The Hindu Business Line : Nirula's plans Rs 100-cr expansion

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New Delhi, March 1 Nirula's, the Delhi-based quick service restaurant chain, on Thursday said that it had embarked on a Rs 100-crore pan-India expansion plan under the new ownership of the Malaysian equity firm Navis Capital Partners and promoter Mr Samir Kuckreja.

"The target is to become the largest player in India within the next five years. We have a pan-India expansion plan to have about 150 outlets in the coming three years," said Mr Kuckreja, Managing Director, Nirula's.

"The company will invest Rs 100 crore for the purpose and it will be funded equally through internal accruals and debt," he added. "In the first quarter of 2008 we will have a presence in Mumbai. And for the near future, we are opening about 35 outlets in North and Central India and thereby move to States such as Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh," Mr Kuckreja said. Currently, the company has a total of 44 outlets.

"We have already invested Rs 20 crore in the company since we took over last year. We have also changed the top executive management team, recruiting some of the best talents in the industry," he said.

Amongst the new recruited members of the management team are Mr Ajit Chauhan, Vice-President HR (ex-ITC Marriott), Mr Roger Narula, Head Operations Training (ex-Burger King and Yum! US), Mr Sanjay Sachdeva, Head Business Development (ex-Pizza Hut), Ms Sudipta Sengupta, Senior VP Marketing and Sales (ex-Cafe Coffee Day) and Ms Seema Atreya, Head Quality Assurance and R&D (ex-Dominos).