Parle Agro aims to make its annual revenue to Rs.5,000 crore by 2018

Coca-Cola is set to join global consumer food giants Nestle, Danone and Hindustan Unilever and others in the $4-billion-plus pursuit to buy GlaxoSmithKline’s consumer nutrition business, people close to the development said.

This marks an entirely new foray for the Atlanta headquartered firm and could give it bandwidth to play in the pure health-nutrition space aimed primarily at children, these people added. Coke has mandated Citi to help them in the competitive bidding process expected to launch next week.

“The evaluation work had begun even though the sale process is yet to formally launch. It will be a large transaction, so work has already begun,” said an official involved, on condition of anonymity as the discussions are in private domain. “This also marks the company’s return to big bang M&A in a market like India.”

Coke acquired Parle’s stable of brands in the early 1990s including the popular Thums Up and gained access to its nationwide bottling and distribution infrastructure, thereby getting a strategic advantage over others. This was the first and only transaction by the company in the country.

With consumer beverage preferences changing swiftly in favour of low-sugar or functional options such as juice and juice drinks, flavoured water, dairy-based beverages and tea, the Atlanta-based company has been accelerating portfolio expansion beyond its core aerated brands.

Coke president T Krishnakumar had said that it would also launch nutrition products including electrolyte hydration drinks to be sold over-the-counter at pharmacies.

“So far we have been very active in the refreshment space; we now want to be a serious player in nutrition,” he had said in an interview. Coke said in its quarterly earnings for the January-March 2018 quarter that it has had three quarters of growth on the back of better distribution and portfolio expansion.

The maker of Thums Up, Minute Maid juice and Kinley water has been stepping up launches in the ‘healthier’ space including no-sugar variants of Coke, Sprite and Thums Up, Vio dairy drink, Zico coconut water, Aquarius fortified water, Fuze iced tea, glucose and fruit juice drink Aquarius Glucocharge and Minute Maid Vitingo for micronutrient deficiency and malnutrition, besides hyperlocal variants of juices and juice-based drinks.

“As a matter of policy we do not comment on any speculative news,” said a Coca-Cola spokesperson. “At this point there is nothing to report on the said matter. We will keep you informed of developments if any.”

Both Coca-Cola and rival PepsiCo, which sell a combined $100 billion a year in drinks and snacks, have tried to reduce reliance on soda and other aerated drinks by acquiring new products, particularly in faster growing drinks categories such as water or tea.

In recent years Coca-Cola globally bought or invested in millennial friendly brands such as Honest Tea, an organic tea brand, Suja Life, a cold pressed juice maker, and AdeS, a soyabased beverage brand.

However, another top official said buying Horlicks wouldn’t be the ideal fit for a company which is looking to rapidly reduce sugar across its portfolio.a

GSK Consumer’s Horlicks and Boost brands have strong positioning in Indian market and command approximately 70% of overall value market share in Indian Malted Food Drinks (MFD) market.

These products had a combined revenue of £550 million in 2017, with India contributing most of it. However, in March the company decided to review and potentially sell the nutrition products business to fund the $13-billion buyout of Novartis’ stake in a consumer healthcare JV.

The review will also include an assessment of the parent’s 72.5% stake in GSK Consumer in India. The current market cap of the company is Rs 25,544.95 crore.

The outcome of this review is likely by end-2018 which may or may not result in any transaction, eventually, as per the company. Morgan Stanley and Greenhill are advising GSK in the sale.

One of the biggest beverages-maker Parle Agro is planning to boost its sales and distribution network for its existing products, in addition, to launch of new categories to achieve its target of clocking Rs 10,000 crore topline by 2022, a top company official has said.

The city-based company expects to double the turnover of its flagship brands Frooti and Appy Fizz to achieve this target. While the former grosses Rs 2,200 crore now, the latter fetches around Rs 700 crore in topline.

"We are at Rs 4,200 crore now and we hope to be an Rs 5,000-crore company by December. We are looking at doubling this up over the next few years and have set an aggressive target of Rs 10,000 crore turnover by 2022," saidParle Agro joint managing director and chief marketing officer Nadia Chauhan.

"It is an aggressive target involving big plans not just in terms of furthering our sales and distribution network for existing products but also creating some new products and new categories over the next few years," she added.

Its flagship brand Frooti has been growing at 25 per cent and the company aims to double this in the next two-three years from Rs 2,200 crore now.

The mango-based beverages category is estimated to be over Rs 8,450 crore now, and Frooti enjoys 26 per cent of this segment, she said.

