Godrej Agrovet Ltd, the agri-business arm of leading conglomerate Godrej Ltd, plans to enter the dairy farming business. The company is in talks with at least two leading Israeli dairy farm technology providers.
While Godrej Agrovet did not respond to this, representatives of the Israeli companies, Afikim and SCR Engineers Ltd, confirmed they were in talks with Godrej.
"Godrej is looking to set up a model dairy farm, with about 200 cows. The company may not be looking at commercial production of milk, but is interested in becoming a technology source for providing high-yielding cows and world-class technology. The model farm will act as its research and development centre," said an official who was in talks with Godrej.
The Rs 1,576-crore company has business interests in animal feed, oil palm plantations, agri-inputs and poultry. Its animal feed business is the country's largest, with annual production of 730,000 tonnes of feed and nutrition products. With 45 manufacturing facilities across India, it has 10,000 rural distributors and 1,900 employees, says its website.
Godrej's dairy foray is part of a trend where major companies are seriously thinking of commercial dairy farming, as against the conventional format of co-operative dairies.
India's largest fertilizer company, Iffco, had announced a collaborative venture last week with two entities in New Zealand, to set up a mega dairy project in this country. The memorandum of understanding between Iffco and New Zealand's Fonterra Cooperative Group and a commercial entity, Global Dairy Health, envisages the establishment of a dairy farm with 3,000-5,000 cattle in the initial stages.
Israel's industry conglomerate Elbit has also announced plans, through its arm here, Elbit India, to establish India's largest dairy farm in Andhra Pradesh.
