The company, which is the leading player in the food and gift vouchers market will launch gasoline (petrol), healthcare & medical and uniform vouchers in a phased manner in the country.

Sodexho Pass India director (marketing ) Ravi Saxena told The Financial Express that the company also intends to double the number of affiliates for its food vouchers to 10,000 by the end of the current fiscal.

"Consequently, our operations will also grow to over 55 cities from the existing 30", he added.

The company's vouchers, at present, are honoured at 6,000 affiliated establishments, including 5,000 establishments exclusively for its food vouchers. Citicorp, Coca-Cola, Siemens, Bank of America, IFCI, Autheur Anderson, HCL, Nabard, Tata Industries, Hewlett Packard and Godrej Soaps are among its customers inthe country.

Sodexho India is also exploring the possibility of working with the Indian government, replicating similar agreements its parent company has with several countries including France and Belgium.

"For instance, the company could cater to the mid-day meal scheme launched by the government. We are also trying to tie up with several non-governmental organisation", said Saxena.

"Creating a vast network is not a challenge for the company, but to strengthen and create more volumes in the exiting affiliates is one", he added.

As part of its expansion plan, the company is likely to launch more client-specific and application-specific products in the future, said Sodexho Alliance human resources director Janet Dekker.

Dekker said that the concept of food and gift vouchers, which has been widely accepted abroad, is slowly catching the fancy of the Indian companies. "In India, the concept is still in its infancy and is being used as a motivational tool instead of economic usage", she added.

Thecompany, which set up operations in the country about two years ago, is expected to break-even by the next two years. "As the service is new and intangible, it is one of the toughest products to sell. We have grown as per our targets, but to the outside world, we may not still be well known", said Saxena, adding, "Food and gift vouchers are not consumer products and the clientele is also different".

Stating that the average value of a voucher in India is Rs 5, Saxena said the business was a "low-cost, low margin but high-volume one". Ticket Restaurant, a subsidiary of Accor, another French company is Sodexho's competitor in India.