Eveready Industries India has kicked off the journey to push high performance alkaline batteries in its quest for premiumisation.

The largest dry cell battery maker in India, which is majority owned by the Burman family of Dabur, is going to position the sub brand ‘Ultima’ as the vehicle for the premium products to be rolled out now and in the future.

Apart from long-duration alkaline batteries, which are priced at a 22-150 per cent premium to the regular range, Eveready may come out with other forms of batteries such as coin batteries under the Ultima brand.

“India is way behind comparable economies in alkaline battery penetration. However, the segment is growing significantly higher than the traditional carbon zinc batteries with the introduction of high-drain usage devices. We want to capture that market with this range,” Suvamoy Saha, managing director of Eveready India, said.

Only 6 per cent of India’s 3 billion battery market is for alkaline batteries compared with 50 per cent in China, 60 per cent in Brazil and 80 per cent in the US. The Indian market for alkaline batteries is expanding by 20 per cent, ahead of the overall market which is growing by 4 per cent.

For Eveready, alkaline batteries contribute about 4 per cent but it may go up to 10 per cent in three years, Saha added, at the launch of a TV commercial of Ultima, which was conceptualised by Ogilvy.

Explaining the relaunch of Eveready Ultima, Anirban Banerjee, senior vice-president (battery & flashlights), said: “As a strategic intent the master brand needs to have meaningful sub-brand straddles. And one of the meaningful sub-brand straddles is the ability for powerful enhanced technologies to come under Ultima, which is our best foot forward.”

Battery accounts for 62 per cent of Eveready’s turnover, while flashlights and lighting contribute 16 per cent and 22 per cent, respectively.

The company expects batteries to become 50 per cent of the business as other segments are going to have higher growth potential.

Eveready expects a topline growth of a high single digit, compared with 14 per cent recorded last year, despite the challenge of an erratic monsoon in the first half of the year.