Food and beverage major Parle Agro has sewn up an aggressive marketing campaign with emphasis on rural market penetration.

The company, which is into beverages, snacks and water, sees all its business segments growing this year with revenues possibly heading towards the Rs 3,000-crore mark, up from Rs 2,000 crore it logged last year, according to Ms Nadia Chauhan, Joint Managing Director and Chief Marketing Officer of Parle Agro.

Addressing newspersons, Ms Chauhan said the company has charted out a series of initiatives, including expansion of the distribution network to tap the rural market and by investing over Rs 40 crore in marketing spend this year.

“The southern region is a major market for Parle Agro and we have roped in Tollywood star Siddharth Narayan to endorse our brands. We see this helping us connect better with our potential customers,” she said.

The company has completed the expansion project of its manufacturing facilities. It has eight self-owned beverage manufacturing units in the country with two of them based in Hyderabad and Chennai. This capacity would see it through for some more time.

Summer months tend to contribute about 60 per cent of the total business when it comes to beverages and cool drinks. “We see the ensuing summer having immense potential in terms of further penetration into rural markets and adding more brands to the existing portfolio. Recently, we have also launched drinks in returnable glass bottles,” Ms Chauhan said.

The company focus has been on promoting brands Frooti, Appy, LMN, Saint Juice and Appy Fizz.

>vrishi@thehindu.co.in

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