Investment - Tasveer

NRI sets up factory in Gujarat to boost Indian snacks

Nainesh Patel, MD of Farsan in Leicester has started constructing a factory near Baroda to make inroads into the Indian, American, Chinese and Australian markets.

Patel's factory will make Indian snacks that will be shipped overseas catering to both quality seekers and mass produced lower cost seekers.

Patel is now also in talks with Wal-Mart US about stocking samosas, onion bhajis and other Indian snacks and is talking with Indian supermarket chains Nature's Basket, Reliance Fresh and Spencers.

The factory is to be ready in eighteen months and Patel says he will work with local food growers for his requirements. His current turnover is 600,000 pounds that he predicts will rise to over a million pounds in a year. Exports now account for 18 percent of the company's sales.