Perfetti India, the country's biggest confectionery company, said on Tuesday it would foray into Bangladesh and expand its two facilities to introduce new products with a total investment of Rs 40 crore (Rs 400 million).
"We are setting up a facility in Bangladesh with an investment of Rs 20 crore (Rs 200 million). The company in Bangladesh will be an offshoot of the Indian venture," Perfetti India Head (Marketing), Sameer Suneja said.
The company would also expand the Manesar (Haryana) and Chennai plants by injecting another Rs 20 crore for new products, its managing director Stefano Pelle said launching the company's first sugar-free chewing gum 'Happydent Protex'.
The Indian arm of Italy-based Perfetti SpA, the world's third-biggest confectionery firm, aims 10-20 per cent growth in sales turnover in 2004 over Rs 400 crore (Rs 4 billion) last year, largely helped by its recent product portfolio.
Perfetti India has about 25 per cent market share in the Rs 1,600 crore (Rs 16 billion) Indian confectionery market, which is growing at 3-4 per cent annually.
The company, which began its operations in 1994 with 'Center Fresh' chewing gum, has entered the Indian sugar-free confectionery market now as the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act did not allow any such products earlier.
The legislation with reagrd to sugar-free confectionery came into force in June this year, Pelle said.
He said the sugar-free category was likely to be about 5-10 per cent of the total confectionery market in the next 10 years.
Perfetti India, which has 13 brands, has lined up three more products.
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