International Business

Our foray into international markets and success with new business ventures has been part of an endeavor to realize our vision of becoming a leading player in India and beyond. Today, we collaborate with some of the top players in the international tobacco industry to assist them in marketing their products and providing various professional and expert services including contract manufacturing, cut tobacco, smoke analysis and various other consultancy services.

Many countries from the Middle East to West Africa, South East Africa, South East Asia, East Europe, Australia, South America, Southeast Asia and Central America have been added on to our portfolio of exporting cigarettes as well as cut tobacco. Our brands Force 10, Jaisalmer, Originals and Ultima are already making substantial inroads in their respective markets.

Our International Division is continually making efforts to forge new global contacts to facilitate tea exports. Our primary tea brand, Tea City has already made a successful entry into the export market. Under the brand, we offer Indian teas from various origins such as Assam, Darjeeling, Dooars, Terai, Nilgiris and South India to meet the requirements of cup quality.

We also export Bulk and Specialty teas to Germany, USA, Japan, UAE, Kazakhstan & Iran with the objective to expand our consumer base horizontally as well as vertically across segments. We persistently work towards understanding our consumers and their distinct taste palates in order to develop the most customized blends as well as specialized teas like organic tea, flavors in packets & tea bags.

The success of our International Division can aptly be credited to the superior, state- of- art infrastructure that supports it, which begins right from the superior quality leaf ensured by our Leaf Division to the end product from our Manufacturing units. In order to become a leading player in the tobacco industry, we have constantly been upgrading and improving our systems and processes through better R&D practices, upgraded manufacturing facilities and a better understanding of consumer and market needs.

R&D

The R&D facility at Godfrey Phillips India employs some of India’s best scientists, cigarette designers, blenders and flavourists, and has the distinction of getting an ISO 17025 certification. Ours is the first laboratory in the Indian tobacco industry to be accredited with such a certification. We have also been recognised by the Department of Science & Technology (the apex body governing affairs related to Science and Technology in India).

We consider our R&D capabilities to be a vital component of our business strategy that equips us with a long term edge over our competitors. Located alongside our production facilities, our R&D division extends its competencies to combine synergies and create the best blends for domestic and international markets. In order to bring greater reliability to our analytical results, which are an integral part of our R&D processes, we also take part in initiatives such as the Asia Collaborative Study (ACS). Our participation each year, along with 58 other prominent cigarette companies of the world such as PMI, BAT and JTI, helps cross calibrate our results with the best in the business. Our Z- scores, which determine the quality of analytical data, vis-à-vis the best in the world, have proven to be excellent year on year.

Leaf Export Division

Our Leaf Division is located in the tobacco growing area of Guntur in Southern India. We are the first leaf operations company to have been accredited with the ISO 9001: 2000 certification. We export FCV as well as Non-FCV tobacco to both, quality and value-conscious customers. Our Non-FCV farming operations are monitored by the Leaf Development Team.

We have implemented and observed GAP (Good Agricultural Practices) in all developmental arenas through our leaf developmental team to enhance productivity and improve the quality of tobacco, while keeping it free of chemicals and pesticides. By collaborating our team’s efforts along with those of Government officials, we conduct periodic campaigns to educate farmers regarding the eradication of NTRM. Our leaf team comprises of the most experienced professionals in the industry. We are one of the few leaf operation companies in India to have our own R&D as well as a state-of-the-art QA facility to support operations.

We have two captive Threshing Plants equipped with the latest technologies to process tobacco that is meant to cater to domestic as well as export demands. In our packed stock storages, we have laid down stringent systems and procedures to ensure infestation-free deliveries. As a result, Godfrey Phillips India’s tobacco reaches some of the biggest manufacturers in the industry today, namely Philip Morris, ITG, JTI, Eastern Co., European Tobacco, Libyan Tobacco Company and RNTA. Our major countries of export include Belgium, Egypt, Philippines, South Africa, Germany and Brazil.

