Snacks major Bikano has taken the license for India's most popular kids-show character, Chhota Bheem, to launch its extruded products range. The range of products which includes Ringz, Puffees, Cheese Balls, Pasta Crunch and Jungle Safari, aims to augment Bikano's presence in the rapidly growing 'western snacks' market of 16000 crore where extrudes has witnessed plenty of growth and continues to expand at 23-25%.

According to estimates, in India, extrudes snacks market is expected to grow at a CAGR of over 20% by 2024. The major factors driving increased consumption in the extruded snacks categories are the growing youth and young population, rising per capita income and competitive pricing, and the introduction of smaller packs. The primary buyers in the segment are the kids and young population. Since these extrude snacking options require no preparation or cooking, they are convenient to eat at home or take to school. Bikano plans to introduce its revamped extrude products range for children aged 3 to 10 years with a target to penetrate this growing market.

"The Chota Bheem character has been consistently capturing the hearts of kids across the country over all these years, and even globally with its unique and intriguing message-driven content. This collaboration will help us to attract kids and children to our offerings and drive them towards more diversified, healthy snacking options. Also, if we look at western snacks, it is currently driven by chips; extrude is a small part of the category. We want to drive growth in this segment as the market is ever-expanding. With our new sub-brand 'Fatax', we aim to deliver the best products and further develop the category in our portfolio." said Manish Aggarwal, director, Bikano.

"Also offering new products regularly has been a prime focus of our brand. Apart from that, the new range is expected to give us a sales surge of up to Rs 15 crore in this fiscal," added Aggarwal.

Speaking on looping Chhota Bheem for the launch of their extrude products range, Dawinder Pal, head of Marketing at Bikano, said, "Puffed and extruded snacks are a major trend nowadays, as it gives numerous options other than potato chips with plenty of interesting flavor combinations. However, other than taste and flavor, we need a compelling product story along with an interesting visual appeal to target kids and youngsters."

"Chhota Bheem has high recall among our TG (Target Group) and this association will enable us to get an edge over our rivals and drive sales for this category. The character of Chhota Bheem will certainly create an impact that'll resonate with kids. We will be running a digital campaign and TVC to communicate this association. We are targeting extrudes since this is the fastest-growing category within the western snacks segment." added Pal.

To ensure the widest possible availability of extrude products range under a new sub-brand, Fatax, it has been stocked across the company's general and modern trade network. It is available in a range of packaging and price points of Rs 5 and Rs 10.

The new extrude products under the new sub-brand 'Fatax' are Cheese balls, Jungle Safari, Pasta Crunch, Puffez, Ringz masala flavor and Ringz tomato flavor.