ITC may unveil the first phase of its integrated food manufacturing and logistic facility at Pudukottai in Tamil Nadu by the second quarter of 2018-19. Products such as biscuits, atta, and noodles would be manufactured at this plant.
Entailing an investment of about ₹1,000 crore, this project is coming up on 55 acres and involves the phased implementation of a state-of-the-art unit with a built-up area of 14 lakh square feet. The first phase of the project is expected to be commissioned in a few months, said an ITC official.
Odisha facility
Another such facility is under construction near Bhubaneswar in Odisha, it was learnt. Over the last two years, ITC has ramped up efforts in setting up such facilities closer to its markets, many of which were earlier serviced through third-party manufacturing.
“Strengthening the supply chain through integrated manufacturing hubs is a strategy that we are following,” ITC president FMCG B. Sumant told The Hindu during an interaction, adding that typically these would have a factory and a warehouse that would enable quick servicing of a market within 300 km. “The gains are on counts of better inventory management, improved efficiencies and freshness of products,” he said. ITC has already set up three such facilities in West Bengal, along with similar investments in Assam and Punjab. It also has food units in Karnataka, Bihar (dairy unit) and Maharashtra. More such units are coming up in Telangana and Madhya Pradesh, among other locations.
The cigarette-to-hotel conglomerate’s biggest visible presence in Tamil Nadu is the ITC Grand Chola in Chennai (a hotel which is operating under ‘The Luxury Collection’ brand under licence from Starwood Asia Pacific Hotels & Resorts Pte Ltd). Besides, in Tamil Nadu, it has a packaging and printing factory and a paperboard mill in Coimbatore, and WelcomHotel in Chennai and Coimbatore.