Glaxo's a Hit in India, Thanks to Its Horlicks Brand

GlaxoSmithKline’s best-selling product in India isn’t a treatment for asthma or cancer. It’s a malted milk drink called Horlicks. The brand is India’s top packaged beverage behind bottled water and sells more than twice as much as Pepsi. Glaxo, Britain’s biggest drugmaker, is seeking to replicate that success with other consumer products in emerging markets, including China, as it sheds over-the-counter medicine brands sold mostly in the U.S. “We are trying to take Horlicks into a megabrand strategy,” says Zubair Ahmed, who heads GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare in India.

Horlicks, which has been around for 138 years, became part of Glaxo’s portfolio when the drug giant merged with SmithKline in 2000. The product is made with malted barley and buffalo milk (which is richer than cow’s milk and more readily available in parts of India) and marketed mainly for children. In recent years, Glaxo’s India unit has moved to capitalize on the nutritional image of Horlicks through an array of brand extensions, including breakfast cereals, biscuits, and a beverage called Mother’s Horlicks that is formulated for pregnant women. The company also plans to introduce ready-to-drink versions and a line of healthy snacks in the coming years, Ahmed says.