Parle Agro dominates the sparkling fruit juices category with its Rs 700 crore brand Appy Fizz, which it targets to be a Rs 1,000-crore brand by 2020.

The company recently roped in Hindi actor Salman Khan as the brand face for Appy Fizz and Chauhan said it is part of the strategy of growing the category and the brand.

"We really hope that this gives us huge penetration as a brand and achieve our goals of growth," she said.

Appy Fizz is one of the fastest growing brands in its portfolio, clipping at 50 per cent.

Chauhan plans to expand the distribution footprint and drive sales with innovative packaging, differentiated SKUs and aggressive pricing for Appy Fizz.

"Over the next two years, we will have lots of innovation and packaging, which we hope to increase our market penetration. Today Appy Fizz is available at about 6 lakh outlets, while Frooti is at almost 2 million outlets. We want to take Appy Fizz to the level of Frooti when it comes to retailing,” she said.

The company has earmarked Rs 200 crore for marketing activities in 2018, of which Rs 100 crore will be invested in Appy Fizz alone and the rest primarily in Frooti.

The Rs 10,000-crore fruit-based beverages market is dominated by mango, and last year the company had launched Frooti Fizz in the fruit-plus fizz category and is looking at other fruits to drive this category.

Parle Agro, which exports to 50 countries, is also evaluating opportunities to locally manufacture its products in some of its key export markets.

"We are aggressively planning to convert some of these markets to into manufacturing hubs for both captive consumptions as well to serve nearby markets. We are looking at the Middle East, East Africa, and the US for manufacturing base, as these are also big markets for us," Chauhan said.

"Currently, exports as a revenue stream is very small for us which is why we are looking some of the overseas markets for local manufacturing. We already have a manufacturing facility in Nepal," she said.

Parle Agro has 12 beverages manufacturing facilities and 56 bottling plants for water brand Bailley.

Parle Agro, the largest Indian beverage manufacturer has announced the launch of its new #FeelTheFizz marketing campaign for brand Appy Fizz with a budget of Rs. 100 Cr. This will be the first campaign for the brand featuring its new brand ambassador Salman Khan.

The new campaign builds on the need for the brand consumers to “Own Their Fizz” by being bold, confident just like Appy Fizz and is targeted towards the youth across India.

The aggressive campaign is part of the overall strategy of the organization targeting Rs. 5,000 Cr. brand turnover by end 2018 as well as building the Fruit plus Fizz category to Rs. 4,000 Cr. over the coming years.

With Appy Fizz, Parle Agro’s fastest growing brand, the organization is looking to step up its foothold in the Indian beverage space and continue to be the leader in its sub-category. The new #FeelTheFizz campaign with the addition of Salman Khan as the face of the brand is directed towards ensuring the continuous growth momentum of the brand in order to further leverage consumers changing habits as they move away from synthetic aerated drinks.  Salman Khan was selected to be the face of the brand owing to his stylish, macho and magnetic attitude being a seamless fit for Appy Fizz’s bold and edgy persona.

The Rs. 650 crore brand has been a market leader in the category of fruit plus fizz drinks and 2018 will see one of the largest marketing budget allocated to the brand since its launch aiming to further strengthen the brands connect with millions of consumers across India.

“With the new #FeelTheFizz campaign, the target is to further increase the double digit growth Appy Fizz has been consistently seeing over the past few years while solidifying it as the leader of the Fruit plus Fizz category. Salman Khan as the face of the brand plays a critical role in achieving the aggressive vision we have set out for the brand and the category it created. Driving scale in distribution, recall and preference are the key brand objectives for the brand in 2018.” Nadia Chauhan, Joint Managing Director & CMO, Parle Agro while speaking on the new campaign said.

Speaking about this collaboration, Salman Khan said, “The new campaign for Appy Fizz is as exciting as it gets. I am sure the product and the new #FeelTheFizz campaign will surely resonate with all my fans.”

Sagmeister & Walsh, continues to be the creative agency on board, while the TVC is produced by 1st Ave. Machine, New York, and directed by Morgan Harary.

 “This year, we looked to undertake the unique objective of ensuring we preserve the almost premium aura of the brand while still ensuring it delivered to appeal across multiple audiences, ranging from the niche to the masses. We continued to build on the #FeelTheFizz story line while pushing the boundaries of being bold, edgy and confident, core attributes of Appy Fizz as well as its consumers,” Jessica Walsh, Partner at Sagmeister & Walsh commented on the new campaign.

