Candy Crush

The 100-year-old dry cell batteries firm, which also sells household appliances, is in diversifying mode; it has launched a fruitbased jelly-textured candy called Jollies.

- Aveek Datta

THINK EVEREADY AND THE first thing that leaps into your mind is batteries. For more than 100 years, the brand has been synonymous with the ubiquitous red batteries you use in your torchlights, clocks and remote controls. But did you know Eveready Industries India makes much more than that? The Kolkata-based firm also sells household appliances such as fans and geysers, and LED bulbs and fluorescent tubes.

It might come as a surprise to many that Eveready isn’t just a battery brand. But it is hardly unusual for a company to diversify into other products. After all, diversification is a time-tested strategy that many corporate houses employ to offset risk and boost growth. And the third generation of the Khaitan family, which controls Eveready, understands that it is necessary to scout for future growth in uncharted waters if it wants to prevent the legacy business from fading into oblivion.

Even so, Eveready’s latest foray seems a bit like a daring tread into completely new waters: In January, it announced it was launching a fruit-based jelly-textured candy called Jollies. Why on earth was a dry cell and appliances maker stepping into the confectionery market? “Certain initiatives of the company may confuse people,” says Amritanshu Khaitan, the 34-year-old managing director of Eveready Industries India, which rose to 121 on Fortune India’s Next 500 list from 137 last year. “On the one hand, Eveready got into appliances (household durables) and lighting. Then we have launched a confectionery product under the brand name Jollies. So people may wonder what this company is up to.”