Mumbai: New Vernon Private Equity Ltd, a US-based equity fund, will invest $10 million in Eastern Condiments, the flagship company of Calcutta-based Eastern group.

Eastern Condiments, the largest exporter of packed curry powder to countries in West Asia, would use the new capital for expanding its footprint across the country by setting up new units, Navas Meeran, managing director of the Eastern group, said.

Meeran said the company had gone for fresh investments to expand and consolidate its core activity of curry power manufacturing.

"We are focusing the South-West corridor as the main area of expansion in the next three and five years," he said adding the company had already established a sizeable presence in Mumbai with a sale of 20 tonnes of curry powder in a month.

The company also had plans to enter into North Indian states, he said.

On the expansion plans, he said the group would start two factories each having a 100-tonne daily capacity of curry powders within the next two to three years.

The factories would be set up at Kothamangalam in Ernakulam district and Guntur in Andhra Pradesh. The company at present has a factory at Adimali with a 70 tonne daily capacity.

The group was targeting a turnover of Rs163 crore in 2006-07 against the previous year's turnover of Rs122 crore and a profit of Rs21 crore against Rs 18 crore last year.

The Eastern group has business interests in areas such as tread rubber, mattresses, garments, packaged drinking water.