LEADING BRANDS PROFILES

Harischandra

Q: How has the company grown over the years?
A: Harischandra Mills was founded by visionary local entrepreneur and philanthropist C. A. Harischandra in 1943 on a small 20 perch plot in Matara. In the early days, the company manufactured coconut oil, after which it expanded into the manufacture of food and soap.

Today, Harischandra Mills produces a plethora of products in multiple categories including coffee, flour, instant products, noodles, pickles, coconut vinegar, sambols and chutneys to name a few.

The brand name Harischandra has been present in the local market for more than 75 years and resonates in households across Sri Lanka.

Since its inception, the brand has been associated with quality and consumers have depended on it for nutritious products. The strength of the Harischandra brand – which continues to grow year on year – echoes across our entire product portfolio.

This has resulted in the company maintaining a substantial market share in each food category it operates in.

Q: In general, what is your assessment of the impact of the pandemic on brands and branding?
A: COVID-19 has impaired the general economy as well as our company. Consumer income declined and certain industries such as tourism have earned almost no income. Brands were adversely impacted; but the stronger brands proved their resilience.

The entire country witnessed areas being locked down and inter-district transport curtailed, which hindered the company’s ability to distribute its products. Despite these impediments, the strength of the Harischandra brand prevailed, ensuring that we maintained our market share during these times.

We expect our sales to increase once the economy returns to normal.

Q: So what is the role of brand investments in promoting an economic recovery?
A: Brand investments are vital to nourishing brands; and at this particularly decisive time, they’re essential to keep the industry and economy operational.

As a brand, we have always invested in promotions; and our investments have paid off since we maintained market share, even in categories and areas where the market size shrank.

Q: How does Harischandra Mills use technology to enhance its brand offering?
A: From the beginning, our company has invested in modern equipment for manufacturing, resulting in many innovations being added to our portfolio over the years. Harischandra Mills is a pioneering player in offering manufactured food products to consumers islandwide with consistent quality year after year.

We constantly upgrade our equipment in line with the latest technology advancements to meet the quality standards set by local and global markets.

Harischandra products are exported to many countries across Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Oceania and North America; and our instant noodles are available in supermarket chains such as Tesco in England. Therefore, our product quality has to consistently meet regulatory standards set by international markets.

Q: In what way does branding impact financial performance?
A: The company’s financial performance is directly related to the brand’s strength. As consumer purchasing power increases, the demand for quality brands also grows – especially for food products.

Brands that have developed a perception of quality in the consumer’s mind and continuously provide a heightened degree of functionality will always gain market share. The consistent growth of our brand strength is reflected in the company’s sales performance – to this end, sales have increased from Rs. 400 million to three billion rupees over the last 20 years.

Q: How does the brand view the concept of sustainability?
A: As a company, Harischandra Mills has always incorporated sustainability and CSR into its operations although we do not always publicise such initiatives in line with our brand policy. Our CSR initiatives cover several areas such as youth empowerment, sponsoring children’s education and school development, supporting the differently abled and uplifting standards of hospitals to name a few.

Since our inception, sharing the company’s wealth with employees and uplifting them has been ingrained in our DNA. Our founder considered employees to be the company’s most valuable asset and in his time, 40 percent of shares were transferred to them.

In addition, he established the Harischandra Mills Provident Fund Association for employees, which helped introduce the concept of provident funds to Sri Lanka. This same sense of giving back is practised at Harischandra Mills to this day.

website: www.harischandramills.com