Buoyed by a high growth of the ethnic beverages market in the country, beverage maker Xotik Frujus is eyeing a five-fold increase in its turnover to Rs 500 crore by 2025-26. The Mumbai-based company, maker of jeera masala drink Jeeru, had clocked a turnover of close to Rs 100 crore last fiscal and is expected to close this fiscal with around Rs 130 crore revenue.
“We are willing to invest in the future of the business and brand to grow. With a professional team in place, we are geared up for inducting state-of-the-art technology, investments in capacity and rebranding & identifying consumer connect distribution points,” said Xotik Frujus chairman and founder Rajeev Sehgal.
The company, which had started its journey in 2007, appointed Anjana Ghosh as its CEO as a part of the new leadership team to drive the entire business. Before starting her role at Xotik, Ghosh was a director at Bisleri.
A leader in the Rs 700 crore ethnic drink market, the company is planning to ramp up its production capacity and increase its penetration into 5,000 towns in the next two to three years, expanding across metros and smaller towns. Currently, it is present in 780 towns, which are mostly tier II and III.
The company, with presence in both carbonated and non-carbonated drinks segments, plans to invest around `50 crore for rebranding of its flagship brand Jeeru and market penetration.
“We are currently present in 19 states. We have built a strong army of channel partners over the past decade and a half, which includes more than 1,000 distributors, who are actively covering around 100,000 retail outlets across various parts of the country,” said director Ankita Sehgal.
“As a part of the expansion plan of the company, we are spreading our distribution to modern retail as well as other channels, along with general trade,” Sehgal added. As India is considered to be one of the youngest nations in terms of average age of the population, i.e. more than 60% of population is below 35 years of age, the company’s strategy would be to offer its product range which would appeal to the Gen Z and millennials.
Xotik is also planning to enter the packaged drinking water segment in the next few months. The company believes its new venture into packaged drinking water would put it into the big league.
It has an ambitious target to become a Rs 1,000 crore company within the next five years. India’s overall non-alcoholic beverage industry is worth Rs 70,000 crore with a 16.5% compounded annual growth rate (CAGR). Carbonated soft drinks segment contributes around 55% of the overall category.
