Riding on the Union government’s NMEO-OP thrust, Indian FMCG major Patanjali Group has struck a contract with Sabah-based Sawit Kinabalu , the investment arm of the provincial government in the oil palm industry. 

The contract was inked in 2022 and is valid for 5 years. Sawit Kinabalu was expected to supply 4 million oil palm seeds to the Baba Ramdev-run FMCG major. It has so far supplied 1.5 million seeds, a top official in the Sawit Kinabalu group told businessline. 

Patanjali group is the only Indian company to have inked such an agreement with the Malaysian company, he said. The Patanjali group is in various stages of setting up palm oil nurseries and mills in the North-East Region. In Nagaland, it has partnered with Godrej Agrovet to boost oil palm cultivation in the State. 

Integrated player

Sawit Kinabalu is a fully integrated player in the Malaysian palm oil industry with 36 palm estates and 7 oil mills and an annual production capacity of 100,000-120, 000 tonnes.

It also has 6 nurseries with an annual capacity of 10 million seeds. “Of this, 3 million goes to India. The company has its seed research centre and the yields are 30 per cent more than conventional methods,” said Nazlan Muhamad, Chief Sustainability Officer of the group. 

On India’s NMEO-OP programme, Mohamad said the industry is upbeat about collaborating with India and “the crop in North-East India, especially, is very good, maybe, because of soil conditions and topography.”

More farm income

Since its launch in August 2021, NMEO-OP has laid out a clear roadmap for consistent and sustainable palm oil cultivation. A 2024 Niti Aayog report recommended fostering collaborations with private sector players to expedite growth in technology, marketing, seed production and processing. 

Oil palm is a perennial crop with an economic cropping period of 25-30 years requiring less labour and minimal pesticide usage. Also, oil palm cultivation allows for intercropping, thereby helping farmers earn extra income. 

Palm oil finds application in multitude of industries such as food, confectionery, skincare and dyes. 

(The writer is in Malaysia at the invitation of Malaysian Palm Oil Council)

Published on June 17, 2025