Chennai, Feb 19 (IANS): Concentrated drink major Rasna Pvt Ltd is mulling to set up two new facilities in Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat at a total outlay of around Rs.100 crore, said a top company official.
He said the company is also planning get into the breakfast food segment with the product based on rice and wheat.
"We are looking at setting up two facilities as part of our expansion plan. We are looking at Seemandhra (Andhra Pradesh) for one and the other in Gujarat," chairman and managing director, Piruz Khambatta told IANS here.
According to him, the outlay for both the plants will be around Rs.100 crore to Rs.150 crore.
He said the central package for Andhra Pradesh is being awaited for the company to go ahead with the investment.
Khambatta said the Gujarat plant will be mainly for exports and the Andhra Pradesh plant will cater to the domestic market.
Currently Rasna has nine plants catering to domestic and export markets.
He said nearly 30 percent of the company undisclosed turnover are from exports.
Rasna exports to Middle East and African markets and also to neighbouring countries like Bangladesh, he said.
Speaking about the company's proposed food product, Khambatta said Indian families prefer traditional food for lunch for their kids and so packaged foods for lunch is ruled out.
"The two slots which are available are breakfast with milk and evening snack with milk/juice. With our Rasna range we are in the evening slot and we would like to fill the morning slot," he said.
Queried about the kind of food Rasna would launch, he said western packaged foods have not cracked the market and in order to taste some success, they have to Indianise their offering.
Given this situation, Khambatta said Rasna would offer Indian breakfast largely based on rice and wheat.
Meanwhile Rasna has signed up Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar to say the famous brand line "I love you Rasna".
Queried about the rationale, Khmabatta said people are not interested in celebrity moms for Rasna but would like to see more youth oriented celebrities.
He said Akshay Kumar's image of health conscious, fighting-fit actor connects well across the country.
Khambatta's nine-year-old daughter Avan Khambatta is the Rasna girl.
"She has been there in our commercials for the past three years. Though there were offers from other multi-national companies for her, we decided not to accept them," he said.
Queried about hiring a regional celebrity as Rasna's brand ambassador, Khambatta said: "As of now we have no such plans. Akshay is known well across the country."
Agreeing that it may not be true in Tamil Nadu, Khambatta said the company's strategy would change based on the market.
The agreement with Akshay is for three years.