Britannia Industries expects its cheese products business to grow around five-fold in the next five years to touch around ₹1,250 crore.
The company, which earlier this week announced a joint venture with the French cheese maker Bel, currently has around ₹250 crore in turnover from its cheese business, said its Vice Chairman and Managing Director Varun Berry in an interaction with PTI.
The company is foreseeing consumption growth in the cheese segment coming from the domestic consumer and has plans to invest ₹160 crore in the next three years, he said.
"We have already invested ₹150 crore in plant and machinery. We are looking at investing around ₹160 crore in the next three years," Berry said.
According to Berry, presently the cheese market is very small, estimated to be around ₹2,500 crore from the consumer side and another ₹2,500 crore from B2B sales, largely dominated by QSR chains.
"But it is growing rapidly, with a CAGR of 22 to 23 percent." "It is definitely a blockbuster in the making," he said, adding that "this (consumer) market should be closer to ₹15,000 crore in the next five-seven years."
As part of the joint venture announced on Tuesday, Bel would acquire 49 percent of Britannia Dairy Pvt. Ltd while Britannia Industries will own the remaining 51 percent, with the new entity being named Britannia Bel Foods Pvt. Ltd.
The JV will produce cheese products at Ranjangaon facility, Maharashtra, and has plans to expand to adjacent categories as well.
Britannia Bel Foods will focus only on value-added products in the milk segment in the domestic market. Besides, the JV has also marketing rights for some neighbouring markets, such as Nepal, Bhutan, and Myanmar.
Presently some of the offerings are being imported, but in phases, Britannia Bel Foods will start domestic manufacturing, making them affordable and accessible to the consumers, Berry added.
Earlier in October, Britannia and Associates (Dubai) Pvt. Co Ltd. (BADCO), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Britannia, acquired a 51 percent equity stake in Kenafric Biscuits Ltd. (KBL). Besides, it also acquired Catalyst Britania Brands Ltd., an investment company that owns the "Britania" trademark in Kenya.
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