Jain Irrigation plans contract farming

Maharashtra-based company acquires onion dehydration plant at Bhavnagar in Gujarat.

As part of its strategy to focus more on Gujarat, Maharashtra-based agro, processed foods and irrigation major Jain Irrigation Systems Ltd (JISL) is expanding its operations in the state.

The Rs 400-crore JSIL has already acquired an onion dehydration plant in Bhavnagar district to scale up its processing capacity. The company is also looking at undertaking contract farming of onions in the state.

Last year, JISL invested around Rs 6 crore in Gujarat. It plans to pump in Rs 5 crore more this year to ramp up operations. "The newly-acquired onion dehydration plant will be upgraded and is expected to start operations within two months. It would focus on the domestic market," Charitra Jain, senior vice-president, JSIL, told the media.

Post expansion, the processing capacity of the Vadodara plant would also increase from 8 tonnes per day (tpd) to 20 tpd.

The company plans to start contract farming in Bodeli near Vadodara and Mahuva in Bhavnagar district.

This apart, JSIL also plans to set up plants for dehydration of fruits and vegetables in Karnataka. "Around Rs 20 crore will be infused for the overall expansion," Jain added.

JSIL is the largest player in the organised onion dehydration market in the country and ranks second in the global market. The company accounts for around 40 per cent of the total exports of dehydrated onions from India.

The total onion dehydration capacity of the company is around 25,000 tonnes per annum, while its Jalgaon plant alone has an annual onion dehydration capacity of 10,000 tonnes.

JSIL had recently acquired a controlling stake in Thomas Machines SA of Switzerland. The company is looking at Europe now for more acquisitions.

"We have already identified a few companies but it would be premature to disclose their names. However, the companies we are looking at are in the field of irrigation and food processing," he said.