National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) subsidiaries have fetched ₹945.39 crore as cumulative profit between FY12 and FY21 with India Immunologicals contributing the highest at ₹537.03 crore. Among other subsidiaries, Mother Dairy Fruit and Vegetable Pvt Ltd has contributed ₹295.10 crore. .

This information was provided in the Lok Sabha in a reply to a question on the losses incurred by the NDDB subsidiaries in the last 10 years.

Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, said Mother Dairy Fruit and Vegetable Pvt Ltd suffered losses of ₹97.55 crore and ₹164.40 crore during FY19 and FY20, respectively.

Indian Immunologicals Ltd (IIL), another subsidiary of NDDB that operates in the veterinary and human biologicals segment, incurred a loss of ₹44.01 crore in FY16. IIL is a major player in the human vaccine market in India, focussing on the paediatric and rabies vaccine segments. IIL also operates one of the largest plants in the world for veterinary vaccines.

NDDB’s another subsidiary, Indian Dairy Machinery Company (IDMC) Ltd, incurred a loss of ₹13.07 crore during FY13. The cumulative profit after tax of IDMC Ltd was at ₹109.90 crore from FY12 to FY21. IDMC was set up to manufacture dairy equipment and components.

NDDB Dairy Services, which is a Section 8 (not-for-profit) company of NDDB, recorded a cumulative of ₹3.35 crore in terms of excess of income over expenditure (after tax) from 2011-12 to 2020-21.

Tomar said the losses incurred by the subsidiary companies, in one/two years are not abnormal considering the market dynamics. “In fact, over the last 10 years, each of the subsidiary companies has registered cumulative profit/excess of income over expenditure. The cumulative profit after tax/excess of income over expenditure during this period for all the four subsidiary companies have been ₹945.39 crore,” he said.

Honey

Replying to a separate question on National Beekeeping and Honey Mission (NBHM), Tomar said about 12,000 beekeepers/beekeeping and honey societies/firms/companies with 18 lakh honeybee colonies have been registered with National Bee Board (NBB) on Madhukranti portal under NBHM.

Further, 16,335 beekeepers have been registered and benefited by Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) in their ‘Honey Mission’ scheme during 2017-18 to 2021-22 (up to March 25).

Quoting the third advanced estimate figures, the Minister said honey production in India has been estimated at 1.25 lakh tonnes.

Arecanut

To a query on yellow leaf disease (YLD) in arecanut plantations, the minister said YLD of arecanut is caused by phytoplasma. YLD has been noticed in all districts of Kerala and six taluks of Karnataka. The governments of Karnataka and Kerala have taken some steps to manage and control the disease.

On the projects and research works carried out on medicinal and alternative uses of arecanut, Tomar said the Arecanut Task Force Committee, constituted under the Karnataka government, has entrusted MS Ramaiah University of Applied Sciences, Bengaluru, to study the health effects of arecanut consumption and its alternative uses.

ICAR-CPCRI is collaborating with medical institutions such as KS Hegde Medical Academy in Mangaluru for developing value-added products utilising the anti-bacterial properties of arecanut. The Kerala Agriculture University is also carrying out research on the uses of arecanut, he said.

Cereals

Replying to another query, Tomar said the procurement of cereals, including wheat, rice and coarse cereals, by the government agencies was at 939.62 lakh tonnes (lt) till March 28 of 2021-22 as against 1003.54 lt during 2020-21. The procurement of pulses was at 10.31 lt till March 28 of 2021-22 as against 22.57 lt during 2020-21.

Onion

To a separate query on the storage capacity to store onions at ‘place of consumption’, the minister said, the current capacity of low-cost onion storage in the country is at 10.27 lt. The country has 41,076 low-cost storage structures in this regard, he said.

For setting up of low cost onion storage, back-ended subsidy at the rate of 50 per cent of the total cost of 25-tonne capacity with cost norms of ₹1.75 lakh per unit is available under Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture, he added.

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