ITC first joint venture for NE in packaged food.

ITC eyes NE biscuit market with joint venture

Workers at a factory of the SRD Group. Picture by UB Photos  Packaged food from a top brand of the ITC will now be made in Assam with the conglomerate joining hands with a local food major — Sunanda Ram Deka (SRD) Group — to set up a joint venture. The SRD Group is known for its Repose brand of bakery. The joint venture called North East Nutrients Private Ltd has already been registered and the National Stock Exchange informed. This is ITC’s first joint venture in the Northeast and the registered office of the company will be at Calcutta. The project cost is Rs 146 crore which will be financed by a consortium of banks. The plant would be set up on a 10-acre plot at Ramhari in Mangaldoi of Darrang district, with a production capacity of 100 tonnes daily. “The products manufactured would be biscuits and other items under the Sunfeast brand of the ITC,” a source said. Confirming the development, a senior ITC official said the joint venture would manufacture packaged food to cater to the region. A source said the ITC would have 76 percent equity in the new venture with the rest owned by the SRD Group. The products would be out in a year’s time and a memorandum of understanding has been signed. Discussions between the ITC and the Assam group were ongoing for quite some time before the project fructified. The biscuit market in the Northeast is growing at 15 to 20 per cent and the Indian Biscuits Manufacturers’ Association says the consumption in the east and the Northeast is around 28 per cent. The Mangaldoi-based SRD Group have been in the food business for decades and manage a Horlicks factory and a Britannia cake factory in collaboration with Britannia Industries Ltd and an ORS factory in collaboration with Jagdale Industries, along with its own units. “This is a significant development in the entrepreneurship sector of Assam and will encourage others to start similar venture. The ventureis starting in Mangaldoi and not at Guwahati which shows everything need not happen in the capital city,” R.S. Joshi, chairman of the Federation of Industry and Commerce of North Eastern Region (Finer) said. An official in the industries department said since it was a mega project (more than Rs 100 crore), Dispur will provide whatever help is required under the 2014 Industrial and Investment Policy of Assam if the company makes a request. The policy states a project with large fixed capital investment of a minimum of Rs 100 crore or generating regular employment for at least 1,000 people is given mega project status. A high-powered committee to be notified by the government will consider additional incentives to be provided to such projects on a case-to-case basis. The committee shall consider the mega project status in a single integrated unit. In July 2003, ITC made a foray into the biscuits market by launching the Sunfeast range of biscuits and it is also a key player in the pasta and instant noodles segments. eom