Heritage Foods aim Rs 6,000 crore turnover by 2022

Hyderabad, April 24 (IANS) Heritage Foods Limited (HFL), a leading dairy company owned by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu's family, on Monday said that it had set a target of Rs 6,000 crore turnover by 2022.

Celebrating its silver jubilee, the company announced that along with its core business vertical of milk, it aims to enhance contribution of value-added products from current 24 to 40 per cent in the next five years.

Nara Brahmani, executive director of HFL, told reporters here that the firm currently handles 14 lakh litres of milk per day and this will go up to 32 lakh litres per day by 2022.

Brahmani, daughter-in-law of Naidu, said Heritage Foods would achieve the target by both organic and inorganic growth.

She along with her mother-in-law Nara Bhuvaneshwari, Vice Chairperson and Managing Director of HFL, and other top company executives unveiled the new brand identity.

The company, which had turnover of Rs 2,380 crore in 2015-16, sold its retail, bakery and agri business to Future Retail Limited last year to consolidate and focus on dairy as a single line business.

As part of its inorganic expansion, Heritage recently acquired dairy business of Reliance Retail. The tie-up helped Heritage foray in five states in northern India, making it a pan-India player.

Heritage, which has presence in 15 states, is looking to expand at other geographies.

Heritage President M. Sambasiva Rao said the company planned to set up five new milk plants each with an investment of Rs 20 to 30 crore over next five years.

It currently procures milk in eight states and has 15 processing plants.

Brahmani said the company, being the leading player in curd segment, would launch varied products in Yogurt market, by tying up with an international partner.

Rao said a special purpose vehicle would be formed for the joint venture with the international partner. "Details will be announced within a month."

It also plans to launch new and high-end value added products, including products in beverages segment.

Recalling that it was on April 24, 1992, that Naidu started the company to empower farmers, Brahmani said with Rs 4 crore turnover in the first year, it had come a long way and emerged as one of the fastest growing public listed companies in India.

She said the company's rebranding would infuse new energy and prepare it to embark on aggressive expansion plans to new markets.

Stating that there are over one million consumers who use at least one Heritage product every day, Brahmani said the complete changeover of packaging was aimed at appealing to wider customer base across India.