INDIA – B&A Ltd, a key player in India’s tea industry, has ventured into the retail segment with its new ‘Gatoonga’ brand of black tea.
This marks the company’s first entry into the retail market in its over 100-year history. The brand was launched in Assam, with plans to initially tap the local market before expanding nationwide.
B&A Ltd Managing Director Somnath Chatterjee explained, “The company’s retail foray has begun with ‘Gatoonga’ brand by tapping the Assam market and it will gradually expand across India based on a demand-driven growth strategy.”
Deputy Managing Director Dhruba Jyoti Dowerah noted that the retail branding represents the fifth vertical for the company, adding to its existing operations in tea manufacturing and processing, packaging, tea tourism, and broking.
B&A Ltd, the flagship company of the Rs 300-crore Barooahs & Associates Group, descends from Barasali Tea Company Ltd, established in 1915.
With 11 tea estates in upper Assam, the company produced 5.5 million kgs of black tea last year.
Concurrently, Chatterjee announced a Rs 50-crore (US$6M)capital expenditure plan aimed at pan-India growth, which includes the recent acquisition of Moheema tea estate in Golaghat district. This is the first acquisition by the company in over six decades.
“For the first time in sixty years, the B&A Group has prepared a roadmap for a pan-India growth strategy with new acquisitions and diversification into the branded retail tea market,” Chatterjee added.
The company plans to invest around Rs 50 crore over the next seven years as part of its growth and expansion strategy.
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