Britannia aims to grow cheese business to Rs 1,250 crore in 5 years after partnership with Bel Group: Report

Earlier this week, Britannia Industries announced a Joint Venture (JV) with French cheesemaker Bel group. Now, it has said that it is aiming to grow its packaged cheese business by five times to about Rs 1,250 crore in the next five years. The JV firm will be focusing on the strengthening of distribution of the cheese portfolio across top 45 cities. It is also going to leverage on Rs 10 sachets for making its products available to consumers in tier-1 and tier-2 markets. Presently, India’s cheese segment is pegged at around Rs 5000 crore, which includes B2B sales. The sector is showing a growth of about 22-23 per cent Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR).

Varun Berry, Executive Vice-Chairman and MD of Britannia Industries, told Businessline that the company presently has a cheese business of about Rs 250 crore. He further added that they believe that they will be able to significantly expand into the market with this partnership by bringing innovative products and fulfilling the evolving needs of consumers.

According to Cécile Béliot, CEO of Bel Group, the strategic partnership with Britannia in India is a new step for the development of Bel Group in Asia. She added that Britannia has a powerful distribution system and is an emblematic brand in India. She further said that the JV could become a big name in the fast-growing Indian cheese market by combining the expertise of Britannia with the iconic brand of Bel Group.

Bel is going to acquire a 49 per cent stake in Britannia’s wholly owned subsidiary BDPL under this partnership. BDPL is going to be renamed as Britannia Bel Foods Pvt. Ltd. The production of cheese products will take place at the JV’s state-of-the-art-facility at Ranjangaon, Maharashtra. The co-branded products will use the trademarks “Britannia” and “The Laughing Cow”.

According to Berry, they have already made an investment of Rs 170 crore in setting up the plant. They are going to invest another Rs 160-170 crore in the next two-three years for bringing in the innovative products.

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