Dabur to spend USD15m on new beverage venture in Sri Lanka

FMCG company Dabur India is entering Sri Lanka, and will invest USD 15 million to set up an export-oriented facility for producing a range of fruit-based beverages in Gampaha, north of Colombo.

The new manufacturing facility will have a capacity to produce 2.8 lakh cases of fruit-based beverages every month, and will be commissioned in August-September 2012, the company said Tuesday. It has set up a new subsidiary Dabur Lanka Pvt Ltd for the venture.

The plant will initially employ 75 people when operational, and the company plans to increase number of staff to around 200 by 2013-14.

"Our fruit-based juices and beverages under the Real brand have been reporting strong growth month-on-month. Dabur’s Food business had reported over 28% growth in 2010-11 despite the supply constraints. As continued high growth is expected in the future too, we are setting up this new facility to augment our production capacity for fruit-based beverages and meet the growing demand for our products," Dabur India’s CEO Sunil Duggal said.

Apart from Sri Lanka, Dabur already has manufacturing units in neighbouring Bangladesh and Nepal. It also has facilities in Dubai and Ras-al-Khaimah in UAE, apart from Nigeria, Egypt and Turkey.

Dabur India shares were trading up 1% at Rs 102.65 on NSE in afternoon trade.

Nachiket Kelkar
nachiket.kelkar@network18online.com