To be located at a food park, the new facility will be Britannia’s largest plant in the country.

Britannia chairman Nusli Wadia was quoted by Press Trust of India as saying: "We are planning to set up our largest plant at the Ranjangaon food park in Maharashtra."

Addressing the company’s shareholders at the annual general meeting, Wadia said that the new plant will feature new manufacturing lines for biscuits, cakes and rusks.

Britannia signed a joint venture (JV) with Greek company Chipita for the manufacture of ready-to-eat (RTE) filled croissants.

RTE croissants are a large segment in countries that have similar demographics to India, reported IANS.

The JV plant is expected to commence operations from next June.

Britannia is also planning to start a new dairy project at the food park, which will have a capacity to process 700,000l of milk a day.

Wadia said that the company is focusing on new products and cost reduction.

Britannia also intends to open a new plant in Nepal using a Rs55m ($8m) investment.