HYDERABAD (TIP): Cadbury India on November 27 signed a memorandum of understanding with the Andhra Pradesh Government that will see it set up its largest manufacturing plant in the Asia-Pacific region. The proposed plant, which is to come up on a 134-acre site in SriCity, Chittoor, with an initial investment of Rs 1,000 crore, will be functional by mid-2015. Part of the $35-billion Mondelez International Inc, Cadbury India plans to develop the project in four phases by 2020, eventually increasing its annual production capacity to 250,000 tonnes.

Manu Anand, President-India & South Asia, said the plant will be able to serve the southern region and possibly other markets as it gets implemented in phases. India is rated among the top 10 markets in the company’s global business. The MoU was signed by Anand and K. Pradeep Chandra, Andhra Pradesh’s Industries Principal Secretary, in the presence of Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy and others. “The plant will employ about 1,600 people when fully developed and account for nearly 50 per cent of Cadbury’s overall capacity (it currently has six plants).

Cadbury manufactures products under five broad categories: chocolates, powder beverages, gum, candy and biscuits,” said Anand. Typically, some of the suppliers, too, set up plants where Cadbury locates its facilities, he added. The Chief Minister said Chittoor being the home of dairy companies has capacity to supply Cadbury about 500,000 litres of milk per day, initially, and possibly 100,000 litres per day by phase two of the project. And the demand of about 200 tonnes of sugar per day could boost the prospects of sugar mills. He said that in the three years since he took over as the Chief Minister, he had cleared proposals worth Rs 1.35 lakh crore, covering 75 factories, making AP a favoured destination for investments.