Food major Britannia Industries estimates a Rs 500 crore business opportunity over the next five years from the croissant segment.

The company has expanded its non-biscuit, non-dairy businesses to include cream-filled wafers and salty snacks in addition to cakes, rusks, bread and croissant and is looking at a higher revenue share from these segments.

For croissants, Britannia has formed a 60:40 joint venture with Greek firm Chipita. The products are manufactured at the company’s Ranjangaon unit near Pune.

Chipita is offering the technical expertise and recipes, while Britannia is looking into logistics, distribution and branding. The company has already invested Rs 100 crore to expand the business.

“Croissant is potentially a frontrunner for us. We expect to garner a lot of business. While there is an existing player in the segment, it is not a large business as of now (estimated at less than Rs 150 crore). We think this can be a very big and significant segment. We are focussing in accordance to this belief,” said Jayant Kapre, vice-president and head adjacency business, Britannia Industries Limited. The company has launched croissant in two flavours — vanilla and chocolate.

“Over a five-year period, there is definitely a Rs 500-crore opportunity for us. This necessitates further expansion. We don’t grow in categories without a manufacturing support plan. If the segment becomes big enough we will need more lines and place them based on demand,” said Kapre.

Other segments

Cream wafers, launched in south India in October last year, is expected to reach other regions soon. Salty snacks under the Time Pass brand is available in the southern markets. The cream wafers are currently being made through contract manufacturing and the company may look to expand the capacities depending on the response it gets.

“For salty snacks, we have a facility in Bangalore. But expansion in the segment is contingent upon what kind of business it can get. We will have a pan-India presence in the segment,” Kapre said.

The non-biscuit non-dairy segment, which constitutes around 15 per cent of the company’s business, is expected to reach 20 per cent over the next two years as Britannia looks to grow in each of the categories.

Britannia on Thursday said it has raised Rs 500 crore through the issuance of commercial papers.

“The company has issued Commercial Papers for an aggregate amount of Rs 500 Crores on April 4, 2019, with tenure upto 260 days,” it said in a BSE filing.