ITC to expand food products; expects 6-8 new plants in 3 yrs

FMCG major ITC today said it would continue to expand its offering in the food segment by launching new region-specific products and foray in new categories.
The company as part of its expansion would launch dairy whitener next month besides introducing over 20 new products for its existing categories.
ITC would also have up to eight new integrated factories for its food division in states such as West Bengal, Assam, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Punjab and Maharashtra.
"In the next three years we expect to have at least 6 to 8 new integrated factories. Right now we have a combination of company owned and contract manufacturers. What will be coming is massive integrated plants which will manufacture from biscuits to juices," said ITC Food Division, Divisional Chief Executive V L Rajesh.

Although, he declined to share the figures, but he said:" It would in thousand of crores because the factories coming in are quite expensive, hence investment is quite huge. Our performance has demanded that kind of investment and we would continue to support as much as required."
In 2012, ITC had announced to invest Rs 25,000 crore across various projects in the country over the next five years.

According to Rajesh, "bulk of the investment would be in the foods and hotels." He further said that the company has already acquired land for its food plants.
"We are investing Rs 1,400 crore at our integrated plant at Kapoorthala, Punjab which would be ready by the second half of next year. It would be massive unit," he said.

Over product expansion, Rajesh said that ITC has plans to foray in new categories as dairy and launch 20 new products in its existing portfolio besides extending its spice and ghee brand to North and West.
"We would be launching dairy whitener next month... We would also extend our Ghee which is sold in South to North and ITC Spices to North India," he said.
Strengthening its regional portfolio, ITC launched its first regional variant of B Natural fruit beverages -BNatural Punjab da Kinnow.
ITC, which presently has eight variants of juices and have 7 per cent market share of Rs 2,800 crore juice market would add another sevent varients.

"We are aiming to have around 11 to 12 per cent market share next year in the segment," said Rajesh.
Over new launches, he said:"This year we will have over 20 new products in existing categories. We have already launched one product in atta and might launch another one in it. In biscuits we would launch around six to seven products," he said.
The company recently forayed into the chocolate segment with its luxury brand Fabelle, which is available at its ITC Gardenia, Bangalore and has plans to extend it to other cities of the country.
Over its instant noodles brand Yippee, Rajesh said that due to Maggi controversy, share of ITC has gone up to 28 per cent in the segment.

"We have significant brand investments and we are very confident about product. We have 15 per cent market share within four years of launch and were number two and now we have grown even further," he said.