Eastern Group appoints Santosh Cherian as CFO

Eastern Condiments, one the largest players in the spices segment, today appointed Santosh Cherian as its Chief Financial Officer.
Cherian is a chartered accountant with over 20 years of experience with Allianz, MRF and Hindustan Lifecare.
He is expected to build a globally compliant financial system and practices at the Kochi-based privately held company apart from helping Eastern achieve its profitability and revenue growth goals.
Eastern Condiments, which recently announced its 10th and 11th plants in Karnataka and UP, respectively, has over 100 product offerings and aims to cross Rs 800 crore in turnover this fiscal year and has set a target of having 30 lakh retailers by 2020.

In the quarter to September, the company reported revenue of Rs 192 crore, a growth of 21 per cent over the same period last year. This is a record 10th consecutive quarter of revenue growth, said group Managing Director Firoz Meeran.
The growth was led by its markets outside Kerala, which grew 48 per cent to Rs 55 crore, while Kerala recorded 17 per cent growth, Meeran said.

The Rs 1,000-crore Eastern Group is the largest exporters of spices from the country reported a 2 per cent growth in shipments in the quarter.
The flagship, Eastern Condiments, which had a turnover of Rs 700 crore in FY15, has been the winner of the Spices Board's award for the past 15 consecutive years as the largest exporter of spices.

Eastern Group has over 200 product offerings in its spices and packaged foods segments. It has facilities in Adimaly and Kothamangalam in Kerala, Theni in Tamil Nadu, Guntoor and Rasayani in Andhra, Ghaziabad in UP, Dharwad in Karnataka, and Ras al Kaima and Dubai in the UAE.
It exports to the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Yemen, the US, Britain, Canada, Australia and Singapore.