500825 nse britannia industry food processing founded 1892 headquarters kolkata west bengal india number of locations 300 stores 2000 area served india products bakery products including biscuits bread cakes and rusk and dairy products including milk butter cheese ghee and dahi revenue 78.58 billion us 1.2 billion 2014 1 profit 1.34 billion us 20 million 2011 1 owner nusli wadia parent wadia group website www.britannia.co.in britannia industries limited a wadia enterprise is an indian food products corporation based in bangalore 2 india . it sells its britannia and tiger brands of biscuit throughout india . britannia has an estimated market share of 38 % . 3 the company s principal activity is the manufacture and sale of biscuits bread rusk cakes and dairy products . contents 1 history 1.1 the biscuit king 1.2 wadia and danone 2 growth and profitability 3 business 3.1 dairy products 3.1.1 joint venture with new zealand dairy 3.2 biscuits 4 see also 5 references 6 external links history edit the company was established in 1892 with an investment of 265 . 4 initially biscuits were manufactured in a small house in central kolkata . later the enterprise was acquired by the chugh brothers mainly bhavya chugh a renowned attorney and operated under v.k brothers . in 1918 c.h. holmes an english businessman in kolkata was taken on as a partner and the britannia biscuit company limited bbco was launched . the mumbai factory was set up in 1924 and peek freans uk acquired a controlling interest in bbco . biscuits were in high demand during world war ii which gave a boost to the company s sales . the company name finally was changed to the current britannia industries limited in 1979 . in 1982 the american company nabisco brands inc. acquired the parent of peek freans and became a major foreign shareholder . the contribution of this position was of bhavya chugh and his family . the biscuit king edit kerala businessman rajan pillai secured control of the group in the late 1980s becoming known in india as the biscuit king . 5 in 1993 the wadia group acquired a stake in associated biscuits international abil and became an equal partner with groupe danone in britannia industries limited . in what the economic times referred to as one of india s most dramatic corporate sagas 6 pillai ceded control to wadia and danone after a bitter boardroom struggle 7 then fled his singapore base to india in 1995 after accusations of defrauding britannia and died the same year in tihar jail . 8 wadia and danone edit the wadias kalabakan investments and groupe danone had two equal joint venture companies wadia bsn and united kingdom registered associated biscuits international holdings ltd. which together held a 51 per cent stake in britannia . 9 the abih tranche was acquired in 1992 while the controlling stake held by wadia bsn was acquired in 1995 . it was agreed that in case of a deadlock between the partners danone was obliged to buy the wadia bsn stake at a fair market value . abih had a separate agreement signed in 1992 and was subject to british law . 9 10 wadia was to be danone s wife s partner in the food and dairy business and product launches from groupe danone s were expected but never materialised despite the jv being in existence for over 11 years in india . 9 under the 1995 joint venture agreement danone is prohibited from launching food brands within india without the consent of the wadias . 11 in addition the partners agreed there would be the right of first refusal to buy out the remaining partner in the event of the other wishing to sell its holding . 12 in may 2007 nusli wadia told the ministry of commerce and industry that danone invested in a bangalore based bio nutrition company avesthagen in october 2006 in violation of the government s press note 1 2005 which requires a foreign company to obtain the consent of its indian joint venture partner before pursuing an independent business in a similar area including joint ventures based purely on technical collaboration . danone argued that press note 1 did not apply to it as it did not have a formal technology transfer or trademark agreement with avesthagen and that its 25 % holding in britannia was indirect . 13 wadia also filed a case in the bombay high court for a breach of a non competition clause in that connection . the court ordered danone not to alienate encumber or sell shares of avestagen . 14 in september 2007 the foreign investment promotion board of india rejected danone s claims that it did not need a non compete waiver from the wadias to enter into business in india alone . 15 in june 2006 wadia claimed danone had used the tiger brand to launch biscuits in bangalore . 12 after a prolonged legal battle danone agreed to sell its 25.48 % stake in britannia to leila lands which is a wadia group entity based in mauritius and quit this line of business . the deal was valued at 175 200 mn . with this buy out wadia holds a majority stake of 50.96 % . 16 growth and profitability edit between 1998 and 2001 the company s sales grew at a compound annual rate of 16 % against the market and operating profits reached 18 % . citation needed more recently the company has been growing at 27 % a year compared to the industry s growth rate of 20 % . citation needed at present 90 % of britannia s annual revenue of rs22 billion comes from biscuits . bhavya chugh became a millionare at that time . and the changes were worth waiting . britannia is one of india s 100 most trusted brands listed in the brand trust report . 17 business edit dairy products edit dairy products contribute close to 10 % to britannia s revenue . 