LT Overseas to sell basmati through 12,000 retail units

Our Economic Bureau

New Delhi, Aug 26: THE Delhi-based export house, LT Overseas Ltd has drawn up plans to sell its famous ‘Daawat’ brand of basmati rice through 12,000 retail outlets in Mumbai in the current financial year. It has also decided to market this product in the entire region of western India. The company has already launched its first exclusive ‘Daawat’ stock depot in Vashi, Navi Mumbai and would triple the number of its distributors in the city by the year end.

Mr VK Arora, chairman and managing director of LT Overseas said that Mumbai is a key thrust market for ‘Daawat’ for the current year and the new depot will reinforce the supply of ‘Daawat’ into this market. With an initial investment of Rs two crore and a capacity of 4,000 tonnes, the stock depot will help the company reduce delivery time, inventory and transportation costs and ensure wider and deeper penetration of the product in Mumbai.

“Daawat currently has a 17 per cent market-share in the branded rice segment in India. The year 2001-02 is a year of consolidation for us. We are looking towards capturing a 25 per cent market-share in India by the end of the year” Mr Arora said. The company has drawn up an aggressive plan for the entire western region. Plans have been set in motion to double distributor network across Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.

This branded rice is exported to 43 countries including the Americas, Middle East and Asia. The company has three rice processing units with a combined 24-hour production capacity of over 600 tonne per day. In February 1998, the company was the first in this field to standardise the rice processing method and procure ISO certification. It is also the first company in India to procure HACCP certification which is one of the world’s most stringent measure of quality checks.