Potato News from India

McDonald’s will set up a food processing unit in Haryana or Punjab with an investment of Rs 100 crore to complement its sourcing activities in the local markets. “We are in discussion with both Punjab and Haryana for opening a food processing plant, wh...

India’s potato production in 2007-08 is likely to grow by half its earlier estimate on account of crop damage due to a cold wave in the north, home to the biggest producing regions, a senior official said. “Area has increased in almost all major produc...

The branded snacks market has seen increased activity with the entry of FMCG heavyweight ITC. FritoLay, the market leader in this segment, is now faced with the task of guarding its position, even as competitors set targets to garner more than half the...

Riding on the back of a major expansion spree, global fast food chain McDonald's on Monday said it expects the Indian operations to be profitable from the next fiscal, 17 years after it set up shop in the country. The company, which achieved break-even...

Millions of rail travellers may soon have the option of gorging on McDonald's burgers on-board trains, discussions for which are on between the railway authorities and the global fast food giant. Buoyed by the successful bid for opening a restaurant at...

With the branded snacks market buzzing with new entrants, the FritoLay division of PepsiCo India Holdings has kicked off a marketing campaign “Chala Change Ka Chakkar”, which the company claims is its biggest ever portfolio initiative in 2008. As part ...

PepsiCo India Holdings FritoLay India division has roped in Mahendra Singh Dhoni, youth icon and ODI captain to team up with Saif Ali Khan and Juhi Chawla to launch a FritoLay portfolio promotion called 'Chala Change Ka Chakkar' in February 2008.Dhoni ...

India's top tobacco firm, ITC Ltd, on Friday beat market forecasts with a 16 percent rise in quarterly profit, helped by strong growth in packaged foods and hotels, as it bolsters its non-cigarette businesses further.

West Bengal farmers are now on a track to tap profit from potato cultivation and even started several organised potato processing unit in the state. It seemed to them very profitable compared to any other crop within their limit. According to a recent ...

France-based agricultural company, Advanced Food Technologies (AFT), is planning to set up a couple of potato flakes plants in the Hoogly district near Kolkata.    Both the plants with capacity of producing 1200 kg/hour of flakes, would also facilitate...

To get rid of surplus potato production in the state, the West Bengal government is getting its act in place to explore possibilities of exporting table potatoes to Bangladesh, Malaysia and Thailand which are deficient in meeting their internal demands...

Golden Fries Ltd, a Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu-based company that supplies frozen French fries, is seeing a rapid rise in sales in Kerala. 'We started supplying French fries in Kerala in July 2005. My first invoice was for 800 kg. Now, we sell on an avera...

Indian potato is all set to reach out to 80 countries, mostly in Europe, thanks to Indian farmers getting their produce certified by a global agency. Export prospects of potato are looking up with farmers taking Global GAP Certification for the product...

Frost, triggered by intense cold wave conditions in the northern region, have hit the potato crop in Punjab damaging mainly the late sown crop. Experts fear that almost 15 to 20 per cent of the crop at several potato fields in Jalandhar, Kapurthala an...

With new arrivals at mandis across the country, the potato prices have hit the rock bottom during the past one month.According to traders, wholesale prices of potato came down by an average 40-50 per cent in various mandis over the last one month.At Fa...

Late blight, a fungal disease that affects potato crop, has returned to haunt farmers here and the Punjab Agricultural University has issued an alert to growers after coming across fresh infections in a farm in Hoshiarpur district. "We have foun...

Turner International India has dragged potato wafer-maker Gee Pee Foods to court for using its Pogo channel name to brand its wafers, thereby scripting yet another patent skirmish. The Kolkata-based food company has been manufacturing Pogo chips sinc...

Last week I received more information on one of the two (!) large potato conferences next year in India, so I decided this was a good time to pay attention to the fast changes in the Indian Potato Processing industry.