Annapurna Swadisht, a Kolkata-based packaged snacks, food and beverage company, is looking to come up with an initial public offering (IPO) even as it plans to scale up operations in eastern India. The company, which primarily caters to tier 3 and 4 markets, is planning to get itself listed on the NSE-SME platform by the second or third quarter of the current fiscal.

Shreeram Bagla, Co-Founder and Chairman, Annapurna Swadisht, said plans are afoot to scale up its product portfolio and cover more towns in rural areas.

Founded in 2016 as Annapurna Agro Industries, it ventured into packaged snacks in 2020. During the pandemic, a considerable gap was left as many snack manufacturers shut up shop. It currently has close to 35 SKUs including snacks, candies and cakes in its portfolio. It plans to take it up to 70-80 SKUs by the end of this fiscal.

“We are looking to come out with an IPO by August of this year and are planning to raise close to ₹28 crore. We currently have two manufacturing units, one each in Asansol and Siliguri, and we are planning to put up two more in West Bengal. The proceeds from the IPO would be used for our expansion,” Bagla told BusinessLine.

Annapurna Swadisht, which currently has a turnover of around ₹62 crore, is expecting to close the current financial year at around ₹180-200 crore. There is a strong demand for packaged snacks in rural markets and its products are a perfect fit, both in terms of the quality and price point, he said. Most of its products are sold at a price point of ₹1-5 across the rural markets of Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Assam.

The company currently has 400 distributors and plans to further strengthen its distribution footprint in the existing markets apart from looking to cater newer markets in the eastern and northeastern region.

Annapurna has partnered with Turioyo Foundation for foray into direct-to-consumer segment with the Olonkar range of products. Turiyo Foundation works with women across villages in eastern India for quality procurement of certain authentic and forgotten recipes including pickles, papads and other products including ghee and honey. The company has partnered with Big Basket and plans to take the Olonkar range of products to key markets across India in the coming months.

“We are proud to preserve the dying art of culinary skills from Bengal’s hinterlands and celebrate the artisans by taking their product national under Olonkar. Our partnership with Annapurna will witness many other rare products sourced from eastern and northeastern Indian villages,” Sandip Maity, Director, Turiyo Foundation, said.

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