With the aim of increasing distribution and penetration across the country, Parle Agro shall this year also be introducing the new Appy Fizz 160ml PET bottle SKU priced at Rs. 10. The new pack shall also featuring imagery of Salman Khan on its packaging and shall be produced at the organizations newest manufacturing location at Sitarganj, Uttarakhand.

The campaign featuring Salman Khan, will be released simultaneously on Television, Digital and OOH. Television investments also include presence on large scale properties like the IPL, Bigg Boss on Colours and Bigg Boss Telugu on Star Maa. The campaign will also see significant investment into in-store activations, cinema advertising and on-ground activations.

India’s leading biscuits and confectionery maker, Parle Products, is planning to consolidate its position in the Indian market. The company aims to double its turnover in the next five years.

“If you look at Parle as a company, we have always been known for biscuits and confectionery. But we have got into quite a few categories over the last two years. We have entered into the bakery items segment like cakes and rusk, high-end chocolates, snacks and of late into pulses. So, I think now is the time to consolidate before we move forward and get into new categories," said Mayank Shah, Category Head, Parle Products in an interview.  

“Quite a few categories are moving over from unorganised to organised segments since consumers have started moving from unorganised to organised segments. One category which has seen conversion is bakery items. Then there are categories like gluten-free products, which have small and niche markets. However, we are at least a decade away from getting into that kind of specialised offerings. These categories are too small for big players like us to cater to," he further added.

Going further, the company aims to be a total food company by filling in the gaps in its offerings.

“Eventually, we are looking at several other categories and whenever and wherever there are opportunities, we would grow into a total food company,” he further said.

Local candy makers, including Parle, ITC and DS Foods grabbed shares from multinationals in the Rs 7,500-crore confectionery segment, as per latest Nielsen data elicited from the familiar Industry officials.

Global firms such as Perfetti Van Melle, Mondelez and Nestle either remained stagnant or lost share last calendar year, hurt by higher prices of their wares in a stressed market due to demonetisation. Marketers feel even a 50 paise price hike could impact growth in the price sensitive category.

The candy companies went through the price revision like Mondelez India relaunched Halls from 50 paise earlier to Rs 1 and doubled its price of Choclairs to Rs 2 while Perfetti Van Melle India launched most of its candies including Alpenliebe at Rs 1 and upwards. Parle Products, however, kept their product prices unchanged. “Post demonetisation, lot of lower denomination currency came back into circulation that had helped sales for a 50 paise product.

Category head at Parle Products that sells brands including Mango Bite and Poppins B Krishna Rao said, “But at the same time, the practice of consumers accepting a Rs 1 toffee from grocers stopped to a large extent. Parle gained 160bps in 2017 with 16% in the confectionery space, while Perfetti lost share marginally by 20bps at 10.2%. Including chewing gums, Perfetti is by far the market leader controlling nearly a quarter of the overall market. As a category, the entire industry has been trying to move to Rs 1 price point after increase in the price of sugar, other raw materials and even packaging costs.”

One of the spokesperson said, “The focus has been on premiumisation with significant growth achieved for the Rs 1 and above portfolio in the confectionery segment. Growth has been achieved through introduction of differentiated offerings under the Candyman range.” To be sure, India’s leading chocolate makers too posted near decade-low growth in sales last fiscal, as health-conscious consumers cut back on discretionary buying in a slowing economy.

Mondelez, India’s largest chocolate maker and Nestle’s chocolate divisions saw sales rise by about 6% each in the year to March 2017 — better than a year ago but far from the double-digit growth the candy rivals have seen in most of the last decade. Yet, they remain bullish in the candy segment that has also seen a rush of new players both from large food companies such as DS foods as well as regional local brands.

Associate director Amit Shah said, “As leaders in chocolates and strong challengers in other categories we operate in, we continue to invest and innovate our brands,” marketing (gum, candy & beverages) at Mondelez India, that sell Halls and Cadbury Choclairs. Perfetti too posted below 1% growth for the second consecutive year last fiscal and said competition is getting intense, especially in the candies segment.

In the annual filing with Registrar of Companies, it said, “Whilst we had moved much of our portfolio from the 50 paise price point to Rs 1, with product value addition, the bulk of the market stays at 50 paise, leading to strong market challenges.”

With domestic brands like Amul, Parle, Big Bazaar and Dabur featuring in the top ten list of India's most popular brands, a Nikkei BP-Market Xcel Data Matrix survey revealed that domestic brands are liked and revered by Indian consumers at par with international brands like Samsung and Coca-Cola.

