Make in India: Nestlé to set up plant in Odisha, invest Rs 900 crore

In a major boost to India’s local manufacturing push, Swiss food and beverages (F&B) giant Nestlé is coming up with another plant in the country in Odisha. The local subsidiary of the Vevey, Switzerland-headquartered company— Nestlé India—has already secured approval from the authorities.
Nestlé that also the largest F&B company in India, will be setting up a manufacturing plant to primarily produce packaged food items. It has already identified the location in Odisha’s Khurda district near the state capital Bhubaneswar.
According to them, the company plans to invest close to Rs 900 crore to set up the packaged foods plant and may employ nearly 800 people. This would be the 10th manufacturing plant for Nestlé in India, which has been operational in the country since 1912. While Nestlé entered the India market with its baby formula products and used to import the products initially, it set up its first plant here in 1961 at Moga in Punjab.
In response to Business Today’s queries a Nestlé India spokesperson said, “We have made an application for allotment of land in Odisha, for setting up a manufacturing unit. We are given to understand that State Level Single Window Clearance Authority (SLSWCA) has approved the proposal. However, we are yet to receive any official communication.”
With its sales growing rapidly in recent years, Nestlé set up its ninth plant in Sanand, Gujarat, last year with an investment of over Rs 700 crore to ramp the local production of its hot-selling Maggi instant noodles. These initiates are a part of Nestlé India’s Rs 2,600-crore capex plant that its Chairman and Managing Director Suresh Narayanan unveiled a couple of years ago.
“Over the years, we have delivered penetration and volume growth that was industry leading for most of this period. Secondly, our portfolio is stronger than ever and Nestle leads in multiple categories that it is present in. And third, the pace of innovation is fairly active,” Narayanan told BT in a recent interaction.
Narayanan’s endeavour to increase Nestlé’s production capacity is not without a rationale. During the Covid-19 period, its net sales grew at 11 per cent CAGR to Rs 16,790 crore. And, despite the steep inflation in commodity prices, its net profit rose by 6.7 per cent CAGR to Rs 2,305 crore in CY22. Nestle’ follows a January-December financial year.
Source: BusinessToday