LT Foods LTD (D A A W A T Basmati Rice)

LT Overseas to LT Foods Ltd: Small beginnings to Global Presence
When it all began about 30 years ago, nobody could have even dreamt that the small trading company that came into being as Lalchand Tirathram Mills could one day be on its way to become a leading global food company.

1965, Bhikiwind, in a little village in Amritsar (Punjab, India); Shri Raghunath Arora started a small trading company which grew from being a commissioning agent to a partnership firm by 1977, as Lalchand Tirathram Rice Mills.

1978: Mr. V.K.Arora joined the family business with his father, with a clear vision of taking his company to a global level. In 1980, the company started exporting Premium Rice. This was the first step towards making this vision a reality.

Simultaneously, the company decided to face the challenges in domestic markets by setting up a modern, state-of-the-art rice factory in Sonepat, Haryana in 1984. Unorganized players with inconsistent quality products were crowding the market. In this scenario, Mr. V K Arora felt the need to promote branded and packaged products. In line with this vision, the company started the business of milling, processing and marketing of branded basmati rice and manufacturing of rice food products in the domestic and overseas market.

The birth of a Brand
Daawat came into being in the 1980’s, and this resulted in a steep vertical ascent of the company’s growth in the 1990’s. Further industry innovations followed with complete streamlining of the manufacturing process, removal of bottlenecks, and total modernization of rice manufacturing plant and machinery and its balancing capacity. Moving ahead of the market, Mr. V.K.Arora introduced 1kg and 5 kg packs of rice in the market, as per consumers’ requirements.

Brand Daawat has over the years taken on the tough competition in the industry, and has managed to create depth as well as width for itself, moving at a pace faster than its rivals. Today, Daawat brand caters to three broad segments – Retail, Institutional and Economy – with specific offerings through a range of sub-brands. A phenomenal 30-fold rise has seen it become a 700 crore company with over 19 brands. The portfolio includes ‘Daawat’, one of the top three Basmati brands in India and ‘Heritage’, another premium basmati. The company’s product portfolio also includes brown rice, white rice, steamed rice, parboiled rice and organic rice.

The industry recognizes Daawat
To increase the acceptability of LT Overseas products globally, the company has taken the lead in implementing industry best manufacturing practices & obtaining internationally acclaimed certifications. LT Overseas (now LT Foods Ltd) was among the first few in the rice industry to obtain the ISO 9001-2000 certification. Presently LT Food has obtained certifications like HACCP, SQF, BRC, and Organic and EIC.

Footprint across the globe
The company has a strong distribution network in all major basmati consuming cities in India with more than a hundred distributors in each state. L T Overseas has also made inroads into more than 50 countries across the globe including markets like USA, Canada, UK , EU, middle east and Africa.

Another significant initiative of the company has been in the area of manufacturing and marketing parboiled rice. An ultra modern rice plant began operations at Mandideep near Bhopal in 2007, and this will help the company cater to the huge demand for parboiled rice in the international markets.

To strengthen its presence in the global market, L T Overseas acquired Kusha Inc in 2007; Kusha Inc has a 42% share in the US market, giving L T Overseas a combined share of 52% of the US rice market. This was also the first by an Indian Rice Company.

Today, LT Overseas is ranked among the top 10 food processing companies in Northern India, and among the top 50 companies by Dun and Bradstreet 8th Edition of India’s Top 500 companies 2007.

From a Rs. 700 crore company, L T Overseas is poised to become a Rs. 1500 crore group and a leader in the food products business, in India, and in the International Markets.
LT Overseas Ltd is now LT Foods Ltd
With company spreading wings all over the globe, acquiring key markets & strategically developing new products, there was a corporate need felt to identify with a wider scope .The company & its present as well as new subsidiaries are also working on new food related projects & products. All this has led to strategic realignment of resources & focus giving birth to a new avatar LT Foods Ltd. Now onwards LT Overseas will be known as LT Foods Ltd.