B Swaminathan

Chennai: Brand ‘Anil’, a brand grown in Tamil Nadu that has become a part of most local households, is now aiming to go national and is expected to go on an expansion spree.

Sugumar, Executive Director, Top Anil Marketing Company, who’s a second generation entrepreneur from the family-run business grabbed the attention of participants as a part of his session in an event organized by a company in Chennai.

Starting his session with a small background information about his father who started the entity from scratch, Sugumar spoke widely on how from radio jingles, today ‘Anil’ has become one of the most trusted brands. “Our focus is to nourish people’s lives by offering a wide range of convenient, delicious and affordable food products for the entire family to enjoy a balanced healthful diet.

‘Anil’, as the master brand for a variety of vermicelli and flour, has been an ethical food industry leader since 1984. Presently, we are operating with 49 state-of-the-art factories located in and around South India producing high-quality products.”

According to him, by delivering best products holding responsible and accountable, the brand had earned the trust of millions of families across generations. He also mentioned the reason behind the tag-line of the brand which related to trust beyond generations.

“Health is a state of complete harmony of mind, body, and soul. Eating nutritious food is vital to achieving this harmony. Our products have been instrumental in enriching millions of lives across Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Andaman, Mumbai, Dubai, and Singapore for over three decades.”

Sugumar also touched upon how Tamil actor Vijay Sethupathy was roped in as brand ambassador and the way he reflected the brand in the market. However, he also spoke on how challenging was the time when the demonetization and GST hit them despite spending hugely on the campaigns.

The firm has decided not to pass on the 5 percent Goods and Services Tax (GST) to customers and is also helping retailers and distributors to get registered under the GST regime.

Expansion plans:

Anil Group is planning to expand capacity, and is mulling plants in Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. Plus, they also intend to beef up their product line with pasta and others to touch a turnover of INR 275 crore.

According to Sugumar, Anil Semia/vermicelli commands a market share of 40 percent in Tamil Nadu. “Nearly 40 percent of our turnover is from vermicelli and the balance is contributed by-products like salt, broken wheat, rice flour, maida, ragi vermicelli, noodles, atta, and others.”

“We are planning to expand our production base and set up production facilities in Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. Each plant would involve an outlay of around Rs 10 crore,” N. Sugumar, Executive Director, told the media function here. “We are shipping our products to countries where Indian population is largely concentrated. We now plan to have a separate set up for exports,” Sugumar concluded.