 "100-year old Kalimark eyes becoming Rs 1,000-crore firm by 2020")
Century-old beverage maker Kalimark has set a target to become Rs 1,000-crore firm by 2020.
“We have very good infrastructure and modern plants that function using the latest technology and equipment. We believe in investing a lot into our infrastructure and provide our distributors with generous margins,” said KPR Dhanushkodi, its managing director.
The company has forayed into neighbouring states and will be setting up a manufacturing unit in SriCity, Andhra Pradesh. It also has plans to expand to Chitoor, inner Karnataka and Kerala by the end of 2016 and move to SriCity by 2017. It acquired 11 acres of land and plans to invest Rs 150 crore in the facility, which will cater to Tamil Nadu, new markets in India along with export markets. Meanwhile, new flavours and tin containers are also being planned for export markets.
The firm currently has a capacity to roll our 5,000 cases a day and distribute the products through 350 distributors and our products are sold at 65,000 outlets. Tamil Nadu is the key market for these brands with 95% of the sales coming from the state and among the brands.
Kalimark and Bovonto are the two key brands for the company. Other brands include Trio (orange flavour), Solo (Lemon), Ginger, and Frutang (Mango). To mark the centenary year, the company launched its latest offering Vibro, a Paneer Soda. It also plans to foray into energy drinks next year.
Today of the around Rs 160 crore turnover, around 95% comes from Bovonto.
The origins of Kalimark were at a small village called Virudhupatti currently known as Virudhunagar .In 1916, PVSK Palanaiappan Nadar and his wife Unnamalai Ammal embarked on the venture of starting a Goli Soda company. These were rolled out using handheld machines and did not require technology.
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The next step was the introduction of new variants of which was done through a new branding name “kalimark”, which was known as “colour” came in different colours of orange black and lemon.
The second generation entered the business in 1950 and comprised the children of PVSK Palanaiappan Nadar namely KP Rajendran, KP Dharmarajan, KP Ganesan and his daughter Damayanti. In 1959, Bovonto was introduced in glass bottles of 200 ml.