The Times of India News Service

KOLKATA : Till now, freebies thrown in with cars was common. Now ITC Ltd. has turned it the other way round. If you are lucky, you could end up gifting a Hyundai Santro along with the greeting card you purchase !

The `How Lucky is your Loved One' contest will offer prizes worth over Rs.8 lakh including holiday packages to select Indian destinations, microwave ovens, Times wristwatches and crew-neck T-shirts.

The contest works like this : when a consumer buys an Expression card, a gift voucher is presented along with it. Once the card is filled in with details of the loved one, the winners will be decided on the basis of mini draws on July 15, 31 and August 15.

Prizes at these draws will include a stay for two at an ITC Welcomgroup Hotel and World Space Hitachi Receivers. The grand draw for the Santro will be held on August 31.

Gold Flake Expressions greeting cards is a new growth area under the packaging and printing division. The contest is aimed at generating consumer interest and kickstarting growth in the business. Greetings cards business chief executive officer Chand Das said he expected sales to double following the contest. The cards are available at 250 towns covering over 7,000 retail outlets.

Priced between Rs.5 and 54, the cards feature designs from leading international and domestic design agencies. The division has entered into a licensing arrangement for designs with Simon Elvin Ltd, a leading greeting card publisher of UK. Thus far, Expressions has introduced over 2,000 new designs in the market.

The size of the organised greeting cards market in the country is estimated to be about Rs.300 crore and is growing at a healthy 20 per cent per annum.

"Given India's progressive cross-cultural exposure via the television and Internet and growing disposable incomes, a higher growth rate can be expected in future," the company's annual report stated.