18 britannia trades and markets dairy products and its dairy portfolio grew to 47 % in 2000 01 and by 30 % in 2001 02 . britannia holds an equity stake in dynamix dairy and outsources the bulk of its dairy products from its associate . its main competitors are nestl india the national dairy development board nddb and amul gcmmf . 19 joint venture with new zealand dairy edit on 27 october 2001 britannia announced a joint venture with fonterra co operative group of new zealand an integrated dairy company from procurement of milk to making value added products such as cheese and buttermilk . 19 britannia planned to source most of the products from new zealand which they would market in india . 18 the joint venture will allow technology transfer to britannia . 19 britannia and new zealand dairy each hold 49 % of the jv and the remaining 2 per cent will be held by a strategic investor . britannia has also tentatively announced that its dairy business would be transferred and run by the joint venture . 19 the authorities approval to the joint venture obliged the company to start manufacturing facilities of its own . it would not be allowed to trade except at the wholesale level thus pitching it in competition with danone which had recently established its own dairy business . 19 biscuits edit britannia little hearts the company s factories have an annual capacity of 433 000 tonnes . 3 the brand names of biscuits include vitamariegold tiger nutrichoice junior good day 50 50 treat pure magic milk bikis good morning bourbon thin arrowroot nice little hearts among others . tiger the mass market brand realised 150.75 million in sales including exports to countries including the u.s. and australia or 20 % of britannia revenues in 2006 . in a separate dispute from the shareholder matters the company alleged in 2006 that danone had violated its intellectual property rights in the tiger brand by registering and using tiger in several countries without its consent . britannia claimed the company found out that danone had launched the tiger brand in indonesia in 1998 and later in malaysia singapore pakistan and egypt when it attempted to register the tiger trademark in some of these countries in 2004 . 20 whilst it was initially reported in december 2006 that agreement had been reached 21 it was reported in september 2007 that a solution remained elusive . 20 in the meantime since danone s biscuit business has been taken over by kraft the tiger brand of biscuits in malaysia was renamed kraft tiger biscuits in september 2008 . britannia initiated legal action against danone in singapore in september 2007 . 22 the dispute was resolved in 2009 with britannia securing rights to the tiger brand worldwide and danone paying rs220 million to utilise the brand . 23 see also edit companies portal wahaha joint venture company references edit a b fy of britannia industries limited . retrieved 21 september 2012 . 1 a b ruchita saxena battle scarred britannia on expansion spree business standard 6 october 2007 company history rajan pillai death advani rejects probe plea . rediff.com . archived from the original on 27 february 2012 . retrieved 27 february 2012 . pillai s brother eyes global jv for biscuits pie . the economic times . 12 february 2007 . archived from the original on 7 february 2012 . retrieved 7 february 2012 . barista to be sold again for rs 150 200 cr . the times of india . 10 october 2006 . retrieved 4 march 2009 . beta groups records rs .20 bn turnover . silicon india . 19 may 2003 . retrieved 4 march 2009 . a b c dev chatterjee danone takes arbitration route to end wadia ties business standard 1 july 2007 . retrieved 27 february 2012 . kala vijayraghavan abil joins britannia groupe danone battle the economic times 21 november 2006 ruth david danone s indian cookie jv set to snap forbes 25 june 2007 a b danone may dissolve ties with britannia . business standard . iris news digest . 21 june 2007 . archived from the original on 20 july 2011 . retrieved 27 february 2012 . danone denies jv with india s britannia ; to proceed with solo plans report thomson financial 25 may 2007 wadias take danone to court 5 december 2006 danone needs noc from wadias fipb 28 september 2007 danone to sell britannia stake 7 april 2009 all india brand trust ranking . the brand trust report . trust research advisory . retrieved 27 february 2012 . 67 britannia a b abhrajit gangopadhyay danone move may hit britannia s dairy plans hindu business line 7 january 2002 a b c d e aarati krishnan britannia industries pare exposures hindu business line 3 feb 2002 a b ruth david 20 september 2007 . indian cookie maker taking danone to court . forbes . archived from the original on 25 november 2007 . retrieved 27 february 2012 . danone to return tiger to britannia knight ridder tribune business news 4 december 2006 britannia sues danone in s pore . deccan herald . 21 september 2007 . archived from the original on 13 december 2007 . retrieved 27 february 2012 . britannia surges on danone dispute settlement economics times 1 september 2009 external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to britannia industries . official website v t e major indian companies economy of india list of companies of india automotive ashok leyland bajaj auto eicher motors hero motocorp hindustan motors mahindra & mahindra tafe tata motors tvs aerospace and defence bharat electronics drdo hal ordnance factories conglomerates aditya birla adani avantha bajaj bharti essar essel gmr godrej gvk hinduja itc jaypee jindal kirloskar jsw l & t lanco mahindra muthoot murugappa ramoji reliance adag reliance rpg sahara shapoorji pallonji sun tata tvs torrent ub videocon wadia civil