At Global CSR Congress – Ankesh Shahra of Ruchi Soya receives CSR Award for Community Development

Mumbai, February 20, 2013: Ruchi Soya Industries Limited (Ruchi Soya) has been Felicitated with the CSR Award for Community Development during the World CSR Congress.

Mr. Ankesh Shahra who manages the international businesses of Ruchi Soya and participates in the CSR activities of the Company was honoured with the felicitation at a glittering event in Mumbai. Dr. Christoph Stueckelberger, Executive Director and Founder of Globethics and Dr. Bhaskar Chatterjee, Director General & CEO, Indian Institute of Corporate  affairs handed over the trophy and citation to Mr. Ankesh Shahra.

Commenting on the occasion, Mr. Ankesh Shahra stated, “I am very grateful to the World CSR Congress for honouring Ruchi Soya with the award for Community Development. Ruchi believes in sharing its growth with every stakeholder and giving back to the society in a sustainable and transparent manner. A big congratulations to the team.”

Featuring among the top five FMCG players in India, Ruchi Soya is India’s number one cooking oil maker and marketer through popular brands like Nutrela, Ruchi Gold, Mahakosh and Sunrich. Ruchi Soya is working closely with the communities around its plants in Patalganga and Nagpur in Maharashtra. Ruchi Soya believes in the concept of ‘Giving back to the Society’. The corporate social initiatives of Ruchi Group are executed through Shri Mahadeo Shahra Sukrat Trust with the focus on three core areas of Health, Education and Women Empowerment.

An Integrated player from farm to fork, Ruchi Soya has secured access to oil palm plantations in India and other important parts of the world. Besides being a leading manufacturer of high quality edible oils, soya foods, vanaspati, and bakery fats, Ruchi Soya is also the highest exporter of soya meal, lecithin and other food ingredients from India. Ruchi Soya is committed to renewable energy and exploring suitable opportunities in the sector.

Source: http://planetcorporatenews.blog.com/ankesh-shahra-of-ruchi-soya-receives-csr-award-for-community-development-at-global-csr-congress/

Ruchi Soya forays into health drinks

Ruchi Soya Industries Limited (RSIL) has expanded their product portfolio by launching ‘N’rich’ in the beverage segment with their flagship brand-Nutrela. RSIL is the first Indian company to export Soya meal and manufacture edible grade Soya flour and textured Soya proteins.

N’rich is a tasty protein drink available in 3 distinct flavours, rich in vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, which make it a healthy beverage. The flavours are a rich combination of exotic fruits like, Apple Kiwi, Apple Peach and Multifruit. The range of fruit juices are an assortment of traditional Indian and international flavours. The product will be offered in all leading metros.

On the occasion of the launch, Sarvesh Shahra, Head-Foods Division, RSIL said, “While all segments of the beverage market are evolving, the growth seems to be directed more towards healthy, light and low-calorie drinks, in particular organic and fruit juice varieties. We have created N’rich using an innovative technology and recipe that includes ingredients from natural sources, capitalizing on the growing consumer demand for premium and more nutritious products.”

N’rich is a packaged, 100% preservative-free fruit juice brand offering consumers the great taste and wholesome nutrition of fruit juices in a hygienic and attractive pack.

Source: http://metrocitiesnews.wordpress.com/

Ruchi Soya net sales up 18%

During the quarter, branded sales registered a healthy 22.95% growth from Rs. 1,374.23 crore to Rs. 1,689.59 crore
Ruchi Soya Industries Limited (Ruchi Soya) has announced its un-audited financial results for the quarter ended December 31, 2012 (Q3). As compared to the corresponding period of the previous year, net profit for the quarter rose by 105.45% from Rs. 24.05 crore to Rs. 49.41 crore whereas net sales rose by 17.56% from Rs. 6,954.29 crore to Rs. 8,175.16 crore.

During the quarter, branded sales registered a healthy 22.95% growth from Rs. 1,374.23 crore to Rs. 1,689.59 crore. Refining capacity utilization improved by 8.85% from 4,78,589 MT to 5,20,960 MT. Export of Soya Meal in value improved by 47.29% from Rs. 883.16 crore to Rs. 1,300.83 crore. Sale of Textured soya protein (TSP) stood at Rs. 28.16 crore registering an impressive rise of 43.53% from Rs. 19.62 crore during Q3 in the last fiscal.

Commenting on the performance, Managing Director, Dinesh Shahra said, “I am happy to share the healthy growth recorded by the Company during the third quarter ended December 31, 2012. Improved branded sales, better sales realization of oilseed extraction, effective control on the costs and favourable business sentiments helped us to get profit on the track. We are making our efforts to have good performance on a sustained basis in the times to come.”

Source: http://planetcorporatenews.blog.com/

Ruchi aims to turn Nutrela into Rs 5,000-cr brand in 5 yrs

Kolkata, Feb 4 (PTI) Ruchi Soya Industries today said it aims to expand the Nutrela brand five-fold to Rs 5,000 crore in the next five years.Stating that Nutrela was a small brand compared to the Ruchi brand which accounted for sale of Rs 7,000-8,000 crore, Ruchi Soya AVP Marketing Sandipan Ghosh said the company wanted to make Nutrela a Rs 5,000 crore brand in the next five years from Rs 1,000-1,200 crore now.

On reports of raids by the Mumbai income tax authorities on the group, the company did not forsee any hurdle towards its growth target. “No,” Ghosh said when asked whether the raids would have any adverse impact on growth. Ghosh said the existing business of Nutrela would grow by around 20 per cent year on year and the company planned to introduce more products.

