India-based instant fruit concentrate manufacturer Rasna has ventured into the malt-based health drink market by launching two new products under its ‘Rasna Native Haat’ brand.

The newly launched products portfolio includes chocolate-flavoured honey vita and almond-flavoured badam vita.

Honey Vita is targeted primarily at children and will compete against established health drink brands such as Mondelez’s Cadbury Bournvita, GSK’s Boost, and Complan.

The company will promote its new product as a health drink with less sugar.

Rasna chairman and managing director Piruz Khambatta was quoted by livemint.com as saying:  “Sugar has become one of the key concerns for consumers and all-brown beverages contain a lot of it. Since it is difficult to replace sugar with artificial sweeteners in a category mostly targeted at children, we have decided to reduce the sugar content and introduce honey.

“The idea was to create a product which can compete with Bournvita, Complan, and Horlicks, but with the goodness of honey.”

While Honey Vita will be made available in stock-keeping units (SKUs) of 100g, 500g and 600g, Badam Vita will be introduced in 200g SKU.

The malt drinks have been launched on the e-commerce site, Amazon. They will be sold through the company’s distribution network, which focuses on the top 30 cities of India, livemint.com report added.

“I believe this category has potential for growth, as mothers are willing to spend money on nutritious products.”

Khambatta was further quoted as saying: “I believe this category has potential for growth, as mothers are willing to spend money on nutritious products, especially from tier 2 and 3 towns.”

To promote the newly launched brands, the company has hired start badminton player Saina Nehwal as its brand ambassador.

She has already shot a TV commercial for both, Honey and Honey Vita products.

Khambatta added: “We are extremely happy to collaborate with Saina Nehwal for our new ad campaign. Saina embodies the attributes of Rasna’s Native Haat range, which focuses on health products that are chemical and preservative free. We are committed to providing our consumers with new and innovative products.”