the UAE. India Gate Classic Basmati Rice is the world's longest Basmati rice and is produced by the world's largest Basmati rice exporters and millers, KRBL Limited, based in India.

The India Gate Classic Basmati Rice was unveiled at a themed party at Jumeirah Beach Hotel, which was attended by Mr Anil Mittal, Chairman & Managing Director of KRBL Limited, Mr Abdullah Balsharaf, Managing Director, OAB, KSA and Mr Jawad Al-Arbarsh, Chairman, KAC, Kuwait; both KRBL partners in the Middle East, dignitaries, leading retailers and suppliers.

Addressing the press conference, Mr Anil Mittal said: "As a corporate objective we have always tried to serve our customer with the highest quality product. The feedback from all across the world regarding the India Gate brand has been inspirational to continue developing newer quality products. In the past few years we have spent reasonably on our research and development process and have build a world class research laboratory as well as closer partnerships with Indian Scientists. The result has been "India Gate Classic" which has captured world basmati markets' imagination by garnering market share of about 12% and 20% in KSA and Kuwait respectively."

Speaking at the high-profile launch, Mr Ashraf Abushady, Chief Executive Officer of Masafi, said: "We are pleased to partner with KRBL to introduce India Gate Classic Basmati Rice in the UAE. Masafi is committed to providing best quality products to its consumers and India Gate Classic is a premium brand that espouses brand values which, we as a company passionately believe and embrace. Our foray into the food sector is an important step and is integral to our broad vision of becoming a complete FMCG company by 2011."

India Gate Classic Basmati Rice, developed after long years of research by Indian scientists, was brought into commercial production by KRBL in 2005. Apart from its excellent cooking attributes, India Gate Classic is 99% fat free, cholesterol free, gluten free, salt free and has a relatively low glycaemic index, making it suitable for heath conscious people.

As an exclusive product in basmati segment, India Gate Classic claims to redefine the basmati category. Coupled with a gentle aroma, a natural sweet taste and pearly look and fluffiness, India Gate Classic Basmati is often referred as the 'Rice of Connoisseurs'.  Amazingly, each grain of India Gate Basmati measures an incredible 23 mm (almost an inch) after cooking.

Speaking on this occasion, Ms Priyanka Mittal, Director of Marketing, said: "India Gate Basmati rice has undoubtedly emerged as a Power Brand all over the world. At the same time this brand has become the largest selling brand in India, one of the fastest growing markets of the world.  Coupled with our dominating presence in KSA and Kuwait, the largest Middle East markets, we are confident that UAE too, with its sophisticated demographic and inclination for quality products will make India Gate Classic the largest selling brand soon in this market as well." 

KRBL, established in 1889, has a predominant presence in the Middle East and USA, enjoys over 12% market share in Saudi Arabia. In the USA, the company enjoys a 52% market share with brands such as Royal and India Gate. The company has the largest rice production capacity in the world with its state-of-the-art integrated machineries and plants located in three places in India within the vicinity of largest paddy producing states. The company also happens to undertake the largest Basmati Contract Farming initiatives by working with over 60,000 farmers to ensure consistent quality year-round.

Masafi has successfully retained its market leadership in the UAE mineral water segment with more than 40% share. The company exports approximately 30% of its product portfolio to different countries. The major importers are Japan, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Afghanistan and Djibouti. The company also exports to Germany, UK, Australia, Taiwan, Pakistan, Morocco, Yemen, Sudan, Bangladesh and the Ivory Coast, among others.

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About Masafi
Masafi, the leading producer of pure natural mineral water in the entire Gulf, was established in 1976 with a paid-up capital of approximately $5.5 million. The company has retained its market leadership for the past three decades by providing world-class products which are renowned for their pure natural freshness. This has seen Masafi become the premium reference for bottled mineral water in the entire region. In the process it has built an extremely strong distribution network to consistently deliver to dynamic market requirements and has continuously upgraded its first-class equipment to keep pace with technological advances around the globe.

Being a leading brand that delivers to consumer needs, Masafi's wide product portfolio includes mineral water, tissues, Masafi Juices and the newly-launched Masafi Flavoured Water. The mineral water product line comes in bottles of 1.5 litres, 1 litre, 500ml, 330ml (regular and sports), 330ml kids packaging (regular and sports); mineral water cups in sizes of 250ml, 200ml, and 125ml. The tissue line includes boutique fragrant tissues in three scents, floral tissues in purple, pink and green colors, and car tissue boxes, while the hugely popular Masafi Juices come in an array of original flavors and rich blends available in 2 litre, 1 litre and 200 ml bottles. The flavoured water is available in 3 flavours -- strawberry, lemon & peach in 500ml sizes.

The company was the first recipient of the ISO 9002 certification in the entire Middle East and was awarded the ISO 9001:2000 certification for developing and maintaining a high standard Quality Management System. Masafi has also been awarded the HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points) certification. Masafi is also a member of International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) and Asia Bottled Water Association (ABWA). Masafi Water is tested and approved by NSF International, USA, which carries out annual unprompted audits on behalf of IBWA. Masafi is the first mineral water company in the region to be awarded the prestigious ISO 14001 certification for Environmental Management.

For further information, please contact
Ashutosh Gupta / Naeem Badiuzzaman,
PanGulf PR, Dubai.
Tel: +9714-2953456;
Fax: +9714-2951027
E-mail: ashutosh@batespangulf.com / naeem@batespangulf.com

© Press Release 2007