Emami Biotech Plans Plant in Western India to Expand Footprint

Emami Biotech Limited, the Rs 3,500-crore biotech and edible oil arm of city-based Emami Group, is contemplating a third manufacturing facility in the western part of the country to deepen its footprint in the edible oil market.

"We are focusing on packaged consumer brand 'Healthy and Tasty' edible oils. We want gradual expansion of our footprint in the national edible oil market and for that we are giving a thought to a manufacturing facility in western India," Emami Biotech chief executive Sudhakar Desai told PTI.

Emami's present consumer packaged edible oil segment, which is around Rs 600 crore of the total revenue, is mostly restricted to the eastern and southern states.

At present, the company has a daily edible oil refining capacity of 3,600 tonnes per day at its two locations at Haldia in West Bengal and Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.

Emami is aggressively promoting its premium mustard oil brand 'Healthy and Tasty' to double its market share in West Bengal in the next two years after attaining over 90 per cent jump in sales during the last fiscal year.

"We have a market share of around 18-20 per cent in the premium mustard oil market in Bengal and with a strategy to offer vitamins in 'Healthy and Tasty' brand, we aim to double our market share to 35-40 per cent in West Bengal in the next two years," Mr Desai said.

The company said it is the first ever 'kachchi ghani' mustard oil brand in India to be enriched with Vitamin A, D, and E.

Mr Desai said the company will also devise strategies to differentiate in competition for its other consumer packaged edible oil brands - Sunflower, rice bran, pamolein - targeting specific regions as edible oil preferences vary across the country.

The new proposed manufacturing base, details of which are yet to be finalised, will help the company reach newer edible oil domestic markets.