It closed its bread operations in Hyderabad and Delhi in December 2008 with a view to growing its business in Bangalore, where the brand has been available for six years.

'It is our clear intention to grow our Daily Bread business in India,' he said.

Wadia said the Middle-East business has not performed well, primarily because of huge surge in raw material prices.

'We have a lot of hope for Middle-East business. Surge in flour, sugar and oil prices impacted us adversely in the Middle-East. We are consolidating our business in the Middle-East, and currently we will be concentrating on Oman,' he said.

Apprehending that the 'current year will be a tough one', Wadia said poor monsoon would affect input prices of the company's products.

'But we are quite clear that we will drive our cost down and protect our margin,' he added.

The profit after tax in 2008-09 fiscal was Rs.1,804 million.

'Last year, our topline has grown 20 percent despite an all-round increase in input prices and our power brand also grew by 20 percent. So it was a good year despite the volatility in prices.

'Our bread, cake and rusks business has grown three times in the last three years and is now worth Rs.380 crore,' he said.