Balan Food to invest Rs 120-mn in India

Bangalore: The Rs 25 crore Bangalore-based agro-processing firm Balan Natural Food, is looking to set up two new plants, one each in south and north India, at a combined investment of Rs 12 crore within the next twelve months.

The company with this additional capacity is hoping to see revenues of Rs 36 crore by the end of this fiscal. The company currently sells fresh fruit juices under the brand ‘B Natural'.

The firm is planning to set up plants in the different locations to overcome the problems of logistics which is constraining the firm from growing its market.

With its new plants, the firm hopes to grow to be a Rs 100 crore firm in three years. It sells its juices in different packages at different price points depending on the markets. Only in urban centres the firm is able to sell bigger packs.

With elasticity of demand being higher for products at the lower price points, the firm is constrained from increasing the price of the small tetrapacks. Even a small increase in the prices at the lower price points may lead to higher fall in demand. Hence, It is only able to raise the price of its tetrapacks of 1 litre capacity.

Promoted by an NRI based out of Singapore, A Nandaa Kumar, the CMD, Balan Natural Foods, the firm has so far invested Rs 35 crore on its plant near Bangalore. Presently, the firm is focussed on south India. It is now in the process of setting up a PET bottle plant.

The firm, which till now sold its juices in tetrapacks has launched its juices in PET bottles which he said has a longer shelf life. The firm exports to countries like Singapore, New Zealand, Australia and a few other countries in West Asia.

Kumar had been manufacturing products for the dairy industry and has three sugar mills in Vietnam.