Kishore Biyani, who controls India’s largest listed retailer Pantaloon Retail (India), plans to set up as many as five food parks in the country in partnership with local investors as he seeks to create hubs for suppliers of regional brands and local produce to his expanding chain of stores — from KB’s Fair Price to Food Bazaar.
To do this, Biyani has set up a special purpose vehicle via his listed firm Future Ventures — Integrated Food Park — through which he hopes to route his investment.
“We expect to invest between Rs 25-30 crore as our equity contribution for each park,” a top official of Future group told Financial Chronicle.
“Each of these parks will have three partners and will take three to four years to turn a cash profit,” said a senior Future Ventures official.
The first food park in Karnataka will be equally divided for processing fresh produce such as tomatoes and mangoes that are perishable in nature and farm produce such as ragi, maize and rice, which have a longer shelf life.
Capital Foods will hold 48 per cent in the Karnataka park while Pantaloon Retail (India) will hold 26 per cent.
“Bangalore-based real estate developer Sattva group, headed by Bijay Agarwal, too will hold a stake in the Karnataka food park,” said Praveen Dwivedi, president of food parks at Future Ventures.
The venture is expected to get a government grant of Rs 50 crore, said KK Rathi, chief executive officer of Future Ventures.
The Karnataka park, expected to come up at Kolar/Tumkur, has a project cost of Rs 144 crore and it is expected to be ready in 18 months.
The company is also setting up a food park at Khelgaon in Bhagalpur district of Bihar in association with Keventer Agro. Spread over 125 acres, the food park, which will have other individual investors, is estimated to cost between Rs 153-200 crore.
“Maintaining our aggressive growth pattern, we wish to set new benchmarks in our industry and ensure India becomes a global food destination. With a vision to add value to the lives of customers, we are confident the current food park in Bihar alone will cater to the needs of over 20,000 farmers there,” Mayank Jalan, managing director at Keventer group, had said in a recent announcement.
Integrated Food Park has submitted an expression of intent to the Union ministry of food processing to set up a mega food park at Bakrol village in Ahmedabad district of Gujarat. The project, proposed to be developed with Jaffe Foods Industries and Gujarat Enviro Protection and Infrastructure, is estimated to cost Rs 112.10 crore.
Source : Financial Chronicle
