Ruchi Soya Industries Limited, India’s leading agribusiness company is positive about the future of country’s agribusiness sector. Speaking at the Global Oil Agri Conference held at Mumbai, Satendra Aggarwal, COO of Ruchi Soya Industries Limited said that the “3D” approach of Development, Disruption, and Dilemma can bring massive changes in the farming sector through much-needed reforms in the country.
The “disruption” caused by demonetisation and GST will transform the agriculture sector into an organized and unified national market with global access. The “development” steps such as the promotion of palm plantations, increase in the scope and coverage of Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), enhanced fund limits from NABARD for crop loan credit and the establishment of eNAM (National Agriculture Market), all have the potential to create a revolutionary new ecosystem to ensure structural growth and progress in the sector. Lately the “dilemma” of ensuring ‘Make in India’ has seen progress with the welcome increase in import duty on edible oils which will boost the domestic processing industry.
Aggarwal emphasized how the developments had set India on the road to self-sufficiency in edible oil, the only basic commodity that is majorly imported further leading to loss of foreign exchange and puts risks on India’s nutritional security.
He said that Ruchi Soya is making all efforts to ensure that farmers’ income doubles by 2022 in line with the vision of our Hon’ble Prime Minister. From working closely with farmers to increase the use of drip irrigation techniques to achieve ‘more crop per drop’, to organising camps to educate farmers on the latest developments in agri-technology for yield improvement, the company has also developed various farm inputs for the Palm Plantation sector and provides technical assistance to achieve better productivity and income growth.
Speaking about the business he said, “Ruchi Soya is working on bringing the company out from the issues that developed over a period of time largely due to macro-economic conditions much beyond its control. Backed by the favourable monsoon in the current year, the business is showing rapid signs of recovery on all fronts especially the flagship FMCG business. The arrangement with Patanjali for refining and packaging is progressing as per plans and leading to better capacity utilization. The recent corporate restructuring exercise to evaluate subsidiarisation and unlock value of the diverse businesses will enable a faster and efficient resolution allowing the company to come back on track at the earliest”.
Ruchi Soya is India’s leading Agri and Food FMCG Company with a turnover of USD 3 billion. It is one of India's largest players in the cooking oils segment of the country. Its leading brands include Nutrela, Mahakosh, Sunrich, Ruchi Gold and Ruchi Star.
(Sourced from Business Wire India press release)
