Manpasand Beverages On Its Expansion Spree
Manpasand Beverages, a Gujarat-based fruit drink manufacturing company, has adopted an aggressive expansion strategy to focus its penetration in the urban market. "To increase our products availability across all retail formats, we have been forming key alliances with various domestic and global companies such as SPAR, Reliance, Metro Cash and Carry etc," says Abhishek Singh, Director, Manpasand Beverages. The company's flagship product, 'Mango Sip,' has emerged as one of the fastest selling fruit drinks at SPAR's retail outlets in the last financial year.
In order to meet the continuing demands of the customers, Manpasand has formalised plans to set-up four new manufacturing units investing Rs 600 crore. The company has two manufacturing facilities at Vadodara in Gujarat, one each at Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh and Dehradun in Uttarakhand. A new unit is being set up at Ambala in Haryana. "Construction work has already begun for new plants in Sri City, Vadodara & Varanasi. Manpasand has also identified a location for a fourth plant in the eastern part of India probably along the Jharkhand-Odisha border. These new plants will not only double the company's production capacity in the coming 12-18 months, but will also help Manpasand to reach out to newer markets, especially in north-eastern and southern India," informed Singh.
To further strengthen this expansion strategy, the Company's has tied-up with Parle Products, makers of Parle G, to have access to Parle's 4.5 million outlets pan-India for its flagship brand 'Mango Sip.' "The current market share of Manpasand Beverages is around 8% and in the next 12 months we are hopeful that this will stand at 15%," said Singh. Presently, Manpasand is the fourth largest player in the INR 5,000 crore mango beverage segments.
After expanding its reach in the rural market, Manpasand has launched its 'Fruits Up' range to tap the urban market. With 'Fruits Up', the company plans to capture part of the huge carbonated drinks market, which is estimated to be worth around 25,000 Crores. Recently, the company has entered into packaged tender coconut water segment through their new brand, 'Coco Sip.'
Started in the year 1997, the company sensed an opportunity in the tier II and III cities (rural and semi-rural areas) where the major players were leaving the gap. In the FMCG sector, making a product available to the masses is very important, and that is something what Manpasand Beverages have always believed in. "We have also offered our products at a lower price point and in a wider range of packs (PET and Tetra packs) and focused on building a strong relationship with distributors by providing them with incentives," added Singh.
From the food processing industry point of view, the Government has taken a wide range of policy measures to spur growth in the sector. Singh praises the proposal to integrate farmers who grow fruits and vegetables with agro processing units as it makes better economic sense and reduces post-harvest losses. "We hope more such initiatives are introduced for the MSME sector as they are not only one of the largest job providers, but also form the backbone of the food processing sector in India. We also need an atmosphere where consumption is boosted as it will lead to better profitability and efficiency for the food processing industries," concluded Singh.
