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Parle weighing plastics foray

Reeba Zachariah in Mumbai

Schauna Chauhan, the 25-year-old daughter of Prakash Chauhan, promoter of the Parle group, is chalking out major backward integration plans, which entail the group's foray into plastics.

The Parle group is a leading player in the bottled water business in India, and owns the Bailley brand. Its other brands include fruit-based drinks such as Frooti, N-Joi, and Appy.

"I do not want Parle Agro to stick to beverages alone, but expand into the plastics business in a big way," Schauna Chauhan, who recently took over operations of the company from her father, said.

"There is a lot of potential to expand in the plastics category - manufacturing jars, bottles, containers and so on," she added.

The company has already set up a facility for manufacturing pet bottles and caps at Silvassa.

The backward integration will provide the company an edge over others in terms of quality and pricing of Bailley.

The company's ambitious game-plan also includes major expansion drives, new strategies for growth, new product launches, research and development initiatives, renewed thrust on exports, marketing and advertising.

As a first step towards this, the company plans to set up a manufacturing base (for Frooti) in Sri Lanka and UAE. The company is also emphasising on R&D initiatives to roll out new products.

"There are plans to launch new products in the fruit and dairy segment," Prakash Chauhan, chairman and managing director of Parle Agro, said.

He, however, refused to divulge further details. Currently, Frooti contributes around 60 per cent to the total turnover of the company.

Parle Agro is the holding company of the group's beverages brand. It has four subsidiaries - Parle International, which holds the franchise for Maharashtra, Explicit Trading & Marketing, which holds the franchise for Delhi, Frooti Beverages, which manufactures ingredients for Frooti, and Parle Pet, which manufactures pet bottles for Bailley.

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