Around 120 permanent workers have accepted the voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) proposed by Britannia Industries at its factory at Taratala in Calcutta.

The management has also started discussions with contractual workers for VRS, casting a shadow over the future of production from the over seven-decade-old factory in Bengal.

“A voluntary retirement scheme offered by the company to the workers at its factory situated at Taratala, Kolkata, West Bengal, has been accepted by all the permanent workers of aforementioned factory of the company,” said a stock exchange filing from Britannia.

The company has said there will be no material impact on the business operations from the VRS. Queries sent to the company on the reasons for offering VRS to the employees have not evinced any reply.

Sources said the company has directly negotiated an agreement on the VRS with the employees, bypassing the three unions at the factory and depending upon the period of service left, permanent employees have been offered severance packages ranging from ₹13 lakh to ₹22 lakh besides gratuity and PF.

According to sources, the management has indicated to the employees that the plant, which makes biscuits under brands such as Good Day, Milk Bikis and Cream Cracker, has become old.

The sources said, the FMCG firm's current lease for the 11-acre plot runs till 2048, with the company having renewed it in 2018.

The company was not finding it cost efficient to continue production from the unit.

While the factory has not been shut down, sources said the management is exploring returning part of the land to SMPT (erstwhile Calcutta Port Trust), which owns the plot.

There have been instances in the past where the company had faced rent disputes with the Calcutta Port authority. In 2009, the company was asked to vacate the Taratala premises which it has been occupying since the year of Independence.

Besides Calcutta, the FMCG company has plants in the eastern region in Bihar, Odisha and Assam.

In 2016, the company had indicated its plans for a second unit in Bengal with an intent to commence operations by 2018, but that plan did not materialise even as the company had scouted for locations in the state.

While the Assam plant was inaugurated in 2018, a second unit in Bihar has been set up as recently as December 2023.

Incidentally, Britannia Industries can trace its origin to Calcutta. The company was established in 1892 by a group of British businessmen with an initial investment of ₹295. In 1993, textile tycoon Nusli Wadia of Bombay Dyeing took control of the company from Britannia's then-chairman Rajan Pillai, with the help of French food giant Danone.

In 2009, Wadia Group became the largest shareholder in the company after acquiring a 25 per cent stake owned by Group Danone.

For the year ended 31st March 2024, the company had a consolidated revenue of ₹16,546 crore growing 3.5 per cent over the previous year and operating profit was at ₹2,869 crores growing 10.1 per cent.