The Hindu Business Line : Hybrid seeds put DuPont on double-digit growth path

EI DuPont India Private Ltd, a subsidiary of the US-based EI du Pont de Nemours and Company, on Wednesday said that it was registering a double-digit growth, averaging 30 per cent in the country.

It was clocking total revenue of around $300 million, with its hybrid seeds business growing at the fastest rate.

"Our hybrid seeds business, especially rice, has started in a big way with doubling revenues. The Hyderabad-based research and development centre, Pioneer Seed Research, has been doing some interesting work in hybrid rice varieties that yield more in volume and are tolerant to different climatic conditions," said Mr Henrique H. Ubrig, President, South Asia, at the sidelines of the company's programme to felicitate the winners of the DuPont India Challenge 2004.

He said the company had moved into commercial production of hybrid rice and is in the midst of pilot projects in the southern and eastern rice-eating belt of the country.

The product also had export potential. The company is also working on other crops such as corn and soya and has tied up with various academic and research institutions for R&D.

The second fastest growth for the company is happening in plastics and polymers, said Mr Ubrig.

Its products in this sector are largely used for roadways, power, ports and pipelines, with the Indian Railways being one of the company's major customers for engineering polymers.

DuPont India's paints business comes third in its growth graph, which is being buoyed by the boom in construction activity.

For the future, Mr Ubrig largely sees expansion happening in the area of biotechnology.

"With intellectual property rights enacted and approved, companies like ours see a great future in India," he said, while making it clear that expansion would be largely organic.

"Acquisitions are not our preferred option," he said.

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