GD Foods maker of Tops brand of food products to set up new unit in Punjab

GD Foods, maker of the Tops brand of food products, is planning to set up a new unit to produce tomato paste at Tarn Taran in Punjab with an initial capacity of 30,000 tonnes per annum. The new unit would attract an investment of Rs 6 crore and will have multiple product lines, including chillies, apples etc.

Currently, its existing unit at Tarn Taran has an installed capacity of 12,000 tonnes of tomato paste per annum.

Speaking to Business Standard, GD Foods Managing Director Nitin Seth, said: "We are going for backward integration. The new unit at Tarn Taran will manufacture tomato paste for our sauces unit. It will boast of multiple product line like tomato, apples, chillies that means the production line can be easily utilised for processing different commodities."

For processing tomato paste the company has tied up with farmers for contract farming. It has entered into agreement with Punjab farmers in October 2014.

"We are doing contract farming with farmers of Punjab in over 1000 acres. We are facilitating them by providing all the necessary inputs. Under the arrangement the produce will be bought by us and utilised for manufacturing tomato paste," he added. The company has entered into agreement with Punjab farmers in October 2014.

Overall, the company has seven state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities spread across Punjab, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Uttrakhand & Rajasthan and have diversified product categories including pickles, Jams, tomato ketchup, instant mixes, cornflakes, custards, cake mixes etc.

Also, having made its mark in ketchups, jams, pickles etc. segment market under the brand name 'Tops', it has forayed into three new product category, cookies, rusk & muffins under the brand name 'Royal Taste.' The company shared that it is aggressively looking at Hotels, Restaurants and Caterers(HORECA) with this new product range.

With expanded product portfolio the company is targeting to touch a turnover of Rs. 250 crore in the current fiscal year compared to Rs 170 crore in the previous fiscal.

On being asked about the export market, he added, "Currently we are exporting to various countries like USA, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, Thailand, Singapore, Maldives, Libya & Canada. The products exported include pickles, sauces, jellies, custards, vermicelli, cornflakes, instant mixes, cookies, etc. Now we are targeting gulf countries and North African countries."

The company has a robust distribution network covering an exhaustive geographical area of retail outlets and multi brand outlets across 18 states of the country with having penetration in urban, semi urban and rural market.