McDonald's to set up Rs 100 cr unit in north

McDonald's India is setting up a food processing plant in the northern region. Though the location is yet to be finalised, the proposed plant is likely to be set up either in Punjab or Haryana with an investment of Rs 100 crore. Also, it has plans to set up a distribution centre in this region in addition to Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Banglore.

Further, to fuel its growth rate of 40 per cent, McDonald's India and its suppliers will be investing Rs 400 crore in the next three years. The organisation plans to open 40 restaurants and create about 1,800 jobs by the end of this year.

"Out of the total investment, in northern India, we would be investing close to Rs 200 crore. Further, we aim to set up 5 more restaurants in Punjab including in cities like Ropar and Patiala," said Vikram Bakshi, managing director, Connaught Plaza Restaurants Ltd, one of the two joint venture partners McDonald's has in India.

Commenting upon the proposed food processing facility in Punjab, he added, "Currently, we are procuring about 2,200 metric tonnes of vegetables like peas and onion from Punjab and further 600 metric tonnes of wheat annually which is likely to go up by 2,000 metric tonnes in the near future. So, in order to process the vegetables locally, we are planning to set up a food processing plant with an investment of Rs 100 crore, in this part of the country. The location is yet to be finalised, but it may be either of the two states (Punjab and Haryana). Further, we plan to set up a distribution centre in this region. The company today opened its second restaurant in Chandigarh.

He further added, "With the opening of this restaurant, the total number of Mcdonald restaurants in India goes up to 131, with 77 in the northern and eastern regions and 53 in the southern and western regions. In the northern region, the company has 33 restaurants in Delhi, 21 in Uttar Pradesh, 11 in Haryana, Punjab four, Rajasthan three, and one each in Uttaranchal, Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh."

McDonald's India in the north alone contributes approximately Rs 30.7 crore per annum as sales tax to different state governments. He further added that the company expected to meet McDonald's requirements in the Indian market completely by 2010.