AKG forays into edible oil market

Kolkata, Apr 25 (UNI) In its bid to diversify and capture 30 per cent of the edible oil market in Eastern India, AKG Group today announced to launch its own brand of mustard oil-'AKG Oils'--in the region.

Announcing the new marketing plan of the company, AKG Group Managing Director B K Ghosh said its own brand of mustard oil would be marketted within a fortnight and the Group would foray into other food products in a phased manner.

Mr Ghosh said mustard oil has been identified first by the company as there was an increasing demand of approximately 2 lakh tonnes annually in the Eastern region and the Group has targetted to capture at least 30 per cent of the market share in the coming years.

''Currently we are targetting around 10 per cent of the market as our initial goal and our target customers are Bengali housewives,'' he maintained.

''We are looking at diversification and at the same time we would like to utilise our nearly three decades' experience in the business of food and food related products and are looking at coming up with new products in our core competency area,'' Mr Ghosh said.

He informed that to start with, the production target of mustard oil has been estimated at 10 tonnes daily at an initial investment of Rs one crore.

The new brand of oil would be packaged at Dhulichand Oil Mill at Hyde Road in South Kolkata, he said.

''We have zeroed in on mustard oil because it is a quintessential kitchen requirement and it goes with our image,'' he observed.

He also informed that after West Bengal, the Group would extend its marketing plan in Bihar, Jharkhand, Asom and Arunachal Pradesh among other North Eastern states gradually.

UNI