The Kerala State Civil Supplies Corporation (Supplyco) and National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation (Nafed) will begin discussions on Saturday on the modalities for establishing a common brand identity and setting up Supplyco outlets in Delhi and Mumbai.

The Managing Director of Supplyco Yogesh Gupta told reporters here on Wednesday that this effort was to improve the reach and efficiency of Supplyco, which has had a stabilising effect on prices through its market intervention. Supplyco also proposes to start distribution of items through franchisees in the Middle East countries.Besides, the Corporation will also set up hyper markets in Thiruvananthapuram, Kottayam and Thalassery.

As part of Supplyco efforts to increase its reach, the Corporation plans to open 250 more outlets in the coming financial year. A hundred-and-eight new outlets have been opened during 2008-09. Sixty-eight outlets, including eight medical stores, have been opened so far.

The consumer goods corporation has also opened an outlet at the Cochin International Airport, Nedumabassery. The Supplyco bazaar in Kozhikode Collectorate will be duplicated in all the other district headquarters in the State. With a view to meeting customer requirements, additional counters will be opened in the existing outlets for quicker sales.Supplyco will set up a wheat processing facility in Pathanamthitta on a BoT basis. The plant is expected to be operational in July and it will enable Supplyco to produce around 3,000 tonnes of processed wheat a month.

Computerised digital boards projecting the prices and quantity restrictions will be arranged in major outlets, said Mr. Gupta. And, Internet connectivity is being provided for online monitoring of all outlets. Efforts by the management of the Corporation to streamline its finances and make purchases more efficient has resulted in the current financial year already producing a profit of Rs. 16.91 crore. The Corporation had a profit of Rs. 17.46 crore during 2007-08. The Corporation also expects a turnover of Rs. 2,000 crore during the current year and the turnover is targetted to go up to Rs. 2,200 crore next year.