Origo Commodities forays into retail segment

Launches retail line comprising staples and produce under OrigoFarms.in

Post-harvest management services company, Origo Commodities, has announced its entry into the retail segment. The company has launched its retail line comprising staples and produce, under the brand OrigoFarms, in Hyderabad.

Sunoor Kaul, director, Origo Commodities, said they planned to roll out the brand in Pune and Maharashtra by March and by the first quarter of the next financial year, in Bengaluru and Karnataka. "By September, we would launch it in 50-odd cities, covering five states including Chennai (Tamil Nadu) and the National Capital Region (Delhi)," he said.

The five-year-old company currently has a packaging and distribution centre in Medak near Hyderabad. It has invested around Rs 4 crore in the Medak centre and would invest Rs 40-50 crore in the eight centres it is planning to set up.

To begin with, it now has on shelf rice, pulses, spices and groundnut and fruits and vegetables. The company has tied up with some 14,000 retail stores, which include 130 large format retailers, here to sell the brand and expects to have a market share of 2-5 per cent in the premium category.

Going forward, as it expands the offering, the company sees the retail segment contributing Rs 60-100 crore to the total turnover. It expects to close the current fiscal with revenues of Rs 300 crore and then double to Rs 650 crore in the financial year 2016-17. The share of retail in the total revenues would increase from FY18, said Kaul.