Fertiliser major GNFC eyes Rs 500 cr turnover from Neem products

After the success of its Neem soap and hair oil, it now plans to launch Neem hand wash and shampoo

Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers and Chemicals Ltd (GNFC), a fertiliser major from Gujarat is now targeting a turnover of Rs 500 crore from its neem-based products portfolio in next three years. The company is planning to expand its FMCG portfolio to reach pan India.

"Within a short span of launching, our neem products portfolio has seen good traction. In the current financial year, we are expecting Rs 50 crore turnover from the segment and in next three years we are targeting Rs 500 crore turnover," claimed Rajiv Kumar Gupta, managing director of GNFC.

After the successful launch of its neem soap and hair oil, besides other neem derivatives, GNFC is now planning to launch Neem hand wash, shampoo and other neem-based products in the market.

"We realised that there is a good potential for our FMCG products. The company is in process of increasing the product range of Neem-based items, and will soon launch neem hand wash, shampoo and other neem-based products," Gupta said.

GNFC had started collecting neem seeds in Gujarat for its own use and had launched a shop last year to market neem-based products in a small way. Initially, it did not plan to capitalise on the FMCG business.

According to GNFC, as gradually demand for neem products grew within the state, the company decided to expand the product portfolio and expand to other states.

Gupta said, "Currently our products are available only in Gujarat. Looking at the growing demand, we have decided to expand footprint to other states too."

The company has covered about 400 retail stores in Gujarat for FMCG products and will soon cover another 500 retail outlet in states like Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.

To restrict wrong use of urea for other industrial purpose, the central government had made neem coating in urea mandatory in 2015.

A few years back, the company had started collecting neem seeds from about 4,000 villages through women self-help groups (SHGs). Currently there are over 100,000 women are associated with GNFC for neem collection.

The company is collecting over 10,000 tonnes neem seeds in Gujarat and this will increase to about 40,000 tonnes by end of 2017 by expanding it to other states including Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.