We can also proudly announce that we are the first Indian company to initiate a state-of-the-art Recon Manufacturing Plant located near Ongole in South India with an annual capacity of 750 Mt of Reconstituted Tobacco, which is then blended while making cigarettes to bestow them with the requisite characteristics that brings them at par with international brands.

Manufacturing Units

With a rich heritage of over 60 years in the industry, we, at Godfrey Phillips India have been continuously adopting the latest technology to deliver products which are at par with global standards and international quality in the market. Driven by innovation and speed to market, our two manufacturing facilities in Ghaziabad, U.P. and Mumbai, Maharashtra are equipped with state-of-the-art equipment and ensure the incorporation of best practices such as

TQM, Haichi-Ban, 5S, Kaizen Teian and so on. Since we embarked on integrating Six Sigma initiatives 5 years ago, both our manufacturing units boast of a deeply enriched Six Sigma culture and continually undertake a significant number of Six Sigma projects for quantum improvements each year.

Each of our manufacturing facilities at Ghaziabad, U.P.; Mumbai, Maharashtra; and Rabale, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra are recognized not only for their superior production capabilities, but also for the adoption of environment friendly processes. Our Ghaziabad and Mumbai factories are equipped with state-of-the-art, high speed cigarette making and cigarette packing machines. We house the latest cigarette making machines from GD, Italy that run at a capacity of 12,000 cigarettes per minute and packing machines that run at 600 packets per minute. Our primary manufacturing departments that process tobacco in order to supply to the cigarette making machines are also equipped with high-tech equipment to produce cut tobacco at par with global standards. All our manufacturing departments are equipped with Computerised Data Acquisition Systems to closely monitor each stage of production in order to ensure a consistent smoking experience for our consumers. The two recent additions to our manufacturing facilities are plants that facilitate the production of Expanded Tobacco and Reconditioned Tobacco, both of which, when added to cut tobacco further enhance the smoking experience.

Our manufacturing facilities are supported by state-of-the-art R&D facilities in Mumbai, which assist with the development and creation of new products as well as improving the current range of products for the domestic as well as international markets. Our product range includes 69 mm to 100 mm cigarettes in regular as well as super slim sizes with customer oriented packaging.

Our facilities comply with international quality standards such as the ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 14000. The high standards of environment-friendly manufacturing processes are brought about entirely due to the recommendations of our motivated factory personnel.

The ISO 14001:2004 (Environment Management System) certification of Mumbai and Ghaziabad plants evidences our commitment towards environmental control. Both the factories have also adopted various environment friendly initiatives like recycling of water, rain water harvesting, using solar power systems, etc. Both factories are also certified OHSAS 18001:2007, as our commitment towards Occupational Health and Safety.

Our Ghaziabad plant is the first cigarette manufacturing unit in India to have been accredited with a Social Accountability (SA) 8000:2001 certification. Our Ghaziabad factory was awarded the ‘Greentech Foundation Gold Award’ in 2009 and in 2010 for its Outstanding Achievement in Environment Management. We also received the Eco Friendly Award in 2009 from the Ghaziabad Management Association for implementing ‘Best Environment Management Practices’. These awards are the most coveted awards in the corporate world for outstanding achievements in the field of Environment Management and we endeavor each year to continue delivering upon their expectations.

Our Mumbai facility boasts of extreme dedication of employees that has led us to establish an industry record by winning the INSAAN Awards (The Indian National Suggestion Scheme Association, given for the best suggestions made by a factory worker in the year) for 14 consecutive years. Our Mumbai factory was also awarded the 2010 Greentech Silver award as a commendation of its efforts in outstanding achievements and excellence in safety management.

Our latest, upcoming third manufacturing factory in Rabale, Navi Mumbai has been registered with IGBC for green factory building and it is the first registration after Standard for Green Factory Building was launched in 2009. The Rabale factory is equipped with high-speed cigarette making and packing machines along with the latest primary manufacturing facilities for cut tobacco production. The facility also has a state of the art automatic storage and retrieval system for all raw materials.

The Rabale factory like our Ghaziabad and Mumbai units, has already adopted the use of environment friendly measures such as recycling water, rainwater harvesting and using solar power systems, amongst various other initiatives.