Having withstod competition from food giants like Pepsico’s Lays and ITC’s Bingo in the Rs 3,000 crore indian wafers market, Balaji Wafers now plans to enter the capital market next year by offloading about 10 per cent stake and raise about Rs. 400 crore.
The company is also aggressively moving towards entering new snacks categories. Given its expertise in potato wafers and snacks, it is set to launch a French Fries range in 2015. While Balaji french fries plants would be ready and running by May 2015, some new products are slated for launch by October next year.
Balaji plans to enter this space through Iscon Balaji Foods, which currently manufactures ready-to-cook potato flakes. Iscon Balaji is a joint venture between Balaji Wafers, Iscon Group and SP Chips Potato Pvt Ltd, and manufactures potato flakes at its plant located in in Gujarat.
Neel Kotak, MD and CEO, Iscon Balaji said, “The company plans to foray into a number of potato speciality products including indianised innovations to complement french fries.”
“French fries is the future, All Indians love it,” said Chandu Virani, MD, Balaji Wafers
