Tata Chemicals, on Thursday, indicated that it was strongly focused on boosting the branded and non-commodity businesses in view of the promising long-term opportunity.
The company, which has been moving from commodity-centric to a branded and more consumer-facing business, is bullish on the future growth opportunities in these segments in the medium-long term.
“Presently, branded and non-commodity business accounts for about 22 per cent of our total revenues. We expect the share to increase to about 50 per cent in the next seven years. We are in the process of building more branded food products,” said R. Mukundan, Managing Director, Tata Chemicals Ltd.
To support this growth plans, the company will focus on categories such as salts, pulses and water. As it seeks to engage directly with customers, it may attempt to lower its exposure to regulated and subsidised sectors.
With its premium brands Tata Salt and I-Shakti Salt, the company is leader in India’s branded Iodised salt segment with a market share of about 69 per cent.
Also, it has been marketing low-cost, nanotechnology-based Tata Swach water purifiers.
Salt revenues to double“Its salt revenues could double from Rs.900 crore to Rs.1800 crore in next 5 years. Overall, consumer business (salt, water purifier and pulses) revenues could go up to Rs.3,500 crore (from Rs.1,100 crore at present),” according to Gauri Anand of PhilipCapital (India) Pvt Ltd.
Meanwhile, Tata Chemicals is also working on launching nutraceutical products.
It will be producing the first product Fructooligosaccharide (a probiotic product) at its Chennai plant, which is expected to start operations soon.
