Rasna to set up two new plants

Rasna Private Limited, the market leader in the soft drink concentrate market, has plans to set up two new plants and launch 'regional flavours' to garner 35 per cent growth this year.

The company, which commands over 93 per cent volume share in the Rs 300 crore (Rs 3 billion) SDC market, has chalked out aggressive growth plans like the launch of region-specific flavours and penetrating semi-urban markets through widening the distribution network.

"We are going to launch new flavours by next seven to eight months. Our target is to increase the sales volume from 2 billion glasses to 3 billion glasses this year," Rajesh Mehta, assistant general manager (marketing), Rasna, said in Kolkata.

This, he said, would increase the company turnover from the current Rs 225 crore (Rs 2.25 billion) to Rs 250 crore (Rs 2.50 billion).

The company, having six manufacturing units in the country -- five in Gujarat and one in Himachal Pradesh -- was also planning to set up two new facilities at a cost of about Rs 10 crore (Rs 100 million) to cater to the growing demand.

"We have recently set up a new plant at Baddi in Himachal Pradesh. We are planning to add two more facilities -- one in the north and another in the east," Mehta said.

He said that the company was also planning to add 500 distributors by the end of the year to reach the small towns and semi-urban markets.