Britannia to invest Rs. 500 cr on R&D, expansion.

Nusli Wadia-headed Britannia Industries will invest nearly Rs. 500 crore in the current financial year and will continue to make substantial investments over the next two-three years.

'We are going to spend our maximum ever on capital expenditure,' Wadia said, addressing shareholders during Britannia's 96th annual general meeting in Kolkata recently.

Later during the day, Wadia said that the company will put greater focus on food safety and expand its own manufacturing while increasing control on supply chain. 'We have learned from the current crisis on food safety and ensured Britannia is not vulnerable to such factors. It is more important now, considering there is not much control on raw materials and standards in India like everywhere else in the world,' he said.

The Kolkata- headquartered food products company is well set to open a Rs. 45-crore state-of-the-art research and development centre in Bangalore by the end of the year, he said.

The company has reported a 67 per cent jump in its net profit to Rs. 190 crore and a 13 per cent rise in its revenue to Rs. 2,018.9 crore compared to the year-ago period. 'This has been one of the best results in the history of Britannia. The revenue CAGR in last two years has been around 12.6 per cent which, too, has been good considering the weaker market sentiments when other FMCG companies could not grow as much,' said Wadia. He attributed the rise in market share and profit to successful new launches.

'Our results are a reflection of our focus on driving consumer off-take and operational efficiencies to generate sustainable and profitable growth, despite the slowdown witnessed in the FMCG sector', said Britannia Industries managing director Varun Berry.

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