Nilon's setting up pickles unit in mango belt of UP
India’s largest pickles manufacturer Nilon’s is setting up a pickles manufacturing unit in western Uttar Pradesh at an investment of Rs 32 crore.
The company has already acquired two non-congruous stretches of land measuring a total of 12 acres in Saharanpur district.
“The unit will come up in the next one and half years,” Nilon’s Enterprises director and CEO Rajheev Agrawal told Business Standard here.
The prime objective of setting up the unit is to source locally produced mangoes from the Saharanpur belt and Meerut for making pickles.
“Two years back, we had tried to source mango from this belt to our unit in Maharashtra, but the consignment could not reach on time and it was wasted,” he informed.
The other mango belt of Malihabad in Lucknow is famous for Dussehri, but it is considered more suited for eating than food processing due to its high sweet and juice content.
India’s domestic pickles market is pegged at Rs 1,200 crore, which includes both organised and unorganised sectors with the former accounting for nearly 20 per cent, but growing due to rising brand consciousness among people.
Likewise, the domestic spices market is estimated at Rs 12,000 crore.
“UP accounts for roughly Rs 900 crore and Rs 200 crore worth of spices and pickles market respectively,” he added.
Nilon’s produces 30,000 tonnes of pickles annually and markets it through the net of 4.5 lakh retailers and 4,100 distributors.
It also produces spices and of late is concentrating on increasing its spices portfolio through aggressive marketing and consumer connects.
“We are growing at the CAGR of 60 per cent and our sales had stood at Rs 240 crore this year,” Agrawal added.