M&M to consolidate agri biz under Mahindra Shubhlabh Services

Homegrown diversified group Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M)today announced plans to consolidate its agri business under a single entity by transferring its agriculture division to a wholly-owned arm.
Company's Board of Directors approved a proposal to transfer the agri business to Mahindra Shubhlabh Services Ltd (MSSL), M&M said in a BSE filing.
The agri business of the company consists of crop care, seeds, pulses, edible oils, basmati rice, potato, potato flakes and dairy, besides an investment in Mahindra HZPC Pvt Ltd (MHZPC) - a joint venture with HZPC Holland BV for seed potatoes, it added.
The step is aimed to "consolidate agri business under an entity. This consolidation would help unlock synergies between various individual verticals and help offer end-to-end solutions for farmer needs across agricultural value chain".

M&M Chairman Anand Mahindra said the group's agri business is aligned to its long-term vision of delivering "FarmTech Prosperity".
"With close to 50 per cent of the population of the country dependent on agriculture, it offers us an opportunity to truly live the Mahindra Rise philosophy, by driving positive change," he said.

The group has multiple businesses under different entities, bringing them all together would provide the right environment to maximise synergies and create value for all stakeholders, Mahindra said.
"Our Agri Business has reached a critical mass now and this new entity would provide an opportunity to fully leverage the potential that these businesses offer and thus, function as an end-to-end provider in the agri value chain," M&M Executive Director Pawan Goenka said.

The agri businesses would also have three brands --Samriddhi for selling of agri inputs, Saboro for high quality fruits, and NuPro for pulses and edible oils.
The income of the agri business, excluding the income of Rs 21.6 crore of MHZPC, was Rs 211.35 crore as on March 31, 2015.
With this consolidation, all of M&M's Agri Businesses would now come under MSSL, which was set up in 2003 for the export of grapes and is one of the largest exporters of the fruit from India. It exports to Europe, the Middle East, Russia and South East Asia.
M&M however said its micro irrigation arm EPC Industries would continue as a direct subsidiary.