Ajanta Soya is a manufacturer that turns imported crude vegetable oils into the solid fats and liquid oils that feed India’s biscuit factories, bakeries and household kitchens. Founded in 1992 and run from a single plant in Rajasthan by a family with over three decades in the trade, it has spent its life quietly supplying both the country’s biggest food companies and local retail shops. The recurring approach is simple: buy raw materials where they are cheapest, run one tightly integrated factory, and sell the output both unbranded in bulk and branded in packets - so the same vat of oil can serve a national FMCG giant and a neighbourhood grocer on the same day.
Business segments
Two revenue streams from one factory - manufacturing edible oils and fats, then selling them through two distinct channels, branded retail and bulk B2B supply.
1. Manufacturing of vanaspati, refined oils and bakery shortening: the single-plant engine
Everything the company sells comes out of one integrated factory at Bhiwadi, Rajasthan - a plant that has been expanded piece by piece over two decades to handle multiple oil processes under one roof.
- One site, many products - the Bhiwadi facility makes vanaspati (hydrogenated vegetable oil), several kinds of refined edible oil, and bakery shortening for biscuits, puffs and pastries, all from the same location. This means the company can switch output between products as demand shifts, using its multi-processing capability rather than running separate dedicated lines.
- Capacity added in targeted chunks - in January 2021 the company commissioned an interesterification plant of 125 tonnes per day and a third bakery-shortening unit of 35 tonnes per day, aimed specifically at meeting rising demand for premium shortening variants. Annual production has run between roughly 93,637 and 106,023 tonnes across the last six years, with FY25 output at about 94,977 tonnes.
- Imported raw material is the cost lever - more than 90% of raw materials are bought from international markets, chiefly crude palm oil from Indonesia and Malaysia. That makes the factory’s economics highly sensitive to global commodity prices and the rupee’s exchange rate, so the company uses forward currency contracts and commodity hedges to smooth out the swings.
- Quality certification as a market-access tool - the plant holds ISO 22000:2005 food-safety certification, which is table stakes for supplying large food manufacturers who audit their ingredient suppliers. The company also monitors raw material and product quality at every stage from intake to delivery.
- Captive solar to trim energy costs - in March 2022 a 1,300 kilowatt-peak solar power project in Jaisalmer district was synchronised for captive consumption, feeding electricity into the Rajasthan grid to offset the factory’s power bill. The board also amended the company’s objects clause to permit solar and other power generation, signalling an intent to keep energy costs under control.
2. Branded retail and bulk B2B supply: two routes to the same customer base
The same oils and fats leave the factory gate either in branded consumer packs or in unbranded bulk - a dual-channel model that spreads the company’s bets across India’s organised and unorganised food markets.
- A portfolio of retail brands - the company sells under seven brand names including ‘Dhruv’, ‘Anchal’, ‘Parv’ and ‘Nutri 1992’, all of which it claims hold considerable market share in their categories. These brands compete in a market where roughly 60% of the edible-oil segment is still served by small unorganised players catering to regional demand.
- Bulk supply to food manufacturers - the unbranded side of the business sells vanaspati and shortening as ingredients to biscuit makers, bakeries and the food-service industry, effectively acting as a private-label supplier to some of India’s largest FMCG companies. This channel turns the company’s plant into an outsourced production line for customers who need consistent, certified fat inputs at scale.
- No exports, no distractions - the company does not export and has no foreign investments or collaborators, so its entire output is absorbed by the domestic market. That keeps the business model simple: produce in Rajasthan, sell across India, and avoid the complexity of managing multiple regulatory and logistics regimes.
Group structure and partners
Ajanta Soya is a standalone company with no subsidiaries - just a listed entity, three small equity investments, and bank relationships that fund its working-capital-heavy trade.
- No operating subsidiaries or joint ventures - the company has no subsidiaries, associates or joint venture entities, so all operations sit directly on its own balance sheet.
- Three investment stakes - it holds equity shares in DG Estates Private Limited, Dhruv Globals Limited and Ajanta Realtech Private Limited, and has issued a bank guarantee on behalf of Dhruv Globals that stood at Rs. 8,910 lakhs as of FY23.
- Bank funding tied to trade flows - total bank facilities amount to Rs. 170 crore, split between fund-based limits from State Bank of India and non-fund facilities such as letters of credit and bank guarantees from SBI and Standard Chartered Bank - instruments that directly support the import of crude oil cargoes.
- Credit rating reflects the commodity exposure - CRISIL’s long-term rating has moved from BB+/Stable (downgraded from BBB-/Negative) in FY20 to BBB-/Stable (migrated from 'CRISIL BB+/Stable ISSUER NOT COOPERATING') by FY25, a trajectory that mirrors the inherent volatility of a business built on imported agricultural commodities.