According to the Brand Asia Survey 2017, Samsung has emerged as the most popular brand in terms of consumer brand relationship, followed by food and drinks brand Amul and mobile brand Nokia.

Ashwani Arora, Senior VP Research, Director on Board, Market Xcel said, "Amul, the food and drinks brand, has scored second place this year beating Coca-Cola (rank 10) and Pepsi (rank 15).”

He added, "Parle -- a brand from the pre independence era -- goes on to prove the love people have for it still. It has ranked fifth this year and its win is solely dedicated to the wide variety of its biscuits which has satiated consumer palettes since ages," said Arora.

"Hence, Indian brands are equally liked and revered by consumers," he added.

Arora further said, Nokia which is loved brand by Indians has a high past equity and connect. The brand was once a household name in India. The relaunch of the brand in India has refurbished the emotional connect with consumers as is evident in the survey," Samsung mobiles and fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) company Parle ranked fourth and fifth in terms of the most popular brands in India.

The survey also revealed that Future Group-owned retail business Big Bazaar was the only retail brand to mark a place in the top 10 popular brands at rank six.

According to Arora, the kirana shops are unable to provide the choice, ambience, service and discounts which Big Bazaar offers leading to its popularity among customers. The (Big Bazaar) brand has many firsts to its credit. The only national competitor to the brand being Reliance Retail.

The rest of the brands in the top ten category included toothpaste brand Colgate, messaging platform WhatsApp, FMCG brand Dabur and beverages company Coca-Cola.

The top 10 brands featured in the survey are a mix of technology, FMCG and retail brands.

Another interesting insight was that the brands from the automotive sphere had the least representation even among the top 20 brands during the year's survey.

"Some of the reasons attributed to (automotive) category's low affinity include low penetration, high involving, and family product more than a personal category," Arora said.

"Also the choice is vested with few members in a family. The category has low mental salience with the womenfolk."

In 13 countries across Asia, a total of 200 brands were surveyed with a mix of national and international brands.

Biscuits and confectionery maker Parle Products is planning to increase the prices of its glucose, Marie and milk biscuits by 4-5 per cent in the first quarter of 2018.

Parle Products Category Head Mayank Shah said “As of now, we have not taken any price hike (decision) but we would be thinking of a price hike considering the increased taxes. It will happen in the first quarter of next year, which is January-March. There might be an increase of 4-5 per cent in the price in brands which are below Rs 100 per kg. For mass (category) earlier we were taxed at a lower rate and now we are taxed at a higher rate, so there has been an impact there and they (mass offerings) have suffered a bit. Growth has been slow in the biscuit below Rs 100 per kg category at 6-7 per cent, compared to the industry growth of 14-15 per cent. Biscuits have been able to overcome both demonetisation and GST. Biscuits which were earlier taxed at a higher rate and now have been brought down under 18 per cent, have grown better. Because of the tax benefits (in biscuits above Rs 100 per kg) being passed on to the consumers, there has been a growth in consumption. Rural demand has also seen an uptick this year, with a growth of almost 60-70 per cent. Primarily, glucose, milk and Marie are the categories which will see increase in prices. Company will probably look at one category at a time for the price increase. Its flagship brand ParleG that is dominant in the glucose segment, BakeSmith English Marie and Milk Shakti are the brands that would see a price revision."

Company had not increased the prices of these products post the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), when the government had slapped a uniform tax rate on biscuits.

Biscuits below Rs 100 per kg, including the glucose category, and those above Rs 100 per kg were placed in the 18 per cent tax slab under GST.

Earlier, biscuits priced below Rs 100 per kg did not attract excise duty but the effective tax rate was around 9-10 per cent.

Low priced high nutrition biscuits that are largely priced below Rs 100 per kg is estimated to be a Rs 9,000 crore market, constituting 35 per cent of the Rs 25,000 crore organised biscuit market in the country.

Biscuits and confectionery maker, Parle Products, has announced its entry in the pulses category with the launch of its new brand Fresh Harvest which will be sold across retail outlets in the country.

The company aims to offer its consumers protein rich pulses that are processed and packed in the most hygienic conditions.

The Fresh Harvest collection will comprise Toor, Moong, Urad, Channa and Masoor dals sourced from some of the best farms in Maharashtra and Karnataka.

With Fresh Harvest, Parle aims to provide Indian households premium quality pulses that are unadulterated and hygienically packed, assuring consumers about safety and quality of the product.

