Dabur Foods eyes Rs 200 cr sales by '06-07

Dabur Foods Ltd (DFL), the 100 per cent subsidiary of Dabur India, has targeted a Rs 200 crore turnover by 2006-07 against Rs 86 crore achieved last year.

The rise in turnover would be backed by sale from the new factory at Siliguri in West Bengal which will go on stream in the next couple of days. DFL has invested close to Rs 20 crore in its plant that will process fruits and convert them to concentrate and pulp.

This in turn would be sent to its plant in Nepal where it would be packaged and distributed.

Dabur India also hopes to earn as much as 10 per cent of its turnover by exporting concentrates and pulps and would like to enter into tie-up with large retail chains in foreign lands.

Dabur Foods has drawn upon a vision to become an integrated foods service company which would mean procuring to packaging by the company itself.

"By sourcing and processing the fruit internally, Dabur would gain competitive edge of being able to efficiently market large quantities of juices made from the best quality raw material," said Amit Burman, chief executive officer, DFL.

"Moreover, the plant at Siliguri will achieve higher capacity utilisation by processing seasonal fruits such as pineapple, litchi, guava, mango and grape all through the year. The plant will also be able to process some fruits such as watermelon and pomegranate, which have never been process in India before due to lack of adequate technology," he added.

"Dabur has established its Real and Hommade brands as market leaders in fruit juice and cooking ingredients category, respectively. We are now looking at achieving growth from new brands such as fruit-based Coolers and vertical integration of its supply chain. The Siliguri plant is the focal point of our growth which will help us enhance profitability," explained Burman.