CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION
Over centuries the Masala have gained greater foothold, not only in India, but also all
over the world wherever good food is considered as necessity. A well-equipped Indian kitchen
has all major varieties of spices stocked. In India, Masala are available in almost all grocery
shops. The common spices which are used in their raw and fresh forms are available in
vegetable shops. A company needs to view the retailers in the same way it views its end users.
Masalas play a very important role in Indian cooking. “Masala” is the Hindi word for “Spice”.
When a combination of Masala, herbs and others condiments are ground together, it is
also called “Masala”. Masala trade is a big business from time immemorial. Masala from India
and far Eastern Asia were in demand from Ancient times. Indian Masalas are famous all over
the world for their rich taste and unique flavour. India produces variety of Masala all across the
country varying with the climatic conditions. India has been cultivating Masala for ages and
also exporting them to other countries around the world. Indian Masala add to the taste of food,
giving it a delicious flavour and making it absolutely yummy.

AACHI masala was small turmeric trader, from a village called perundurai near Erode.
He founded AACHI TRADING COMPANY in 1975. Now AACHI MASALA manufactures
over 50 varieties of Spice and Masala powder, over a dozen varieties of Pickles, Appalams,
ghee and sunflower oil. AACHI Masala gives value addition to the agricultural product which
helps and encourages the farming community to market their products also generates lot of
employment opportunities to the agriculture labours and rural people. The company employs
mostly women and differently able persons from the rural areas and makes them to lead an
honorary life. The company has bagged with IS/ISO 9001:2008 certification from Bureau of
Indian standards, New Delhi.

The customers of AACHI MASALA are the house wives and those who want quick and
easy cooking solution, restaurants, hotels, canteens are the other consumers. AACHI MASALA
reaches the houses located in the nook & corner of the country through its strong marketing
network.

Success of AACHI MASALA lies in the innovation of manufacturing procedures, as

there were no definite machineries for specific production of spice and spice mixes with the
growing experience suitable changes were made to suit the requirement that made. All the
difference in manufacturing spice powders and spice mixes which retains the aroma and flavor.
CONSUMER’S SATISFACTION

Every consumer has certain expectations, needs and a strong desire to satisfy them. To
satisfy the expectations they purchase certain goods under the impression that the goods would
satisfy his expectations. If they are satisfied with the product they shall become the consumer
of the firm and also tell about the product to their friends and others. The advertising improves
the effectiveness of the producers and other sales effort.

Such factors finally lead to better volume of sales. Satisfaction is important to the
consumer because it reflects a positive outcome from the outlay of scarce resources and the
fulfillment of unmet needs. Today’s market is consumer oriented. Consumer satisfaction is a
major element to survive in the marketing field. The goods produced by the producers and the
traders must satisfy the consumer. The service provided by the firms should not only satisfy the
existing consumers but also attract the potential consumers. Thus, minimizing dissatisfaction
and maximizing satisfaction are seen as important goals for both the firm and the consumer.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The Corporate Social Responsibility is an emerging concept in the whole world. Of

which Aachi Masala Private limited has been implementing several CSR activities in Tamil
Nadu. The Arogya Alai Project is one among them. It’s activities based on creating rural health
awareness, nutrition, disease symptoms and hygiene of the rural people in 5000 villages across
Tamil Nadu.

This project is being conducted by Esha Foundation, Coimbatore, sponsored by Aachi

Masala Ltd. This project wave of health campaign was launched on 13th July 2008 in
Coimbatore. In this background, the present study is an attempt to examine the impact of CSR
activities on consumer behaviour on housekeeping products of Aachi Masala. The study also
finds answers to the following questions.

a) What is the level of awareness of consumer through CSR activities?

b) To find out their opinion on the CSR activities and marketing behavioral approaches of
Aachi Masala .

c) What is the level of satisfaction of consumers on Aachi masala products?

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

1. To find out the opinion of the consumers of Aachi Masala powder.

2. To analyze the factors that affects the purchasing patterns of the consumer in Aachi Masala.

3. To find out the customer satisfaction level of taste, price, quality, availability, aroma of
Aachi Masala.

4. To offer suggestions to improve the customer satisfaction of Aachi Masala.

SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The area of study is limited to the segment selected within tiruppur district. This study
is mainly confined to the customer satisfaction only.

The area of study is limited to the segment selected within tiruppur district. This study
is mainly confined to the consumer satisfaction of Aachi masala Products in tiruppur district
during the study period of 6 months from January 2018 to June 2019 only.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The researcher is using both types of data which as primary and secondary data which
is collected from consumer of Aachi Masala Products in Dharmapuri District. The primary data
are gathered through well-structured Questionnaire. The secondary data have been collected
from books, journals, magazines, newspaper, official web site of the Aachi masala Product, etc.

