Ravi Foods embarks on Rs 15-cr growth plans

Company setting up chocolate units in Hyderabad & Uttaranchal

Hyderabad-based Ravi Foods Private Limited, the makers of Dukes biscuits and wafers, is expanding its operations at a cost of Rs 15 crore. The company is currently in the process of setting up chocolate manufacturing units in Hyderabad and Rudrapur in Uttaranchal.

Speaking to Business Standard, Ramesh Agarwal, director, Ravi Foods Private Limited, said, "The company would be investing Rs five crore in the Hyderabad plant and Rs 10 crore for the plant in Uttaranchal. We would be raising the funds through debt and internal accruals (60:40)."

According to him, the company decided to foray into the chocolate segment as it has already created a market for its biscuits and confectionery items.

"The Uttaranchal plant will help us to serve the markets in the north and east because of its location which is important as we are planning to set up our biscuit manufacturing unit in the future," Agarwal said.

He said that the construction work at Rudrapur will begin next month and the commercial production would begin from August. "The initial production capacity would be around 2,000 tonnes per annum at both our plants and we would be making premium and en-robed chocolates (wafers covered with chocolates) under the brand name Dukes," Agarwal said.

Ravi Foods is part of the Rs 100 crore Ravi group, which has a chain of six companies, expects its turnover to increase by more than 50 per cent for the current financial year. "In the last fiscal, the company's turnover was Rs 33 crore and for the current financial year we expect it to be above Rs 55 crore," he said.

The company in the last three years has invested Rs 2 crore on the automation of its machinery and plans to invest another Rs 4 crore. "This process is expected to be completed by the end of June and after that the production capacity of the plant would increase 100 per cent from the present 1,500 tonnes per month," Agarwal said.

Ravi Foods, which has a 10 per cent market share in the south, expects it to grow considerably over the next couple of years. "Till now we did not concentrate much on marketing and advertising but from now on we will be investing considerably on this aspect of business," Agarwal said. The company plans to invest around Rs 5 crore on advertising and marketing activities over the next five months.

Another group company "" Disha Foods Private Limited that caters to the export market "" is exploring the opportunities of expanding its portfolio.

"We currently export our products to the Middle East and West African countries. But now we would be looking at other African countries, Russia and others in the region," Rajender Kumar Agarwal, director, Disha Foods Private Limited, said.

The company recently increased its production capacity from 800 tonnes per month to 2,000 tonnes per month. "We have invested Rs 5 core for capacity expansion and would be looking at further expansion only in August next year," Agarwal said.