An unplanned lot of airlifting of the imported flipback lids had diluted thefirst year's profits in a big way, said Krishnakumar Nair, managing directorof Panchamy Packs. The company had not shipped in enough fliplids fromSingapore, estimating only a 15 per cent increase in sales. Despite thefirst month's turnover spilling to Rs 3.5 crore, the Sabarimala deal wouldstart proving high-yielding only by the third year, he said.

Panchamy group, the second F&B group to associate with the Sabarimala deitysince the UB Group's controversial goldcoating of the inner temple's roof,had been brought into the payasam supply business last season througha court directive to Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB). The group's PanchamyExporters is the official processor and packer for Godrej's Blue Diamondbrand of cashews. With the Godrej's cashew business narrowing to a seasonalRs 3 crore turnover from the anticipated Rs 18 crore, the Panchamy Group hadset up a new company Panchamy Packs last year. With Panchamy's edge in goodmanufacturing practices evolved through Godrej training, meeting thecontractural norms spelled out in the prasadam contract was child'splay.

TDB had specified that the prasadam payasom consistency and thepacking should be such that even the inversion of the can should not causetrickle-out of the contents. It is the improvement in taste and shelf-lifethat brought in the unprecedented sales volumes, claims KrishnaKumar Nair.The Italian multi-head piston filler that fills 150 cans per day, whichspeeds up the packing, signals the first time in the world where a pistonfiller is used in a religious shrine visited by 7.5 lakh every year. Evensoft drink majors have not been able to match Panchamy's full-aperture,child-proof primary sealing, Nair said. The can is eco-friendly.

The company, which won a Build, Own, Operate and Transfer (BOOT) contractfor the supply of aravana payasam through a high court directive, istrussed by a clause of "un-interrupted supply" during the Sabarimala seasonfor the next eight years. During the 1998-1999 season, Travancore DevaswomBoard (TDB) had sold 32,000 packs. Selling at Rs 40 per can, Panchamy hadestimated demand for 54,000 cans for the 1999-2000 peak season, while 1.5lakh cans of payasam had to be produced at the shrine's prasadamcounter. According to TDB records, there has been even single orders fromindividual pilgrims for aravana cans worth Rs 36,000.

A unique features of Panchamy's payasam contract has been thestandardised preparation of aravana , sticking to "vedic parameters", usingthe materials of rice, jaggery and ghee supplied by the TDB. Tonnes offungus-ridden jaggery had to be often rejected on quality parameters,Panchamy sources said. At an investment of Rs 2.5 crore in the Sabarimalaproject, the company expects only 3 per cent returns in the first year,which may further be watered down by the crisis management expenses.

For every Rs 40-can, the company gets only Rs 10. Of this, only Rs 1.5 goesto the profit kitty. By the eigth year, Panchamy is expected to transfer theproject, equipment and the technology to TDB.