DuPont enters India's cotton-seed market

NEW DELHI: Dupont, one of the world���s top five seed companies, has acquired Nandi Seeds and the cotton germplasm business of Nagarjuna Seeds in India, hoping to target the country���s $275-million-a-year cotton seed market and marking its maiden entry into the cotton seed business worldwide. India is the world���s second-largest producer and consumer of cotton.

Significantly, with this deal, DuPont India will now sell dominant-player Monsanto���s Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) cotton through Nandi Seeds, which has a licence from Monsanto India to use BT technology to produce cotton seeds here.

The Rs 40-crore acquisition of Nandi, through DuPont India���s subsidiary Pioneer Seeds, will give DuPont an easy entry into a cash crop that has seen yields grow manifold over the past six years. Buying Nagarjuna���s cotton germplasm business would allow DuPont to introduce some elite hybrids in India.

���These acquisitions will help us enter the cotton seed market here and meet the needs of Indian farmers who grow more than 9 million hectares of cotton each year ��� more than anywhere else in the world,��� said KV Subbarao, country manager of Pioneer India. ���Cotton is a natural fit for Pioneer in India. It completes our high-value product and service offering to farmers and enables us to further strengthen our growing seed business here.���
Currently, Pioneer offers corn, rice, pearl millet, sunflower and mustard in the Indian market and its revenue has grown 40% annually for the last five years to reach about $70 million in 2008.

���Agriculture, food and nutrition is a key growth segment for DuPont in India, and these acquisitions are part of the company���s strategy to expand its presence here,��� said Balvinder S Kalsi, president, DuPont India.

This is the latest in a series of investments by DuPont in India. Pioneer, recently, announced the opening of a new corn research centre in Bangalore to speed delivery of new, improved products to market and meet the growing demand for food and feed. The new Bangalore centre is the fifth field research facility in India for Pioneer and will develop high-yielding hybrids adapted to the unique growing conditions in the area.

Cotton will be sown in central and western India over the next few weeks and all seed companies have revved up their marketing campaigns for the season. Though, a poor monsoon could blight the prospects of agri-input companies, DuPont believes it is too early to worry.

���I think we have to wait and see how the rains do in the main agricultural markets of India. As of now, we are very optimistic about the season,��� Mr Kalsi said. DuPont has launched several new crop protection products this kharif season.