Harrisons to invest in Asean, Africa plantations

Harrisons Malayalam, the Rs 17,000-crore RPG Group company, is planning a major overseas foray, by setting up rubber and tea plantations in Africa and Southeast Asia.

The largest producer of rubber and pepper in India and the largest producer of tea in South India, it has started to explore developing rubber and tea plantations in Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos in Asia and Cameroon, Kenya and Nigeria in Africa, said Harsh Goenka, chairman of RPG Enterprises.

“It is difficult to acquire land in India, whereas large tracts of land are available in those countries. Costs are also comparatively cheap,” he said, on the sidelines of a press meet.

Harrisons plans to lease about 5,000-10,000 hectares of land in each of these countries, said Ajit Singh Chouhan, president and chief executive, speciality sector, of the Group.

Land will be taken on long-term lease at nominal cost and it may take about five years to develop and start yield from new rubber plantations; with tea plantations, the yield will be available within three years. It will require an investment of about Rs 200 crore for every 5,000 hectares of the plantations, he said.

Earlier, it was looking at either acquiring existing plantations or to develop new ones in the northeast states of India. That plan had to be abandoned due to unavailability.

Tyco plans to triple India turnover in 5 years
The US-based Tyco Electronics, which today merged its energy business in this country with its Indian joint venture, RPG Raychem, plans substantial investments to triple its revenues from India within the next five years.

“We have a $300 million (Rs 1,350 crore) business in India and plan to grow at least two-three times within the next five years. This may require an equal amount of investment or I would say substantial investments,” said Tony Gatt, vice-president, energy division.

He said the company had manufacturing facilities in Bangalore, Pune and Kochi and future investments will be mainly in new facilities in and around Bangalore. The company employs about 4,000 people in India.

Tyco is a $10.3-billion global provider of engineered electronic components for consumer and industrial products, network solutions and systems for telecommunications and energy markets, undersea telecommunication systems, and specialty products. It produces about 450,000 precision-engineered products and employs about 78,000 people globally.

It has been in India for many years. The RPG-Raychem, 50:50, joint venture, on since 1984, came to its fold following the global acquisition of Raychem by Tyco in 1999 for $3 billion.

TE-Raychem merger
The move of Tyco to merge its energy business will add Rs 100 crore turnover in the first year and another Rs 300 crore over a five-year period for RPG Raychem, said Harsh Goenka, chairman RPG Enterprises. Currently, RPG Raychem has a Rs 600-crore turnover.

"The combined strengths of TE Energy and RPG will help us to become a clear market leader in India," said Ramani Kasi, chief executive of RPG Raychem.