Rituparna Chatterjee – Mumbai
With a view to cater to the growing demand for bakery and patisserie ingredients in the India market, Mumbai-based Fine Zeelandia, will be setting up a manufacturing unit in Maharashtra to produce specialty ingredients like Finagel cake gel, bread and patisserie mixes, Carlo release agents and Paletta jellies locally. The unit is expected to become functional by December 2016. Fine Zeelandia, a 50/ 50 joint venture between Fine Organics and Zeelandia, is presently importing dry and liquid baking ingredients into the country. After the unit becomes functional, the company plans to manufacture some of the ingredients locally.
Elaborating on this, Manali Shah Bhayani, director – sales and marketing, Fine Zeelandia stated, “Fine Organics is a pioneer of emulsifiers in India and a globally recognised manufacturer of oleochemical derivatives, while Zeelandia is a global leader in bakery and patisserie ingredients. The joint venture includes setting-up a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility that will produce specialty ingredients so that some of the ingredients that are presently being imported to India will become available locally.” When asked about the investment made for setting up the manufacturing plant, she declined to comment. As for Fine Zeelandia’s expected revenue generation, she added, “We will be working on import basis during 2016, therefore we aren’t expecting a big revenue generation.”
Fine Zeelandia also plans to enter neighbouring markets like Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal. The company is expected to enter Sri Lanka and Bangladesh by the first quarter of 2016. However, Nepal is not a part of the current plan. She added, “In cooperation with regional distributors, the joint venture will cater to customers in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal.”
As for their future plan, Bhayani opined, “We want to leverage organisational expertise on oleo chemistry and build a portfolio of niche and innovative solutions for a wide range of industries.”