Mayank Shah, Category Head, Parle Products, said, "Fresh Harvest epitomises quality, hygiene, nutrition and consistency. Through this brand, we want to offer consumers premium pulses that are pure, unadulterated and full of nutrition to make meal-time healthier. Right from sourcing to delivering quality end products to consumers, the involvement of a company like Parle will go a long way in convincing consumers to switch to packaged pulses."

Currently, Fresh Harvest has been launched across class-A outlets, Self Service Outlets (SSOs) and local retail chains across more than 5 lakh towns in Maharashtra and would be launched in phased manner in other parts of India over the next 12 months.

Fruit juice manufacturer, Manpasand Beverages, has collaborated with biscuits and confectionery maker, Parle Products to cross-promote their brands. With this association, the company plans to access 4.5 million outlets pan-India.

Manpasand Beverages in a regulatory filing said, "The company is associating with Parle Products Pvt and plans to access 4.5 million outlets pan-India. In this association, both companies will cross-promote their brands and aim to achieve a significant market share in biscuits or snacks and the beverage industry. "

With an aim to create a distinctive identity for its premium products, biscuits and confectionery maker Parle has created a new division Parle Platina, and is eyeing a quarter of its revenue from this segment over the next two to three years.

Mayank Shah, Products Category Head, Parle, said, "Brands like Hide & Seek, Milano, Mexitos and Simply Good are more futuristic and aspirational. These brands are very different from the mother brand, Parle. Hence, we wanted to create a distinct identity for these set of brands, and hence Parle Platina came about, which will consolidate our premium brands under one division."

The new division will also include the company's gourmet snack offering Parle Mexitos.

The premium segment is growing at 15-20 per cent for the company and Shah said, "There is a huge growth potential for premium products over the next 2-3 years and we see this segment contributing to about a quarter of our revenue."

Parle Products enjoys a market share of 15 per cent in the premium biscuit industry and the city-based company is aiming to increase it to 25 per cent in the next two years.

The premium biscuit industry stands at Rs 6,500 crore growing at 14-15 per cent, according to Nielsen.

The company's mass brands include flagship product Parle G, Parle Marie, Krack Jack and Monaco, among others.

The biscuit major will invest substantially in Parle Platina and will unveil a new packaging and logo, which will feature prominently for all products under this division.

Shah said, "Going forward, we will be adding new products, new formats and new innovations under the Platina division."

PepsiCo's Tropicana, a billion-dollar brand globally, has lost about 5% share of India’s Rs 2,000-crore packaged juices market that is witnessing a steady consolidation at the top by home-grown Dabur’s Real brand.

Tropicana has dropped a 5% share — both by value and volume — between April 2016 and January 2017 compared with the corresponding period a year-ago, two officials quoting data by researcher Nielsen said.

By contrast, Real has gained about 2.5% each on both parameters, according to the data. New entrant ITC’s B Natural and ethnic drinks maker Paper Boat — both marginal players — have gained slightly in the period, the data show.

With Rs 1,000-crore in retail sales, Real is the single largest brand for Dabur in the country. The brand has introduced juices based on local fruits such as mausambi, jamun and amla, and Dabur’s distribution muscle is also seeking to establish the low-priced mango fruit drink, Ju.C. Dabur marketing head (juices and beverages) Mayank Kumar attributed the brand’s market share gains to India’s increasing health awareness.

Kumar said, "Time-pressed lifestyles of urban Indians have led to the demand for convenient breakfast and snacking solutions such as packaged fruit juices."

He added that the growth of Real and its no-added -sugar variant Activ have been volume-led, fuelled by the 200-ml packs in low-penetration geographies.

Wider distribution and on-ground visibility provided further traction, he said. An email to Nielsen remained unanswered until the publication of this report.

A PepsiCo spokesperson said, “As a policy, we cannot comment on market share. Having said that, the data is not reflective of Tropicana’s strong double digit growth year-on-year in 2016. Tropicana has been one of the fastest growing beverage brands in our portfolio, and 70% of its growth was on the back of locally relevant innovations.”

She cited variants such as mosambi and Alphonso as examples of drinks based on Indian fruits.

The spokesperson added that PepsiCo has expanded the Tropicana franchise with functional juices under Tropicana Essentials, developed to address “specific deficiencies”.

Dabur’s new sub-brand Ju.C will compete in the bigger fruit drinks market that comprises of Parle Agro’s Frooti, PepsiCo’s Slice and Coca-Cola’s Maaza. This category is separate from juices and nectars where Tropicana and Real compete.