This research which design was adopted for this study is exploratory and descriptive
design. This project is designed to identify the factors which influence the customers and the
ways through which to choose or to buy AACHI Masala product in tiruppur District.

The objective of descriptive study is to learn that who want, when, where and how of
the topic. The study may be simple or complex, it may be done in many setting. The simplest
descriptive study concerns an invariant question or hypothesis in which we ask about, or state
something about the size, form, distribution, or existence of variable.

Descriptive studies may involve the collection of data and the creation of a distribution
of the number of time the researcher observes a single event or characteristics or they may
involve relating the interaction of two or more variables. Descriptive studies may or may not
have the potential for drawing powerful inferences. The descriptive study is popular in business
research because of its versatility across disciplines.
STATISTICAL TOOLS
The collected data is analysed and interpreted properly to find the result of the research
work and statistical tools used for analyse the data like simple percentage and chi-square test
with help of the SPSS the results is given through tables forms. LIMITATIONS OF THE
STUDY The area of study is limited to the selected within CUDDALOREDistrict. This study is
mainly confined to the consumer satisfaction of Aachi Masala product. The primary data is
collected through a structured questionnaire cum interview schedule and the sample size has
limited only 255 respondents.
LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

The area of study is limited to the selected within Dharmapuri District. This study is
mainly confined to the consumer satisfaction of Aachi Masala product. The primary data is
collected through a structured questionnaire cum interview schedule and the sample size has
limited only 255 respondents.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The researcher is using both types of data which as primary and secondary data which
is collected from consumer of Aachi Masala Products in CUDDALORE District. The primary
data are gathered through well-structured Questionnaire. The secondary data have been
collected from books, journals, magazines, newspaper, official web site of the Aachi masala
Product, etc., RESEARCH DESIGN: This research design was adapted to study the analytical
and descriptive nature. Researcher using non-probability convenience sampling technique is
employed for selection of 255 samples from the Aachi masala consumer. The personal
judgment method has used for the resulting of sampling.
METHODOLOGY OF DATA COLLECTION

Primary data

The data was collected through a questionnaire. The questions were in the form of
multiple choices. The survey was adopted and the information was collected from 125
respondents.

Secondary data

The data that already exists is called as secondary data. This data is collected before
hand by others. The sources are books, magazines, journals, and any published. For the present
study the secondary source are also used.

Field of Survey

The field work for the survey was conducted in Coimbatore. The exercise involved face
to face interview with the customers.

Analysis

The important factors and data’s collected were sequentially analyzed and graphed.
CHAPTER SCHEME

The study carried out has been presented in fives chapters.

Chapter I: First chapter covers introduction part like introduction to study, objectives of the

study, scope of the study, limitations of the study, research methodology and chapter’s scheme.

Chapter II: Second chapter contains the review of literature.

Chapter III: Third chapter contains profile of the study.

Chapter IV: Fourth chapter contains analysis and interpretation of data.

Chapter V: Last chapter contains the summary of findings, suggestion and conclusion made.
CHAPTER 2

REVIEWS OF THE LITERATURE

Abinaya. P, Kanimozhi.S and Subramani. A.K, 20151 this article examine that Aachi Masala
products encountered a lot of hurdles, since selling masala powders during those days to the
oriental women who are traditionally conservative, it was not easy to sell. It was concept
sealing on “Easy Cooking” rather than marketing food products with self-rule and tenacious
attempts it was able to get into the kitchens of our country and the rest of the world. The main
objective of this research is to identify the customer satisfaction towards Aachi chicken masala
in Avadi. Descriptive research was used in this research. The research was based on the
customer satisfaction of Aachi chicken masala and the product preference of the customers to
identify the competitors of Aachi.

Thangamani. S, and Arthi. E, 20152 The study was undertaken to find out the customer
satisfaction level towards AACHI Masala. Many management thinkers consider marketing to
be the most critical function of a business. In a business organization, the marketing division
generates the revenues essential for the survival and growth of the firm, the finance department
like R&D, production and manufacturing use them to create products and services. But the real
challenge to marketers lies in generating those revenues profitability, by satisfying customers in
a socially responsible manner. The key to generated high customer loyalty is delivering of high
customer value. Today there are number of brands of products available in the market which
differ in price, taste & preference, quality etc.., but customers prefer to purchase their brands
due to various reasons. The attitude of customers may change their preference of the choice of
the product that may influence because of various factors like price, appearance, performance
etc.., so the manufacturers may give more attention to the customer preference which may host
the possession of the company in the market. The present study reveals that majority of the
respondents preferred to buy AACHI masala for taste & preference, so the company should
maintain it and increase the more number of customers.

