CNI Enterprise (India) Pvt Ltd, a multi level marketing company which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of CNI Corporation, plans to expand its operations in India. It is aggressively scouting for potential pharma and nutraceutical partnerships to distribute and manufacture tablets, capsules and powders. The company intends to utilize India as its manufacturing hub to export to the SARCC countries, Middle East, Eastern European and African countries. While it has commenced its exports to Nepal, it is working towards entry into Middle East.

The company, came into India in 2003 after invested Rs 21 crore to market and manufacture products for India, from India. From its range of 36 products, seven are in the nutraceutical space and one in the pain management segment. Currently, the company manufactures these products in India at pharma contract manufacturing units. All products are marketed under the CNI brand name. The range is well established and accepted under the food supplement category.

With the intention to consolidate its operations here in India and make it a springboard to enter the SAARC nations, Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EEMEA) countries, CNI India is keen to increase its contract manufacturing. In this regard, it is on the look out for strategic alliances to ink agreements with pharma-nutraceutical companies, Dr Subra Sahadevan, country manager, CNI Enterprises told Pharmabiz.

Local manufacturing eliminates the hassles of importing products, reduces lead time and generates employment opportunities, he added. From its current distributor strength of 40,000, CNI India has planned a 20 per cent sales force increase annually and hiring has commenced for this fiscal.

The company’s range of nutraceuticals cater to lifestyle disorders including cholesterol, hypertension and diabetes. Currently in India, four products are manufactured. These are Dialife, a poly-herbal supplement known to rejuvenate the pancreas improve liver functions to maintain glucose balance, popular among diabetics. Ester C, is a third generation Vitamin C and Royal Jelly Vitamin C for children are known to boost the immune system, fight bacterial and viral infections. Pain balm Fire Sens a mentholated rub is also popular. Over 70 per cent of the ingredients are sourced from India which makes far more business sense to manufacture from here, stated Dr Subra.

Two products Noni Juice, a herbal dietary supplement and Organik Vegetable Powder for lifestyle disease management are imported from Malaysia.

India’s MLM segment has companies including Herbalife, Amway, Modicare and DXN which are competing with CNI. The size of the MLM segment for nutraceuticals is estimated at around Rs 900 crore growing at 20 percent annually. “Awareness to manage lifestyle diseases and affordability are driving this space. The growth of direct selling industry has immense growth prospects for the future and the trend is reflected globally too,” he said.

The biggest challenge is reliability of players in the MLM space. The aggressive strategy to have access to the fast buck in shortest possible time has witnessed the emergence of many unscrupulous companies. Fly–by–night operators who do not have long term interests have marred the image of the sector. But going by the efficacy and consistency in product content, CNI has been able to grab sizeable market share which is attributed to sheer customer loyalty leading to substantial repeat orders, stated Dr Subra.