Godrej Pet Care (GPC) is set to foray into all the southern States in the coming weeks and in a phased manner to other regions on the back of its manufacturing plant in Nashik going on stream recently.

The Godrej Consumer Products subsidiary is also betting big on the demographics of the country to aid pet adoption and the huge headroom for growth.

Choosing Tamil Nadu for the debut and eyeing to garner about 10% of the market there in about a year, the company said it was entering Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. “We will be shortly present in Karnataka and Kerala and also some of the online platforms like Amazon,” COO Nitin Jain said at the launch of Godrej Ninja pet food for dogs here.

“This is a sunrise category... for the future decades. The growth will be north of 15% for next few decades, largely because only one in 10 households has a pet [and the number] is only going to increase,” he said, adding the need for a complete and balanced nutrition for dogs is another factor driving growth.

Citing estimates that peg pet care market at ₹6,000 crore of which ₹5,000 crore is pet food, he said the company plans to invest ₹500 crore in pet care over the next few years. A rapid expansion in south India is planned where pet food market is estimated at ₹1,800–2,000 crore. The company, which catered to Tamil Nadu from a pilot project, recently commissioned its 35,000 tonne per annum plant in Nashik.

“We plan to expand all India [market] by April next year,” he said, adding how the number of parents whose children move to another city, either for studies or employment, and people preferring to stay single were likely to drive pet adoption.

On when the company would require additional manufacturing capacity, Mr.Jain said “as we expand nationally, we will need more plants and more portfolio. Currently we have a plant which is able to service our needs for next few years. As you run out of capacity, you start provisioning for new plants and then you spread the plants geographically. In south, Telangana would be [a] better place because there is an ecosystem of manufacturing already here.”