1
Abinaya. P, Kanimozhi.S and Subramani. A.K,” this article examine that Aachi Masala
products encountered a lot of hurdles”2015
2

Thangamani. S, and Arthi. E The study was undertaken to find out the customer satisfaction
level towards AACHI Masala ,2015
Poonam Bagal, 20153, this article analysis that Spices have been an integral part in every
Indian food is prepared at home or elsewhere. In recent times, large scale production of spice
powders, curry seasonings, masala powders, spice paste etc., has been taken up by many firms.
Marketing of these brands has been aggressive since there are several brands firmly rooted in
the market. The precise selection of spices for each dish is a matter of national or regional
cultural tradition, religious practice and to some extent, family preference such dishes are
called by specific names that refer to their ingredients, spicing and cooking methods. The
general satisfaction level is very high among people with regards to Everest Masala. Another
heartening trend in market is that people like spices in their daily food for change.

Palanivel. V and Manikanda Muthukumar. C, 20144 this article examines that “AACHI
masala” the Queen of spices as the household name among the millions today, it was doing
Turmeric trading for some time. Later entered into the arena of pure spice powders like
Turmeric, Chilli and Coriander. This inquisitiveness lets to enter into masala world with
boldness. This masala encountered a lot of hurdles, since selling masala powders during those
days to the oriental women who are traditionally conservative, it was not easy to sell. It was
concept sealing on “Easy Cooking” rather than marketing food products with self-
determination and persistent attempts it was able to get into the kitchens of our country and the
rest of the world. The store may look like a miracle, but the hard work, the pot holes and the
bumps on the way and the stormy inclement weather are known only to producer. The person
who stood behind produce masala for all those achievements was with help of their business
partner. This project entitled that customer satisfaction of AACHI Masala Products. The overall
analyse of the study indicate that at presents so many varieties of products available even the
customer were satisfied product smell, taste, quality, cost, packing of the AACHI masala
products in Dharmapuri District.

Krishnakumar. K. Dr and Kavitha. S, 20145 this article is to investigate the influence of

brand loyalty on Masala product buying behaviour of consumers of Salem city in the Tamil
Nadu. The study concluded that there is a high level of influence of product attributes on brand

3
Poonam Bagal, this article analysis that Spices have been an integral part in every Indian
food is prepared at home or elsewhere, 2015.
4

Palanivel. V and Manikanda Muthukumar. C, this article examines that “AACHI masala”,
2014.
5
Krishnakumar. K. Dr and Kavitha. S” this article is to investigate the influence of brand
loyalty on Masala product buying behaviour of consumers of Salem city in the Tamil
Nadu”,2014.
loyalty among women in Salem. The study concluded that there is a high level of influence of
product attributes on brand loyalty among women in Salem. Product attributes such as longer
shelf life, taste, exotic flavour and varieties, excellent grade of ingredients, pleasant aroma
/distinctive flavour aroma, taste enhancer, delicious, hygienically and good packaged, fresh and
safe to use, optimum processed, price worthiness, promotion and offers, and availability of
various quantity are most important aspects of brand. It is found that AACHI branded Masala
powder create high level of brand loyalty among consumer

Davis 19756“Social Responsibility is also seen as a consequence of and an obligation”

following the unprecedented increase of firon’s social power. Failure to balance social power
with social responsibility may ultimately result in the loss of this power and a subsequent
decline of the firm”

Michael Hopkins, 19987 “CSR is concerned with treating the stakeholders of the firm ethically
or in a socially responsible manner”. Stakeholders exist both within a firm and outside.
Consequently, behaving socially responsibly will increase the human development of
stakeholders both within and outside the corporation”.

Webster, 19758 “A Consumer who takes into account the public consequences of his or her
private consumption or who attempts to use his or her purchasing power to bring about social
change”

Meehans and Richards, 20069 “Strategically astute organizations are today aware of
significant changes in consumer attitudes to organizations themselves and the brands they seek
to develop”

Dawkins, 2003, Sen and Bhattacharya, 200110“The studies analysis have shown increasing
consumer expectations regarding corporate behaviour; Consumer how except businesses to go
6

Davis “Social Responsibility is also seen as a consequence of and an obligation”,1975.

