New Delhi Railway Station's some platforms to be rebranded as 'Bail Kolhu’ and 'Nourish'

New Delhi Railway Station’s some platforms will be branded as 'Bail Kolhu' and 'Nourish', as the Railways has granted naming rights to Uttar Pradesh-based fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) company BL Agro. Naming rights have been granted for platforms 14, 15 and 16 of the New Delhi Railway Station.

The company, in a media release, said that New Delhi Railway Station’s platforms 14 and 15 will be branded as ‘Nourish Platform 14 and 15’ and Platform 16, the one on the Ajmeri Gate side of the station, will be branded as ‘Bail Kolhu Platform No 16.

Ghanshyam Khandelwal, Chairman, BL Agro, said, “It is an appreciable initiative taken by Indian Railways, and I congratulate the ministry for such progressive vision. It indeed is a landmark moment for us and we’re ecstatic to be spearheading it for New Delhi Railway Station.”

Interestingly, this is the first time that such a tie-up with private players has been made possible, and the honour has been awarded to reputed businesses or government organisations, it added. The tenure of the branding rights with BL Agro is for one year initially, starting this October.

Ashish Khandelwal, Managing Director, BL Agro, said, “We chose Platforms 14, 15, and 16 because the majority of the trains that depart from there are for Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, the two states where the bulk of our target audience resides. It’s a meeting of minds.”

The Railways said that the contract has been awarded for naming rights of NDLS platforms under the New, Innovative Non-Fare Revenue Ideas Scheme to Hybrid Media. Hybrid Media has further tied up with BL Agro, officials said.

BL Agro, with this deal, received naming rights in the platform area, allowing panels, billboards, and vinyl wrapping to sport Bail Kolhu's celebrity endorsers Manoj Bajpayee, Pankaj Tripathi, and Nawazuddin Siddiqui. On the other hand, Nourish’s brand ambassador is Shilpa Shetty.

“On average, each platform handles 13 to 23 trains per day, and the number of passengers the entire station gets is over 2 lakhs. Come the festive seasons, the footfall reaches 6 lakhs daily. It opens for us an unusual window to reach deeper into our target market in an unexplored way,” Khandelwal added.

Leads Brand Connect, a creative and advertising agency, has conceptualised, created and executed the naming rights of all three platforms in its entirety for BL Agro. This encompasses beautifying the platforms, creating pink cubicles for women, alongside creating experience zone for the brands, the statement said, adding that it will also take care of the upkeep and maintenance of the branded infrastructure.

Based in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, BL Agro Industries Ltd has one of the largest distribution networks amongst all branded edible oil and food product players in India, with over 58,000 retailers.