Bhubaneshwar: On the cusp of this year’s auspicious Rath Yatra festival, Mangaldeep, ITC’s Agarbatti brand has joined hands with the Odisha Government and the reverent Jagannath Temple administration of Puri to launch a very special agarbatti offering– the ‘Mangaldeep Temple – Lord Jagannath’s Favourite Fragrances’ pack dedicated to Lord Jagannath’s devotees.
The launch of the unique offering from Mangaldeep was graced by the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Odisha Mr. Naveen Patnaik on Friday at Puri. Mr. Ravi Rayavaram, Chief Executive, ITC’s Agarbatti Business, the rural women SHG members who make these agarbattisand representatives from the ShriJagannath Temple Committee and Odisha Rural Development and Marketing Society (ORMAS) were also present at the occasion.
The new agarbatti offering from Mangaldeep is a first-of-its-kind innovation that has dual-fragrance sticks, with two differently colouredparts in the same agarbatti and are made with Lord Jagannath’sfavourite fragrances. Each agarbatti stick in this new pack has two sections – Tulsi& Neem on the top section and Kasturi & Chandan in the bottom section. Each of these ingredients constitute fragrances derived from the favourite offerings of Lord Jagannath – Neem Wood is the primary ingredient in Puri’s Lord Jagannath idol that keeps the ‘deity immortal’, the idol is adorned with Tulsi Mala, Sandalwood is used to embalm the idol and Kasturi Paste is used as cosmetic adorn for the deity. The inclusion of all these four auspicious ingredients in Mangaldeep’s new variant of agarbattiaims to recreate the aura of the PuriJagannath Temple in every puja at home.
ITC’s Mangaldeep has tied up with the Odisha Rural Development and Marketing Society (ORMAS), an arm of the Government of Odisha, to enable women empowerment by engaging rural women-based self-help groups (SHGs) to manufacture the agarbattis for the brand. The Puri ShriJagannathTemple Administration has also lent their valuable support towards this unique initiative.
Speaking at the launch of the product, Mr. Ravi Rayavaram, Chief Executive, ITC’s AgarbattiBusiness, said “Through this specially crafted innovative Mangaldeepagarbatti, it has been our endeavour to enable consumers feel the divinity of Puri’s Lord Jagannath temple in their homes, every time they light the agarbatti. Through the Mangaldeep ‘Temple’ sub-brand, we aspireto bring the experience of the temple closer to the devotees. We are also encouraged that this initiative will provide livelihoods to rural women through our tie up with ORMAS. We also greatly appreciate the Temple Committee’s support to this landmark initiative.”
Shri P.K Mohapatra,IAS, Chief Administrator, ShriJagannath Temple Administration, said “We are delighted that the Mangaldeep Temple – ‘Lord JagannathPuri’ pack is a result of the long standing partnership between ITC and ORMAS. The unique features of the agarbatti crafted with the help of rural women SHGs will enable consumers experience the divinity of the temple in their homes. We are also enthused about the ‘Mangaldeep Green Temple’ initiative that will be implemented here soon by ITC”.
On the lead up to the Rath Yatra this year, rural women as part of the SHGs under the guidance of ORMAS undertook a procession towards the Shri JagannathTemple in Puri. They offered these special agarbattis that they made to the Lord. When asked about how they felt to be involved in making these agarbattis, they said “All of us love Lord Jagannath. It feels very special to make these agarbattis that devotees across the country would be offering to Him in prayer every day.”
Mangaldeep Brand & Business information: The Agarbatti business is an integral part of ITC’s business strategy of creating multiple drivers of growth in the FMCG sector. This Business has sustained its growth momentum anchored on a robust product portfolio and distribution reach. ITC sources Agarbattis (Incense sticks) from the small-scale and cottage unit since 2003. It has supported the creation of livelihoods for more than 10,000 people in the country, many of whom belong to the weaker sections of society. ITC is also building a bamboo-to-agarbatti value chain anchored by the Mangaldeep brand that will create livelihoods by promoting bamboo cultivation, whilst enabling import substitution. This Business with its flagship brand Mangaldeep leverages the core strengths of ITC in nation-wide distribution and marketing, brand building, supply chain management, manufacture of high quality paperboards and creating innovative packaging solutions to offer Indian consumers high quality Agarbattis through the brand Mangaldeep. In line with ITC’s philosophy of triple bottom line to drive economic, social and environmental capital, Mangaldeep has been working with popular temples to convert organic waste at their premises into biogas and manure. This “Mangaldeep Green Temple” initiative through ITC’s Mission SunehraKal program, has already been installed at 4 temples in Tamil Nadu.
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