FMCG major ITC has announced that it will invest Rs 40 billion over the next 2-3 years to set up 8-9 factories across the country towards manufacture of Food Products. ITC's branded packaged foods division grew by ~11% to clock sales of Rs 70.97 billion in FY2016.
Food is the second largest business for ITC after cigarettes. ITC recently expanded its new Sunfeast Farmlite biscuits portfolio, which caters to the health conscious consumers, and is looking to tap this fast growing consumer segment. Health segment of the biscuit market is ~1% of industry now, but is the fastest growing segment.
Management highlighted that their approach is to have a full portfolio across the segments, as they see this as a big play panning out within the segment, going forward.
Shares of the company gained Rs 12.3, or 3.48%, to trade at Rs 365.70. The total volume of shares traded was 147,485 at the BSE (10.46 a.m., Wednesday).