DSCL to invest Rs 100 cr in seed business

DSM Shriram Consolidated (DSCL) is looking at investing up to Rs 100 crore in its hybrid seeds business over the next 4-5 years to strengthen research and seed processing infrastructure.

DSCL, a firm with interests in sugar and fertiliser, among other areas, had entered into the hybrid seed business by acquiring a majority stake in Bioseed Genetics International in 2002. Subsequently, it took full control of the company in 2008 and changed the name to Shriram Bioseed Genetics India (SBGIL).

"We have invested Rs 50 crore in the last five years and plan to invest Rs 80-100 crore in the next 4-5 years to further strengthen our research and seed processing infrastructures," SBGIL Research Director Paresh Verma told PTI.

SBGIL, a fully-owned subsidiary of DSCL and an emerging player in the country's Rs 4,000 crore hybrid seed industry, will set up a research centre and a seed processing unit in Andhra Pradesh, where it already has two seed processing plants with a per day capacity of 200 tonnes of field crops and 75,000 packets of Bt cotton.

"The proposed seed processing facility, likely to come up in Hyderabad at a cost of Rs 70 crore, will hike our capacity two-fold," Verma said, adding that a space crunch at the existing research centre at Hyderabad made it necessary for SBGIL to look for a bigger space.

"Both the facilities will come up within the next two years," he said.

SBGIL, which recorded a Rs 202 crore revenue in 2009-10, up 29 per cent from the previous fiscal, has developed more than 50 hybrid seeds and hopes to bring out 10-12 products every year for the next 2-3 years.

"We aim to double our turnover in every two years by focusing on cotton, rice, millet, tomato and other products," Verma said.