Kewlani Agro Industries plans capacity expansion, automation, branded wheat products
Sourav Shekhar
New Delhi, Sep 20 (UNI) Madhya Pradesh-based Kewlani Agro Industries Pvt Ltd is looking to expand its manufacturing capacity, strengthen automation and distribution, and move deeper into value-added and branded wheat products over the next two years, as it seeks to evolve from a wheat processor into a consumer-facing food business.
Praveen Kewlani, Director, Kewlani Agro Industries Pvt Ltd, in an interview with UNI, said the company's growth strategy would focus not merely on expanding its manufacturing footprint but also on improving efficiency, consistency and its ability to scale over the long term.
"Over the next two years, our focus is on expanding our manufacturing capacity, improving automation and strengthening our distribution network," Kewlani said in the online interaction.
He said the company was also moving towards more value-added and branded wheat products, describing the shift as an important transition from being primarily a processor to building a food business with a direct relationship with consumers.
"Growth should not only mean building a bigger factory. It should mean building a business that is more efficient, more consistent and capable of growing for the long term," he said.
The company's expansion plans come against the backdrop of increasing uncertainty in agricultural markets, with weather conditions affecting crop availability, prices and quality. Kewlani said procurement strategies now needed to simultaneously account for price, availability and quality.
He said Kewlani Agro Industries was broadening its supplier base, improving storage capabilities and maintaining better visibility over inventory. The company is also increasingly using data to understand procurement and demand instead of relying entirely on experience.
"Buying well is only half the job. Storing the grain properly and maintaining its quality is equally important," he said, adding that the objective was to ensure that changes in weather or market conditions did not affect the product experienced by customers.
Kewlani also pointed to changing consumer preferences as another factor shaping the company's strategy. Consumers, he said, are becoming more conscious of what they eat and are paying greater attention even to basic products such as flour, including their quality, processing and consistency.
To address this shift, the company is becoming more selective in wheat procurement while strengthening its milling and quality-control processes and developing packaged and value-added products.
"Our advantage is that we understand the raw material very well. We have spent years in the business, so we know that good flour starts with good wheat," Kewlani said.
He said the company's objective was to build brands that attract consumers initially because of their appeal but retain them through product quality.
Discussing the broader challenges facing India's wheat industry, Kewlani said the country, despite being the world's second-largest wheat producer, needed to focus more on extracting greater value from the wheat it produces.
He identified fragmentation in the supply chain, along with gaps in quality standards, storage, traceability, logistics and processing, as areas where there was scope for improvement.
"Developed markets have shown that producing more is only one part of the equation. You also need consistency and efficiency across the entire supply chain," he said.
According to Kewlani, improved infrastructure, technology and food processing could help India compete globally not only in terms of volumes but also on quality and value.
The COVID-19 pandemic also changed the company's approach to business, particularly with regard to supply-chain resilience. Kewlani said that before the pandemic, efficiency was often the primary consideration, while the disruptions during COVID highlighted the importance of maintaining a reliable supply chain.
The company subsequently increased its focus on supplier relationships, inventory planning and logistics, while also examining how technology could provide greater visibility and enable faster decision-making.
Madhya Pradesh, he said, would remain strategically important to the company's sourcing and growth plans because of the state's strong wheat production and procurement ecosystem. Its central location also makes it a natural base for serving different parts of the country.
"The combination of wheat availability, location and the growing food-processing ecosystem makes Madhya Pradesh a very important part of our future," he said.
Technology is also increasingly being integrated into the company's day-to-day operations, covering procurement, quality testing, inventory, production and logistics.
Kewlani said the objective was not simply to digitise operations but to make better information available for better business decisions. While decisions earlier depended heavily on individual experience, the company is gradually moving towards data-supported decision-making.
The next opportunity, he said, lies in using this data more effectively for procurement planning, demand forecasting and inventory management.
At the same time, he stressed that technology would complement rather than replace industry experience.
"The best results come when you combine the two. In our business, years of understanding wheat and markets still matter enormously; technology simply helps us use that experience more effectively," Kewlani said.
UNI SAS RSA