Companies including Britannia, Amul, Dabur and Parle are either raising prices or cutting quantities in packaged products after the cost of ingredients such as sugar, milk powder and palm oil increased by 20-80 percent over the past year on account of fluctuating global commodity prices and lower production cycles.

Biscuit maker Britannia said prices of its biscuits will go up by up to 7%, while Wipro Consumer Care, the manufacturer of the country’s third-largest soap brand Santoor, said prices will rise about 5%.

Amul, the nation’s top ice-cream maker, said prices are up 5-8% after a two-year gap due to higher sugar and milk powder prices.

Others such as Parle and Dabur are either reducing quantities or clamping down on promotions, which indirectly amount to price increases. “We will cover up the inflation hit and hike prices 6-7%,” said Varun Berry, managing director of Good Day biscuit maker Britannia.

Wipro Consumer Care & Lighting chief executive officer Vineet Agrawal said prices of soap will go up for the first time in three years.

The maker of Santoor soap said the hike is on account of increasing palm oil prices, a key ingredient. “Cost pressures are definitely more than what they were and it is starting to reflect on retail shelves now. Our focus is always topline growth,” Agrawal said. Industry analysts said demand for palm oil from core importers such as India and China has resulted in stiffening of prices. Palm oil is also a key ingredient for detergents and cosmetics.

Religare Capital Markets wrote in a report earlier this month that gross margin pressures have been visible with players initiating selective pricing actions. “Poor demand has weighed on the Indian consumer sector over the last two years. Additional headwinds from demonetisation and GST (goods and services tax) could have a lasting disruptive impact,” Religare wrote in the report.

Parle Products, which makes confectionery and salty snacks besides biscuits, said it has reduced the weight of its confectionery and snacks category after almost four years.

“The price hike is all indirect in the form of weight reduction and translates to anywhere between 8-12% of price hikes,” said BK Rao, marketing manager at Parle Products. Confectionery and snacks account for 15% of the company’s sales, he said.

Besides selling less quantity at the same price, some companies have scaled back freebies. “We are curtailing consumer promotions – which is a proxy for price hikes – to offset inflation across various input costs,” said Sunil Duggal, CEO of Vatika shampoo and Real juices maker Dabur. “We will wait for volumes to stabilise this quarter before taking up pricing.”

Ice-cream makers including category leader Amul have topped up prices 5%-8% ahead of the peak season, a move that has come after two years. Amul managing director RS Sodhi attributed the price hike to milk, sugar and skimmed milk, which have become 30-90% costlier.

Britannia Industries, one of the leaders in India’s biscuits market is embarking on a new growth path of becoming a total food company, aiming at Rs 20,000 crore turnover within five to six years, reported PTI.

As part of the strategy, the company, which had posted consolidated net sales of Rs 7,775.09 crore in the last fiscal, will finalise in the next six months its plans to expand in dairy segment besides introducing new variants of its value segment biscuit brand Tiger.

However, in the next two years and beyond the company plans to expand into ready-to-eat, ready-to-cook and drinks category in a phased manner.

"We have the core strength...our brands are very strong and our understanding of the food industry is very deep...Our idea to become a total food company is to move from the side of the plate to the middle," said Varun Berry, MD, Britannia Industries.

When asked about the company's ambition in terms of turnover, he said, "In the next five to six years if we have an Rs 20,000 crore turnover I will be delighted."

Further, he says on the company’s strategy that "Macro snacks and dairy categories have huge potential. In the next six months we will be ready with our plans and answers, if we should expand in the dairy segment or not. If indeed we do, dairy will entail investments of Rs 300 crore to Rs 400 crore."

"We were the market leader till 2003-04 and we lost it to Parle but we are happy to tell that we have taken back the leadership earlier this year", says Berry on Britannia's flagship biscuits category.

He said Britannia now leads Parle in terms of share by "150-200 basis points" in the estimated Rs 25,000 crore biscuits market in India. About 75 per cent of the company's turnover comes from the biscuits category.

Berry also says that apart from trying to develop the premium segment and upgrade consumers, the company will also introduce more variants of its value brand Tiger, while enhancing distribution network mainly in the Hindi belt states of North India.

"We have already re-launched Tiger glucose and chocolate ...we will launch Tiger cream next month," he said. In terms of distribution network, he said, "Our biggest weakness is the Hindi speaking states of North India."