“Currently, we are carrying out market research to enter new product categories under Nutrela brand,” he said. The brand was currently restricted to soya products, edible oil and margarine. In 2008, the company had made an attempt to foray into beverage from soya but failed to get the desired response. Ghosh said Nutrela offered high EBITA margin of 10-15 per cent for the company among other products.

Source: http://planetcorporatenews.blog.com/

Ruchi Soya introduces new campaign to market mustard oil brand

Ruchi Soya Industries’ brand Nutrela inked pact with six major city fish markets to promote its mustard oil brand. Under the campaign the company has identified five or six fish-sellers in each of these six markets. A complimentary pack of mustard oil branded Nutrela Kachi Ghani will be given following a purchase of one kg of fish.

The entity has taken this initiative keeping in mind the Bengali sentiments and the need for mustard oil as a cooking medium. It is looking for tie-ups in other markets. It will be carried out simultaneously in Bengal and Assam. Bengal alone accounts for over a third around Rs 110 crore of the Rs 300-crore mustard oil market in the country.

Source: http://www.indian-commodity.com/corporate/ruchi-soya-introduces-new-campaign-to-market-mustard-oil-brand.aspx

Added capacity, palm integration to up Ruchi Soya’s topline

In an exclusive interview with CNBC-TV18, Dinesh Shahra, Managing Director, Ruchi Soya, spoke about the company’s performance in the quarter gone by and the road ahead.

Securing Origination: Ruchi Soya at the Rabo Bank Advisory Board Meeting in Hong Kong, 2012

December 28, 2012:

Ruchi Soya Managing Director Mr. Dinesh Shahra, along with Mr. Ankesh Shahra – Director, Business Development for Ruchi Agritrading Pte Ltd, Singapore were invited to attend the prestigious Rabo Bank Food & Agribusiness Advisory Board Meeting that was held in Hong Kong in November 2012. The Theme of the meeting was ‘Burgeoning world food demand and the shrinking corporate universe” and Ruchi was specifically asked to present their views and perspectives on the importance of M&A for Ruchi across the Food and Agriculture supply chain. Spread across two days, there were several important thought provoking issues discussed between the key decision makers of the largest Food and Agribusiness companies from Asia and the world.

Mr. Dinesh Shahra spoke about the importance of acquisitions at the low end of the business cycle and the value that high quality upstream assets at origination offer for companies such as Ruchi. In a discussion moderated by ex-CNBC anchor Ms. Lorraine Hahn, Mr. Dinesh Shahra mentioned that Asian companies should continue to vertically integrate but in order to remain sustainable, they must combine this integration with specialization down the chain. This is to ensure that they remain the most efficient users of the capital they possess, as niche/specialized companies are on a growth trajectory and are delivering exceptional returns.

Ruchi Industries Singapore, the overseas holding company of Ruchi Soya that is consolidating its global assets is in the process of executing the backward integration strategy of Ruchi Soya into palm plantations and agricultural production.  One of the topics discussed in Hong Kong were the challenges that stretch into asset ownership whilst securing origination. “Asset ownership in emerging economies comes with a set of risks that must be evaluated in conjunction with the superior cost structure that these countries generally offer. Sovereign and regulatory risks, management challenges, the ability to influence operations as well as differing tax regimes are all points to watch out for” says Ankesh Shahra.

Ruchi Soya Industries Limited

Featuring among the top five FMCG players in India, Ruchi Soya Industries is the flagship company of Ruchi Group of Industries. A leading manufacturer of high-quality edible oils, soya food, vanaspati and bakery fats, it is also the highest exporter of soya meal, lecithin and other food ingredients from India. Established in 1986, it is the largest producer and marketer of vegetable oils and soya food, the largest oilseed crusher and edible oil refiner, the largest importer of vegetable oil and the largest exporter of soya derivatives from India. Ruchi Soya has also diversified into Renewable Energy and Plantations in the recent past.

Ruchi Soya extends Nutrela into Table Spread Category

MUMBAI: Ruchi Soya Industries, makers of refined oil brands like Ruchi Gold, Sunrich and Nutrela have made a foray into bread spreads with the launch of Nutrela Premium Table Spread.

This offering competes in the same space of butter and cheese spreads, which have well entrenched players like Amul and Britannia in the space. Nutrela table spread tastes similar to butter, but is lighter as it has zero cholesterol and no trans fats.

Talking about the opportunity that the category offers, Sarvesh Shahra, business head, consumer brands division, Ruchi Soya Industries said: “Health is increasingly becoming a matter of concern among Indians and people are look for healthy solutions everywhere. We are already the largest producers of soya chunks and granules. When we were thinking of categories to enter, we found a good opportunity in the health space.”

The table spread market according to Shahra is growing at 10% per annum and as the market grows there is enough space for more brands to enter. The table spread space comprises of butter and margarine at this point.

Ruchi Soya is doing a number advertising activities across outdoor, radio and digital to spread awareness for Nutrela table spread in Mumbai. For one of the activities that the brand tied up with PVR cinemas to offer popcorn made in Nutrela table spread to lucky customers who could locate the winning coupon under their chair.

According to Sandipan Ghosh, AVP- marketing, consumer brands division, Ruchi Soya Industries: “customers could not make out the difference at all and didn’t know that the popcorn was cooked in Nutrela table spread.”

According to Ankesh Shahra who is managing the international businesses for Ruchi Soya said “He is proud of products Ruchi Group is producing”

The product will currently be available in metros and Tier 1 cities. Word for the product is also being spread through sampling and school contact programs.