Avanti Feeds started its commercial operations more than two decades ago under the leadership of late Alluri Venkateswara Rao in technical collaboration with Pingtai Enterpries, Taiwan. Later his son Alluri Indra Kumar, the current CMD, expanded the capacity and enhanced technical and marketing capabilities by bringing on board Thai Union Frozen Products PCL.
Over the years, the company has developed shrimp culture and processing by bringing-in latest technology in feed manufacture. This has enabled the company to deliver quality at competitive prices to consumers across the world.
Avanti Feeds is heavily focusing on the overseas markets such as the US, Europe and even parts of Africa. The organisation is betting big on other Asian markets such as Thailand and Vietnam.
The company’s FY16 revenue was at Rs 2,018.29 crore from Rs 1,780.66 crore in FY15, up by 13.34 per cent (YOY). For Q3FY17, revenue was at Rs 558.62 crore, from Rs 413.11 crore in Q3FY16, up by 35.22 per cent (YOY).
The sea food exporter is keeping the expenses of the company under control, which is resulting in a steady improvement in profitability. Currently, Avanti Feeds’ shrimp processing capacity is 25 tonnes per day and the company is commissioning a new plant, which will have a capacity of 75 tonnes per day.
Sea food export has shown a steady growth in the year 2016-17 on the back of renewed global demand and addition of more areas for aquaculture. In August 2016, experts predicted that this sector is likely to grow around 20 per cent in the year 2016-17.
Power Charge The most prominent strength of the company is their CMD, Alluri Indra Kumar. His move to establish a joint venture with Thai Union Frozen Products has led to a flourishing shrimp business in and outside the country. He was inducted as director into the board of Avanti Feeds in 1992 and took over as MD in 2002.
Kumar is expecting around 25 per cent growth for the financial year 2018. He is going for higher value addition products which are currently unavailable in India. The objective behind the forthcoming plan is to get the value added products for direct consumers.
Avanti Feeds has generated over 1,000 per cent returns for their shareholders in the last two years. The overall business climate is expected to improve dramatically for the company after the government announcement to grow marine exports by 20 per cent every year. Avanti Feeds can gain maximum benefit post this announcement because it earns 85 per cent of its revenue by selling shrimp feed and rest from shrimp processing.
The Billion Dollar Fish Avanti Feeds is working hard to become a billion-dollar player in coming three years. The company has more than 40 per cent stake in the Indian fish and prawn feeds market. The company has spent hundreds of crores in the last couple of years that has led to substantial increase in capacity. It has expanded the shrimp feed manufacturing capacity by setting of a new plant with an installed capacity of 125,000 million tonnes per annum. Hyderabad-headquartered Avanti Feeds has also set up a hatchery as backward integration project in Andhra Pradesh.
The company’s plan now is to strengthen and maximise the existing capacities of feed and processing and exports of shrimps. The revenue break up between shrimp exports and shrimp feed is currently at 15:85. The company is planning to improve the ratio to 40:60. There are also concrete plans to diversify into fish feed manufacturing in a big way.
BW Reporters
The author is a journalist with BW Businessworld. He primarily covers Retail, Media & Entertainment and Travel & Tourism sectors