7
Michael Hopkins, “CSR is concerned with treating the stakeholders of the firm ethically or in
a socially responsible manner”,1998.
8

Webster, “A Consumer who takes into account the public consequences of his or her private
consumption or who attempts to use his or her purchasing power to bring about social
change”,1975.

9
Meehans and Richards, “Strategically astute organizations are today aware of significant changes in
consumer attitudes to organizations themselves and the brands they seek to develop”,2006.
beyond profit seeking motives and contribute to society’s welfare” R. Buvaneswari (2013) in
her article titled as ” a study on fast moving consumer goods marketing with special reference
to AACHI masala products” provides information about the FMCG. Fast Moving Consumer
Goods (FMCG) goods are popularly named as consumer packaged goods. Items in this
category include all consumables (other than groceries/pulses) people buy at regular intervals.
The most common in the list are toilet soaps, detergents, shampoos, toothpaste, shaving
products, shoe polish, packaged foodstuff, and household accessories and extends to certain
electronic goods.

Theo Muller (2010)11 in his article titled as “Loyal customers don’t quit... Satisfied customers
do”. IN this essay we aim to debunk the long-held belief that customer satisfaction research is
the one and only measure to determine customer loyalty. In fact, a customer satisfaction score
is nothing more than a snapshot of how customers feel about your products, your service or
your brand, at a given point in time. Tomorrow is another day and they may change their mind
if one of your competitors offers a better deal. If the bribe or incentive is big enough, even
satisfied customers will abandon your brand in droves. The reason for this is that merely being
satisfied, or even very satisfied, is a rational state of mind – there is little or no emotion
attached to that mind set. So any customer loyalty assumed from their level of satisfaction
alone would be misplaced. Customer satisfaction, therefore, should not be confused with
customer loyalty. This is supported by a survey we conducted in 2007 for a financial services
provider. The customer satisfaction score consistently hovered above the 90% mark, yet,
“only” 41% of respondents (all customers) in that survey claimed that they would not change to
another provider if that provider offered a better interest rate and/or lower fees. A loyal
customer is certainly a satisfied customer, but a satisfied customer is not necessarily a loyal
customer.

Buvaneswari ,(2013)12 “A study on fast moving consumer goods marketing with special
reference to sakthi Masala products “,International Journal of Reasearch in Commerce ,It &
Mangement , volume no.3 Issue No.12.

10
Dawkins, 2003, Sen and Bhattacharya,“The studies analysis have shown increasing consumer
expectations regarding corporate behaviour; Consumer how except businesses to go beyond profit
seeking motives and contribute to society’s welfare”,2001.
11

Theo Muller in his article titled as “Loyal customers don’t quit... Satisfied customers do”,2010.
12
Buvaneswari ,(2013) “A study on fast moving consumer goods marketing with special reference to
sakthi Masala products.
Poonam begal (2015)13 “ A study on consumer Buying Behaviour towards spices with special
reference to Everest masala in Bengaluru city, “International journal of interdisciplinary
Research center, volume-I, issue -1.

DR. R. Manikandan & S.Senthil priya (2018)14 “female consumer preference and
satisfaction towards selected masala products, „International journal of interdisciplinary
Research in Arts and Humanities‟. volume no.3 Issue no.1

13
Poonam begal (2015) “ A study on consumer Buying Behaviour towards spices with special
reference to Everest masala in Bengaluru city.
14
DR. R. Manikandan & S.Senthil priya (2018) “female consumer preference and satisfaction
towards selected masala products.
CHATER 3

HISTORY OF THE COMPANY

CHAIRMAN & MANAGING DIRECTOR, AACHI GROUP OF COMPANIES, CHENNAI

A range of blended masalas adding an extraordinary flavour and taste to a million tongues is
what the (AACHI) MASALA KING crowns every ‘Queen of the Kitchen’ with. Aachi has
made a revolution in transforming freshly ground masalas into tasty food. Yes, Mr.Isaac has
made the lives of women easy in the kitchen and brought ripples of happiness and satisfaction
to all in the family.
FAMILY BACKGROUND

He hails from a family that relied solely on agriculture in Nazareth with five siblings.
The sudden death of his father when Mr.Isaac was 12 years old did not stop him from facing
life’s challenges that lay before him. With the able support, guidance, love and untiring efforts
of his mother Mrs.Flora, he pursued his formal education as a Bachelor of Business
Administration (BBA). His mother’s aromatic cooking blended with her abundant love wove a
magical spell on him that gave him an idea to do something to make cooking a pleasure. Little
did he realise that this had laid a firm foundation in his mind to blossom as a successful
entrepreneur at a later date.

