In India, candy has long enjoyed a quirky role of being passed around in place of spare change or handed out like party favours in classrooms on birthdays. Predictable flavours, deep-rooted price sensitivity and a household staple, this market has always been dominated by legacy brands such as Cadbury and Parle. In 2015, DS Group’s Pulse candy emerged as an unlikely disruptor. A hard-boiled candy infused with a tangy spiced centre, it did more than capture consumer interest—it restructured the competitive dynamics of India’s Rs 6,000 crore confectionery market. Within just eight months, Pulse had clocked Rs 100 crore in sales, and by its second year, it crossed Rs 300 crore.
The development of Pulse began in 2013 and took nearly two years of research and formulation before launch. DS Group identified the cultural relevance and popularity of raw mango, a flavour consumed widely across regions, often paired with salt and spices. This insight became the foundation of Pulse’s proposition: a 4-gram candy with a raw mango exterior and a spiced, tangy core. At a time when most candies were priced at Rs 0.50 and weighed 2–2.5 grams, Pulse entered the market at Re 1, positioning itself as a value-differentiated product in an otherwise commoditised segment.
Pulse’s launch followed a test-marketing phase in Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Delhi, regions with a documented preference for tangy flavours. The response exceeded expectations. Without formal advertising or celebrity endorsements, Pulse gained momentum through organic word-of-mouth. The product’s so-called “surprise element”, sweet hard-boiled candy filled with savoury spices, proved compelling enough to drive repeat purchases and consumer referrals. Initial demand outpaced DS Group’s production capacity, and the brand expanded rapidly to achieve national distribution within months.
The brand’s growth was rapid and measurable. Within six months, Pulse recorded Rs 50 crore in revenue. By eight months, that figure had doubled to Rs 100 crore. The first full year closed at Rs 150 crore, and by the end of year two, Pulse had achieved Rs 300 crore in sales. By FY 2023-24, DS Group’s confectionery division, which includes Pulse and its extensions, reported an annual turnover exceeding Rs 1,000 crore.
Pulse also managed to shift consumer behaviour in a significant way. In a category where purchases were largely flavour-led, Pulse fostered brand recall strong enough for consumers to ask for it by name, often as the “Pulse wali candy.” Pulse’s success sent ripples across the category, hitting closest to home for Parle’s Mango Bite, a long-time favourite in the raw mango-flavoured hard-boiled candy space. Both products shared similar flavour cues, but Pulse’s spicy core and Rs 1 price point redefined consumer expectations. Despite being priced at Rs 0.50, Mango Bite still managed to clock over Rs 100 crore in sales. However, Pulse’s edge in innovation and experience helped it sell more than 150 crore units in its first year, and by April 2017, it had dethroned Mango Bite to become the market leader in the HBC category. Other segments were not immune either. Eclairs, the popular chocolate-flavoured soft toffee, didn’t compete directly with Pulse but felt the aftershocks of its rise. In 2015, while the HBC category grew at a rapid clip of 23–24% year-on-year, the Eclairs and soft toffee segment registered only single-digit growth. Industry observers attributed this stagnation not just to shifting consumer attention, but also to a lack of innovation within the chocolate candy space itself. Pulse had proven that consumers were willing to pay more, double, in fact, for a differentiated flavour experience, and the sluggishness of legacy toffees underlined a broader market truth: flavour alone was no longer enough; novelty, form factor, and surprise now drove purchase decisions.
Pulse’s success did not go unnoticed. Other players in the hard-boiled candy (HBC) segment, such as Parle (Mango Bite), Perfetti Van Melle (Alpenliebe), and ITC (Candyman), responded with their own tangy-flavoured variants, some featuring similar spiced or liquid-filled centres. The competitive landscape saw an influx of “me-too” products priced at Rs 1, further validating Pulse’s repositioning of the segment. DS Group’s distribution network, strengthened by its legacy brands in tobacco and mouth fresheners, also gave it a logistical edge, particularly in smaller towns and rural areas.
While Pulse’s early success was largely organic, DS Group later introduced formal campaigns, including the widely circulated “Pran Jaye Par Pulse Na Jaye” (Life may go, but not Pulse) tagline. The product range also expanded to include flavours such as Guava, Orange, Pineapple, and Litchi, along with newer variants like Pulse Shots and Pulse Golmol. Marketing strategies evolved to include influencer collaborations and digital campaigns, particularly targeting younger demographics and Gen Z audiences.
By 2016-17, Pulse had become the market leader in the HBC category with over 15% market share. Its pricing strategy not only validated a new Rs 1 segment but also altered industry pricing dynamics, prompting competing brands to shift upwards from the Rs 0.50 benchmark. The growth also signalled a move toward brand-driven, rather than purely flavour-driven, consumption in the category.