The Hindu Business Line : KRBL plans foray into seeds, rice bran oil biz

Bengali film actress Sreelekha Mitra launching the India Gate Classic Basmati rice along with the Chairman and Managing Director of KRBL, Mr Anil Kumar Mittal (centre), and the Joint Managing Director, Mr Anoop Kumar Gupta, in Kolkata on Monday. — Parth Sanyal

Kolkata , May 16

THE Delhi-based KRBL Ltd, producer of the India Gate brand of basmati rice, is planning to make a foray into the business of seeds, rice bran and furfural oil by the end of September, this year.

According to Mr Anil K. Mittal, Chairman and Managing Director, marketing of rice bran oil will start once the Dhuri plant in Punjab starts commercial production.

The Dhuri plant, earlier known as Oswal Agro Furane plant, was acquired by KRBL in December 2003 at a cost of Rs 15.80 crore. Along with rice bran oil, the unit will manufacture furfural oil, for which there is good demand in the industrial sector.

"Our rice bran oil will be of the best quality. We can make such a claim because we will have a totally integrated production mechanism. Others do not have that technology," Mr Mittal told newspersons on Monday.

He was in the city to launch the India Gate Classic branded basmati rice.

Its USP lies in the fact that the average size of a rice grain is eight mm before cooking and 23 mm after cooking.

The Dhuri plant's basmati rice production capacity will be 120 tonnes per hour and that of rice bran oil 50 tonnes per day.

KRBL will place this oil in a premium sector, pricing it at Rs 85-90 per litre.

Meanwhile, the company has also decided to market seeds. Currently, it markets seeds of basmati rice and wheat, the annual business on this count being Rs 5 crore. KRBL plans to enter the oilseed market too.

For the year ended March 2005, KRBL's turnover was Rs 550 crore. Of this, 70 per cent was generated from exports. By 2007, KRBL's turnover is expected to touch Rs 700 crore.

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