July 10, 2009
Amrit Group to invest EUR44 million into India poultry feed market
Amrit Group, based in Kolkata, India, is investing about EUR44 million (US$61.2 million) over the next few years to set up new facilities with the target of becoming a leading player in the Indian poultry feed market.
Amrit Group operates in the sectors of animal feed production, breeding farms, hatcheries, processed food products and dairy products.
The investment is expected to help expand presence across India and venture into the ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook meat segment.
Harish Bagla, managing director of Amrit Group, said they are open to third-party manufacturing arrangements.
Bagla said Amrit currently has 12 manufacturing units, which have an installed capacity of 720,000 tonnes per year.
A feed plant has been commercially commissioned in Lucknow to cater to Delhi and a large part of north Indian markets, while another plant at Jamuna Nagar was acquired to cater to the Delhi market exclusively and the group is in the process of acquiring two other production units in Jammu and Raipur, Bagla said.
Amrit has a 27 percent of market share in eastern India, and hopes to enjoy similar levels in the northern and southern markets over the next two to three years.
In India, only 2.2 percent of meat is processed, but consumption of processed meat is growing at a rate of 150 percent, according to Bagla.