ITC Limited is coming up with a proposal to set up a biscuits and confectionary manufacturing plant in Khurda Food Park of Idco with an investment of around Rs 440 crore. A team of ITC from Bangalore will be meeting the MSME secretary, Panchanan Dash on January 16 and will make a presentation before him. MSME department is the nodal agency for Odisha Food Processing Policy-2013.
In July 2003, ITC made a foray into the biscuits market by launching the Sunfeast range of biscuits. The company currently has two brands in the confectionery segment – ‘mint-o’ and ‘Candyman’. ITC is one of the largest private sector companies with a market capitalisation of $45 billion and a turnover of $ 7 billion. Aashirvaad, Sunfeast, Dark Fantasy, Delishus, Bingo!, Yippee!, Candyman, mint-o, Kitchens of India are the brands of the company in the branded foods space.
Last year, Indo Nissin Foods Ltd, a subsidiary of Japan based Nissin Foods Holdings, had commissioned its factory with an investment of about Rs 100 crore in Idco Food Processing Park.
Other packaged food behemoths like Britannia and Parle Agro are already running their manufacturing units in the state. The food processing policy of the Odisha government aims to promote establishment of units in food parks and mega food parks and increase the flow of investment across the supply chain from farm to market, increase the value addition and reduce wastage of farm produce, create necessary supply chain like transportation, ware houses, and cold storage in the food processing sector.