Going fruity

Ramesh Chauhan is preparing to have another go at the domestic fruit juice market under a new brand — Alfa. The tycoon, who is currentl...

Ramesh Chauhan is preparing to have another go at the domestic fruit juice market under a new brand — Alfa. The tycoon, who is currently focused primarily on packaged drinking water, clearly sees a big opportunity in the Indian fruit juice market, which of late has also attracted the attention of the soft drinks majors in the country.

The tycoon is planning to launch five or six flavours under the Alfa brand during the next one year. He has already started test marketing of his mango drink in Tamil Nadu. For the moment he is likely to remain focused on mango only, which is not just his personal favourite but usually accounts for 95 per cent of the Indian juice market.

Chauhan is looking to ramp up his production capacity by upgrading his existing plant in Chittor in Andhra Pradesh apart from setting up a new one somewhere in the eastern or northern region of the country. He has earmarked Rs 100 crore for his expansion and modernisation plans.

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Given the tycoon’spenchant to grow rapidly in segments he enters, we may well be in for some fierce skirmishes in the Indian juice market in the coming days where dominant players like the Burmans hold sway; and are unlikely to be easy competition.

Fresh dream on old plant

As part of his Rs 300 crore expansion plan that he initiated early this year, Ranjan Poddar has acquired the sick Hoffmann & Engelmann Paper plant in Germany. But this buyout is not exactly a case of overseas expansion as the plant is to be dismantled and relocated back in India in Sirpur Paper’s existing facility in Andhra Pradesh. The tycoon thus expands his capacity at a lower cost than going the greenfield way.

After bagging the plant for only Rs 18 crore, Poddar is currently dismantling the plant to bring it to India. The German company’s financial problems could not have come at a better time for the tycoon. He’s still on the lookout for some meaty possessions both at home and abroad.

The German plant, when fully functional at Adilabad in AP will take Poddar’s papermaking capacity to 1.3 lakh tonnes per annum from the current 80,000 tonnes.

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Sensing that the industry may soon run out of capacity in the face of burgeoning demand, Indian paper majors are going for significant capacity additions.

Clearly the tycoon, who is currently a mid-sized player, doesn’t want to be left behind. But as for all players in this business, it’s access to raw materials that’s going to be the long-term issue they have to battle with.

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