At a time when input costs and oversupply is eating into its denim business, Ahmedabad-based textile manufacturer Arvind Mills is diversifying into individually quick frozen (IQF) food products.
IQF food products are developed through a process, called blanching, wherein vegetables and pulses are boiled at a particular temperature and sent to quick freezing to avoid degradation and contamination, at the same time retaining their nutritional values. By end of 2008, the company will be launching frozen organic vegetables and pulses across the country.
While the company is already setting up IQF plants in cities such as Pune, Nagpur and Anand at an average cost of Rs 6 crore each, Arvind is also working out its investment plans for branding and marketing of the products.
The frozen food venture of the denim major is a result of its organic cotton project initiated in the backward Akola region of Maharashtra.
"While working with the farmers in Akola, we had set aside some acres of land for farming of rotational organic crops including vegetables and pulses. With a successful crop this year, we decided to venture into IQF food products," said Mahesh Ramakrishnan, chief agri-exports manager of Arvind.
The company is doing organic farming over an area of 500 acres in the Akola region, which may increase depending on the success of the venture. Since IQF food products are more popular among the western countries compared with India, Arvind will be targeting the US and European markets.
The company is also willing to take up jobwork for other major food products manufacturers. "Since denim is our domain, we can either go for production of IQF food products on our own or take up jobwork for other major players instead," said Ramakrishnan. Although the company is still working on the branding part, it is believed that the product could be sold under the brandname