Comments
Nitta Gelatin India Ltd is pinning hopes on the improved business environment at its ossein plant in Kerala’s Kathikudam for a turnaround in the current fiscal.
The continuous disruption of work in the Kathikudam plant near Chalakkudy affected the company’s financials, registering a loss of ₹7.31 crore in 2013-14 against a net profit of ₹26.13 crore in the previous fiscal.
Public protestThe company, which produces gelatine, ossein, di calcium phosphate, collagen peptide etc was in the red in the last fiscal on account of the work stoppage in the plant due to public protest alleging environmental pollution.
Sajiv K Menon, the new Managing Director, said the company had taken measures to implement all the recommendations made by NEERI following the Kerala High Court order to improve the efficacy of its environment management systems.
The company will implement all the recommendations by NEERI and continue with the progressive pollution control measures, he said, adding that they have spent around ₹8 crore on pollution control measures.
“Last year there were many disruptions. That seems to be behind us. There are some signs of discontent but we have been able to restore normalcy in the last 5-6 months,” Menon told reporters during his first media interaction here on Tuesday.
Turnaround expectedIn the backdrop of improved conditions, he said, the company would be able to work to full capacity and is looking forward to achieving a turnaround and post profits in the current year. The company’s products are among the essential ingredients of the pharmaceutical industry, including many of life-saving drugs.
The ₹300 crore company manufactures products from its four plants – two in Kerala and one each in Gujarat and Maharashtra -- for wide applications in pharmaceuticals, neutraceuticals and other industries. NGIL also has a significant presence overseas with exports constituting 60 per cent of the turnover, he said.
According to him, there is a promising future for neutraceuticals in India thanks to increasing disposable income and upbeat economic conditions. To cash in on the situation, NGIL is pondering over a series of value addition in the form of forward integration. “Our value-added products like gelatin and collagen peptide are already holding tremendous growth opportunities”, he said.
NGIL is one of the first Indo-Japanese joint venture in India incorporated in 1975 even before the Maruti Suzuki project.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.