NEW DELHI : Monin, a French syrups company, is set to expand its production in India with a ₹300 crore investment in a new plant in Telangana. Although the company announced the plant in 2018, its groundbreaking is happening this week, said Olivier Monin, chairman, Georges Monin SA.
The investment into Monin India Pvt. Ltd will come directly from the family owned French business. The first phase of the growth in the first two years, through the investment would be to make products local, using locally sourced products. In the second phase, till 2027, it will look to make India a production hub to export its products to neighbouring South-east Asian countries. He said the company invested ₹50 crore to acquire more than 40 acres in 2018, to create research and developmental labs to localize its products.
Today, India is a small fraction of the Monin market which largely focuses on western countries for large ticket sales. But in the coming years, it expects that this business could increase 10x.
Monin said the company was eager to set up a factory in India as a large amount of its current demand was being furnished by its product imports from Malaysia. “We want to become a local brand, similar to what we did in America and Malaysia," he said.
“India has a large young population and we are optimistic about the future of India in the next 15-20 years. India is an important market – not only in terms of its untapped commercial potential, but also because of the thrill of serving a country already brimming with diversity, talent and innovation. This facility will help us in achieving our goal of providing premium beverage solutions to our partners worldwide," Monin said.
Like most businesses in the spirits space, the pandemic became a big disruptor for the company world over. The company grew at 30% between 2011-2021 across the world, said Monin, with a short period of disruption. The company largely focuses on selling to corporate businesses but is also present in about 2,000 retail stores in the country, in both commercial and smaller variants. Its gross turnover, as per the company in Fy23 stood at ₹100 crore. Mint could not independently verify this.
India’s non-alcoholic spirits market is a sizeable one. It stood at about ₹67,100 crore in 2019, said a report from economic policy think tank ICRIER. This is expected to grow to ₹1.47 trillion growing at a CAGR of 8.7% till 2030. This includes largely products like juices, packaged water and other drinks.