CAREER PATH

Mr. Isaac started his career in Chennai as a Sales Officer in Godrej, and his crazy
passion for marketing helped him to get promoted as an Area Sales Manager soon, with a
number of salesmen reporting to him. His different marketing and selling skills made him not
only achieve the targets, but also exceed the same. He saw every challenge and obstacle faced
as an opportunity that could be exploited. He took ownership of all his activities and emerged
an ‘intrapreneur’ at Godrej, and sold the company’s products with great pride as though they
were his own. He developed new selling strategies that helped him to create a promising career
in Sales. The role and importance of branding was a vital lesson he picked up during his
employment tenure in Godrej. The lack of a MBA qualification did not qualify him to
promotions which made him revisit his decision to stay in Godrej.

Nachimuthu Mahalingam (April 9, 1923 - October 2, 2014) is an Indian

educationalist, notable philanthropist and was a prominent person in Tamil Nadu. He was the
Founder-Chairman of the AACHI Group and the Former Chairman of Ethiraj College for
Women.
Early life

Nachimuthu Mahalingam was born on 9 April 1923 into an affluent agricultural family
at Somanthurai Chittoor, Pollachi. He was born to P Nachimuthu, who started the AACHI
Group in 1921 by diversifying his traditional business of hiring out bullock carts to starting a
passenger transport services.He had his school education at Pollachi. He obtained his B.Sc
Degree in Physics at Loyola College, Chennai, in 1943. He joined the College of Engineering,
Guindy, Chennai and obtained his Diploma in Mechanical Engineering in 1945. Became an
AMIE in 1951, MIE in 1975 and FIE in 1981 of the Institution of Engineers.
He has been decorated with Honorary Doctorate Degrees' by Bharathiar
University, Coimbatore; Anna University; Tamil Nadu Agricultural University and
also Madurai Kamaraj University, for his outstanding contributions to society.

Career

Since his father Late Thiru P. Nachimuthu was a municipal chairman, Mahalingam was
initiated into politics very early in life. Nachimuthu’s only son Mahalingam joined the AACHI
Group business in 1943 and helped grew the business to its current level. N.Mahalingam was a
member of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly for 15 years — from 1952 to 1967. He was
elected to the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly as an Indian National Congress candidate
from Pollachi constituency in 1952, 1957 and 1962 elections.
He counts himself lucky to have started business during the planning era in post-Independence
India. After the banks were nationalised by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, this
entrepreneur found it a big boon to start businesses and expand as more and more banks were
ready to lend money easily.
Today, the AACHI Group is a name to reckon with as it has forayed into sugar,
distilling, automobiles, finance, etc.
He served as the Chairman of Ethiraj College for Women between 1972 and 1980.

Honours and titles

The 90-year-old industrialist has served on the Board of Directors of several public
sector undertakings and the State Planning Commission in two terms. A well-known
philanthropist who donates towards the development of culture and sports, Mahalingam served
as the Chairman of Ethiraj College for Women between 1972 and 1980. He was involved in the
establishment of the Institute of Asian Studies in Madras (now Chennai) in 1981. He received
the Padma Bhushan from the President of India in 2007. Other honours include: *Honorary
Consul : 1989-92 from the Government of Mauritius *Indira Gandhi National Integration
Award : 1989 at the All India National Unity Conference, New Delhi *Aram Valarkkum
Annal : 1983 from Sri Sankaracharya of Kanchi Kamakodi Peedam *Doctor of Laws : 1984
from Bharathiar University, Coimbatore *Doctor of Science : 1988 from Anna University,
Madras *Doctor of Science : 2000 from Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore. He is
founder of many educational institutes from schools to autonomous institutions. Some of his
educational institutions are Kumaraguru College of Technology-Coimbatore(popularly known
as KCT), Nachimuthu Polytechnic college,Mahalingam college of engineering [popularly
known as mcet] etc.

Spiritual life

Mahalingam had an important association with Sri Swami Satchidananda, the Indian
swamiji who emigrated to the United States of America and founded the Integral
Yoga Institutes. Mahalingham was a devoted follower of the Swamiji and contributed to the
moral and financial causes of the Swamiji's works in the USA, especially to the Light Of
Truth Universal Shrine (LOTUS) ecumenical temple in Virginia. Mahalingam was also
greatly associated with Vethathiri Maharishi and his teachings. He generously donated land for
Temple of consciousness - Azhiyar.
Mahalingam is ardent follower of Ramalinga Swamigal alias Vallalar.

He died of a heart attack in 2014 while he speaking at a celebration in Chennai