Godrej Tyson to invest Rs 40 crore to upgrade plants

Godrej Agrovet's subsidiary Godrej Tyson on Wednesday said it will invest Rs 40 crore (Rs 400 million) to upgrade its processing units in Karnataka and Maharashtra during the current fiscal.

"We are upgrading both our processing plants in Maharashtra and Karnataka. The capacity will be enhanced along with other utilities such as cold chain in six months. The investment in this company (Godrej Tyson) will be close to Rs 40 crore (Rs 400 million)," Godrej Agrovet and Godrej Tyson Managing Director B S Yadav said.

Godrej Tyson, which makes 'Real Good Chicken' and frozen ready to eat 'Yummiez' follows October to September as its reporting period.

"About 60 percent capacity enhancement will happen for basic chicken processing. The current capacity is about 50,000 birds per day. It is 25,000 birds at each plant," Yadav added.

The company is eyeing a 20

percent increase in its revenue during the current year on the back of the capacity expansion in its plants. Its revenue last year was close to Rs 275 crore (Rs 2.75 billion).

The Real Good Chicken brand is about Rs 200 crore (Rs 2 billion) and Yummiez is close to about Rs 75 crore (Rs 750 million), he added.

Yadav ruled out the option of expanding its presence in other countries saying, "if this grows at 20 percent CAGR we need not go anywhere."

Godrej Tyson enjoys 7 percent market share in Rs 1,500 crore (Rs 15 billion) frozen ready to cook segment with Yummiez and about 20 percent in the Rs 1,200 crore (Rs 12 billion) processed raw chicken market with Real Good Chicken.

When asked about making a foray in the ready to eat segment in the non-frozen segment, Associate Vice President-India Operations Sushil Sawant said, "we will be tracking consumer habits. At the right level we will look at introducing if it is significantly big."