andico India detailed its global ambition in a press conference in Delhi recently. In a greenfield operation, it is setting up a 6,000-tonne manufacturing plant in Johannesburg (South Africa) with an investment of $5 million. This will cater to seven countries (South Africa, Namibia, Swaziland, Lesotho, Botswana, Mozambique and Zimbabwe) in the south African region.

"We expect an annual growth rate of 10-15 per cent for the group, with a healthy contribution coming from the international operations," says Karan Gupta, executive director, Candico. In the first phase of expansion, he says, the company will focus on such countries where the penetration of MNCs is low. The company expects its international operations to contribute 50 per cent to its turnover in the next five years. ... more