Mahindra Agri expands its NuPro branded pulses portfolio

Mahindra Agri Solutions (MASL), a 100 per cent subsidiary of Mahindra & Mahindra, today launched four new varieties of branded pulses under its NuPro brand and is looking at 6-7 per cent market share in the packaged category one year's time.
"With the introduction of four new varieties of pulses, we can now boast a complete portfolio of branded pulses with the proposition of healthy, pure and quality products," Ashok Sharma, President, Agri and Africa and South Asia Operations, Managing Director and CEO - MASL told reporters here.
"The total retail pulses market in Mumbai is Rs 7,000 crore, of which the branded and packaged segment is of Rs 350 crore. We are looking at Rs 20 crore or a market share of 6-7 per cent in one year," added Sharma.

MASL, which had launched branded toor dal in November 2015, today launched moong dal, masoor dal, urad dal and chana dal.
The company, at present, is targeting upper middle class, health conscious consumers in Mumbai before going for a pan-India roll out plan in three years.
"Currently we are focused in Mumbai. But we are also evaluating other markets in Maharashtra and in another three years we expect to be present in all important cities pan India," Sharma said.

The company's range of products are available in 4,300 outlets across Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Thane, Sharma said adding it will be increased to 10,000 outlets by end of March 2017.

On sourcing, he said, the company is focused on domestic procurement and over 90 per cent is done locally.
"We are focused on sourcing locally and over 90 per cent of the pulses are procured in the country. We procure depending on the season and the crop from Latur in Maharashtra, Satna in Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka. However, the rest of procurement we procure from Canada, Myanmar and Tanzania where it is relevant," he added.
Going forward, Mahindra will expand its footprint in other related value added products this year such as besan.
Mahindra Agri Business also reached out to 250 farmers in Latur through Mahindra Samriddhi, which provides solutions for agriculture problems and technologies for better yield.

Sharma said the company is targeting to reach out to 10,000 farmers this year for pulses through Mahindra Samriddhi.