Hexagon to invest Rs 45 cr in R&D unit

Hexagon Nutrition Pvt Ltd (HNPL), a 100 per cent technical collaboration of its New Zealand-based parent Hexagon Group, is planning to set up a research & development (R&D) centre adjacent to its facility at Dindori, 32 kms from Nashik, at an investment of Rs 45 crore.

In the present fiscal 2007-08, the company is eyeing 118 per cent growth in its sales turn over and planning to launch four new products.

HNPL, which is the major player in the country in preventive healthcare category with its innovative non-conventional Nutritional Formula, has built two manufacturing facilities in the country during last one-two years in Chennai and Dindori, near Nashik.

The manufacturing capacity of the Dindori plant is 15 metric tonnes per day, while the capacity of the Chennai plant is 12 metric tonnes per day.

Till date, HNPL¿s total investment in both the plants is around Rs. 103 crore. The Chennai plant is spread over 9,000 sq ft areas.

The company has set up two divisions- Healthcare (HBO) and Animal Healthcare at Dindori, covering total areas of 50,000 sq ft. The company has just bought 18,750 sq ft land near its Dindori facility. The company is presently manufacturing two products- 'Kal Tame' and 'Geriagold'.

Speaking to Business Standard, Arun Kelkar, Managing Director, HNPL, said, "Our entire thrust is on healthcare products. With an aim to produce high quality healthcare products, we are setting up a R&D Centre adjacent to our Dindori facility, near Nashik, at an investment of Rs. 45 crore. The R&D Centre will be developed in the next one or two years on around 4,000 sq ft areas."

"In FY 2006-07, the company registered sales turn over of Rs. 165 crore. We have set a target of Rs. 360 crore sales turn over during the current fiscal year 2007-08. Afterwards, the company eyes to double this turn over from Rs. 360 crore to Rs. 720 crore in the next two-three years (by FY 2009-10)," he said.

"After overwhelming response to our first product- 'Kal Tame', the true zero calorie sugar substitute made from Sucralose, we have just launched our second product 'Geriagold', a unique health drink. Currently, the market share of 'Kal Tame' in the country is around 17 per cent. Besides, we have developed another 13 new products, which are ready for the launch. Out of them, the company will launch four new products in the current fiscal year, while other nine products will be launched in the next four-five years," said Arun Kelkar.

Giving details about the company's new product, Kelkar said, " An innovative product like Geriagold will take care of not only the requirement of vital food ingredients like protein, fat and carbohydrate, but also essential vitamins and minerals as per ICMR and NRC recommendation, therefore making Geriagold a complete balanced nutrition formula. Each serving of Geriagold of 25 gms can be dissolved into 200 ml of lukewarm water."