Indane: The Superbrand That Lights Fire in 9 Crore Indian Kitchens

 

From a humble beginning in October 1965, with two dealerships in Kolkata and Patna, and a consumer base of around 2,000, the brand has grown through the marketing nightmare of fighting dogmas and misconceptions about the "new fuel" as well as administrative apathy.

Ramesh Sikka was allotted one of the first three dealerships in Kolkata. At 83, he is the oldest living Indane dealer. "There were three. The others are gone. People were scared in the beginning. Bengalis especially were very conservative and did not want to change over to the new fuel. It was a struggle to get people to become customers," Sikka told TOI.

Today, his agency caters to 10,000 households and has his son and daughter-in-law as partners who run the show. "Today, it is much more organised. In between there were some problems. Sometimes, there would be delays in delivery and we would have to face their anger. Sometimes, we had to call the police. Today things are much more organised," Sikka said adding there hardly any supply issues or apprehensions about LPG.

So what makes a brand tick for 50 years? "There was the time when people were apprehensive that making roti on LPG oven was unhealthy or less tasty. But today things are different. What has made Indane tick for all these years is what value we bring to our consumers. Indane spread the market. Today, whoever is using Indane realises the value creation that we do. Someone who has used Indane for once would not look at anything else. Indane has helped do away the smoky environment of cooking that was prevalent before LPG came into the market. That is why our motto is that no one should go without a cylinder even for a day," IndianOil chairman B Ashok told

Indane, the brand under which the country's largest fuel retailer IndianOil sells its cooking gas, rules nearly nine crore kitchens -- or a little over 18 lakh LPG consumers in the country who have made PaHal the world's largest cash transfer scheme.