Comments
Kishore Biyani, Group CEO, Future Group, is getting ready to compete in the oats category, targeting ₹200 crore in sales and a 50 per cent share in the next two years. It has roped in Ogilvy & Mather to build its oats brand, Kosh, with a budget of ₹70 crore for the next three years, to give a ‘desi’ touch to the ‘healthy’ grain and replace traditionally consumed staples such as wheat and rice.
Joint VentureHaving set up a joint venture in Sri Lanka for manufacturing oats, the ₹22,000-crore Future Group intends using it as an export hub for supplying to Europe and the UAE.
With a capacity to manufacture 100 tonnes of oats a day, Aussee Oats Milling, the JV company, currently exports about 500 tonnes of oats to India for the private-label brand of Kosh.
“We have spent ₹85 crore for setting up a manufacturing base in Sri Lanka,” said Biyani. Future Consumer Enterprise has a majority stake of 51 per cent in Aussee Oats Milling; the balance is owned by the Gupta family based in Sri Lanka.
“Through our JV company in Sri Lanka, we will have the capacity to produce oats much more than the current market in India. We want to bring oats to the centre of the plate and make it the third grain after wheat and rice in India.”
While Future Group already owns distribution through its Big Bazaar outlets, Kosh will also get rolled out in the general trade and other retail formats like Trent-owned hypermart Star Bazaar.
Future Consumer Enterprise has been building its FMCG portfolio for the past few years, having set up the first food park in Bengaluru with an investment of ₹150 crore.
Both Indian and multinational players have been competing in the ₹500-crore oats category.
While PepsiCo’s Quaker Oats is the market leader, Marico dominates in the savoury oats category estimated at ₹200 crore. Future Group has roped in former Marico CFO Milind Sarwate to guide it in its FMCG foray, where it has almost 27 brands such as Tasty Treat, Golden Harvest and Sunkist.
“By 2021, almost 70 per cent of the items in our stores will belong to us. We expect categories like oats to generate revenues of ₹1,000 crore by then,” Biyani said.
After oats, Future group will be building a new brand of chocolates in the FMCG category.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.