VH Group forays into branded wheat flour, pulses market

Uttara Foods and Feeds Private Limited, a Venkateshwara Hatcheries Group company, has entered the rapidly-expanding market of branded wheat flour and pulses.

The company has already launched its Uttara brand 'whole wheat chakki fresh atta' in the Hyderabad, Mumbai and Pune markets.

"Response to our branded wheat flour has been encouraging in all the three markets," B Venkatesh Rao, managing director of VH Group, told a press conference.

A flour mill with a 100-tonne per day capacity has been set up by the company at Ketkawale near Pune at an investment of Rs 6 crore. The company has also invested Rs 8 crore to set up a 100-tonne per day capacity plant for the production of pulses at Ambad near Aurangabad.

Machinery with latest technology has been imported for both the plants which enables uniform grading and sizing among other functions, Rao said.

The Italian debranning machine has several advantages over the normal milling process and will produce better and improved flour quality, he added.

Though the company has no immediate plans to launch the branded atta in other places as the existing production capacity does not permit any market expansion, it is aiming at at least 25 per cent market share in the three cities, according to Rao.