Orkla Foods, which runs the MTR Foods as a fully owned subsidiary in India, has initiated a ₹200-crore plan to boost sales to ₹2,000 crore by 2020. Sanjay Sharma, CEO, MTR Foods and Atle Vidar, Executive vice-president, Orkla Foods, share the company’s plans with BusinessLine .

What kind of innovations has MTR Foods carried out to expand the market?

To stay relevant and to be the preferred choice of consumers, we are rolling out innovations and have initiated re-branding as well. This is the result of a growing realisation that consumer behaviour has changed dramatically in the last few years. Looking at the dynamic environment and consumer behaviour, we have introduced 44 innovations in three years and we plan to make more innovations as part of our ongoing strategies. Also, in the last two years, many products have become commoditised. In order to stand out, we have expanded the type of products that appeal to different ethnic groups.

What marketing initiates have you adopted with retail partners?

Today, we run multiple consumer-related programmes because, in foods, it is most important to make them taste the products. For this, we have a reach of 2,00,000 outlets and we are seeing an increase in sales in rural areas. About 10-15 per cent of our sales come from rural areas and it is growing 30 per cent annually.

How successful has been your foray into e-commerce?

It is a one-week-old initiative for us; it is too early to comment. Through this, we intend for consumers have access to the entire range of products through the company’s portal. It will be an extension of the ‘Namma MTR’ outlets present in a few cities. At present, our partners Bigbasket and Grofers deliver the products. Gradually, we intend to partner locally in every city. In the first year, we are targeting 1-2 per cent sales of our total sales, through the portal.

What is MTR Foods’ business plan and what kind of targets have you set for India and exports?

The company is planning an expansion of its manufacturing capacity with a budget of ₹200 crore. With this investment, we plan to increase our capacity from 45 tonnes per year to 72 tonnes per year. Currently, we have 80-per cent capacity utilisation. The US continues to be the biggest market with 45-50 per cent sales. Off late, Australia, New Zealand and Canada have also had good sales. Slowly, West Asia is opening up for us. In Europe, currently, we are present in the UK. We have a distribution hurdle which we are sorting out. A good chunk of our products is from South Indian cuisine, but we are expanding to include from other states.

As per your earlier statement, the company was expected to achieve a target of ₹1,000-crore revenue by 2015. Has the target been achieved?

No. We fell short by about ₹300 crore. We were hit by bad economic situation, and food inflation did us in. New consumer acquisition, which we were banking on, did not happen to our pace.

How is the ready-to-eat market evolving at present?

Due to regional disparities, the market is very slow. What is good is that the consumer taste profile is changing. We will have to see how fast it changes, to tap the market. However, the major growth drivers for us are breakfast and desserts.

Are you planning to take MTR Foods public?

No. It will continue to be a wholly owned subsidiary of Orkla Foods.

Will Orkla be bringing its branded consumer goods to India?

At present, there are no such plans. We are fully committed to the promotion of MTR Foods.

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