The Hindu Business Line : Mahindra outfit to set up 50 agri-centres

MAHINDRA Shubh Labh Services Ltd, the subsidiary of Mahindra & Mahindra, plans to set up about 50 agri-centres during the current year offering agri-consultancy, equipment rental and distribution and retailing of a wide range of inputs. The company will also facilitate crop loan disbursal through a tie up with ICICI.

According to Mr Kamlesh Tripathi, Head-Business Development, Mahindra Shubh Labh, these would be franchisee operations, and a part of the company's long-term plan, which envisages capturing 16 per cent of the market share of agri-input retailing by 2005.

The company hopes to rope in 3,00,000 farmers who will avail the services and achieve a 25-50 per cent increase in yields and the corresponding increase in profits.

The company will deliver integrated yield and profit solutions by providing updated technology and offering quality farming inputs at the right time.

Financing will also be facilitated, he said.

The farmer availing Mahindra Shubh Labh's package of services will thus have access to scientific farming practices, mechanised operations, a range of quality inputs including seeds and chemicals. It has tied up with ICICI to facilitate crop loans through ICICI. Farmers will be able to source up to Rs 5,000 per acre up to a maximum of Rs 1 lakh, he said.

During the current year, according to Mr Tripathi, the company plans to set up 12 agri-centres in Tamil Nadu and an equal number in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

The reach of each of these centres, which will be one-stop-shops for the farmer, will be extended by developing these as a hub for outlying marketing networks. Through this hub-and-spoke model, the market reach of the product lines on offer and the services will be widened.

The product lines include fertilisers, for which the company has wholesale and retail license for fertilisers from manufacturers as Madras Fertilisers Ltd, SPIC and FACT, for pesticides it has a retail license for products from major players as Bayer, Syngenta, Aventis, Rallis and Lupin. It would also market leading brands of seeds, he said.

Mr Tripathi was addressing a press conference here on Wednesday to highlight the company's plans in agri-services and distribution and retailing.

According to Mr K.P. Narayanan, Business Manager, Mahindra Shubh Labh, at the company's facility in Madurai, where it has directly set up its own operations, about 70-75 per cent of the turnover is from retailing the inputs. The balance is from equipment rental and services.

While its services for now are primarily targeted at paddy, the single largest crop in the region, it is also expanding its scope to other crops as groundnut, banana and cotton.

The company has brought under its consultancy operation over 2100 acres and demonstrated a 25 per cent increase in yield. Its turnover reached over Rs 2 crore.

During the current year it will commercialise mechanical transplanter services, which had commenced on a pilot basis last year, he said.

Additional centres are to come up at Thiruvallur, Villupuram, South Arcot and Kanchipuram, he said.

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