Coimbatore-based Suguna Poultry Farm Limited (SPFL), one of the largest producers of poultry broilers in the country, is planning to set up a ready-to-eat chicken products plant in Bangalore, according to K. Ravindran, director (sales and marketing).

"We have zeroed in on Bangalore as it is a logistically-ideal location. We will start work on the unit in two months from now and commence production in the next one-and-a-half to two years. The proposed plant, which will entail an investment of Rs 25 crore [250 million rupees], will have an annual capacity to make 300 tonne of ready-to-eat products like chicken popcorn, nuggets, fried chicken and biryani," he told Business Standard on the sidelines of the three-day Poultry India 2011 here.

Suguna Poultry garners around 95 per cent of its over 40-billion rupee (INR) revenues from broiler live birds and five per cent from its consumer products division. Mr Ravindran said the company was now laying thrust on reducing the broiler live birds business and augment growth in processed chicken and further-processed chicken (ready-to-eat) products segment, thereby increasing the consumer products division’s contribution to 10 per cent in the next four years.

"Towards this, we are embarking on expanding our retail presence, primarily in south India. Right now, we have 85 Suguna Daily Fresh retail outlets, which offer fresh chilled chicken and ready-to-eat grilled chicken, and we are planning to open 500 more franchisee-owned outlets in cities like Bangalore Chennai and in Kerala in the next financial year," Mr Ravindran said, adding the company intended to float a new division – Suguna Foods – and bring ready-to-eat products and branded eggs under its fold.

While the world per capita consumption of poultry and related products is 55kg, the Indian average is only 3kg. However, the per-capita consumption in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka is around nine per cent, which holds huge potential for value-added products, he said.

In the Indian table egg market, pegged at 150 million eggs per day – excluding two million supplied to egg powder manufacturing units and three million exported to Afghanistan and African countries – Suguna has a 0.5 per cent market share, according to Business Standard.

"We are seeing high level of acceptance for our branded eggs in Bangalore, Chennai, Pune and Mumbai. We will be entering the Delhi market this month and expand to Chandigarh and Kolkata in due course. Our aim is to corner at least two per cent of the table egg sales in the country by the end of next year," Mr Ravindran added.