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Mumbai: With Hindustan Unilever (HUL), Godrej Group, Dabur Foods and CavinKare all setting their sights on branded processed food, the playing field of this Rs 35,000 crore sector this year seems all set for a major tussle between lead layers.
While Hindustan Unilever (HUL) is sharpening focus on its foods business this year, the Godrej Group is planning to expand its businesses and CavinKare is setting up manufacturing facilities for its new launches and also increasing its ad budget by 50% to promote its brands. Meanwhile, Dabur Foods is investing in research and development projects and brand building activities to gain a competitive edge in this sector.
On the group’s strategy, Adi Godrej, chairman of the Godrej Group said, “We will be expanding our various businesses in the branded processed food sector. As the FMCG sector is doing well, we would like to partake in it”. According to CK
Ranganathan, managing director of CavinKare, the company has just set up a new manufacturing facility for its soft drink ‘Maa’ in Hyderabad. “For this initiative, we have invested Rs 20 crore. We recently launched our dairy product range Cavins” in Tamil Nadu. We will be setting up two facilities for these products too”, he added.
On the company’s game plan, Suni Duggal, CEO of Dabur India said, “We will continue to invest in this sector as it is doing well. We are currently beefing up our research and development projects and brand building plans”.
Recognizing the growth potential of the branded processed foods sector across the globe, HUL is betting big on its foods business in India. While announcing the company’s results, Harish Manwani, chairman of HUL said, “The foods business will become a larger part of the overall portfolio in the future”. HUL’s food business grew by 13% as did the beverage business and ice cream grew at 22%. Currently, HUL is test marketing its brand ‘Kissan Amaze’ in southern states.
According to Chaitanya Deshpande, head of acquisitions & mergers, Marico Ltd, during the last quarter of FY09, the company began to prototype Saffola Zest in select states across the country. “In the medium term, the company hopes to transition the brand from a healthy refined edible oils product to a lifestyle brand offering a range of functional foods”, he explained. Analysts reckon that the processed foods sector is expected to register a healthy growth in 2009 despite the economic slowdown....
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