Tata Chemicals to foray into branded grams arena

After succeeding in packaged salt, Tata Chemicals, India’s largest packaged salt maker, mulls to foray into branded grams arena, a top company official said here on Saturday.

The Tata Company sees a big potential for branded dal in the future, executive director of Tata Sons and chairman of Tata chemicals R. Gopalakrishnan said.

According to Mr. Gopalakrishnan, the country’s pulses requirement will touch 35 million tonnes by 2030, as against 14 million tonnes at present.

“We are doing a pilot project in Tamil Nadu, where around 3,500 acres of land involving 1,000 farmers growing pulses was taken up. We gave the farmers seeds and help them grow pulses and assured them that we will buy the crop. We also tied up with dal millers,” Mr. Gopalakrishnan told mediapersons here on the sidelines of Agriwatch Hyderabad Pulses Conference 2010.

The project is being implemented in Pudukkotai and Somangalam in Tamil Nadu.

He said Tata Salt has been selling in three million outlets across the country and marketing was not a problem.

“We started selling branded Urad Dal under I-Shakti brand name in Chennai. We are open for partnerships in this (dal cultivation). We already partnered with Tamil Nadu Government,” the Tata Executive said.

He said they also took up a pilot project of growing moong dal in Punjab with the help of local farmers.

He said they may go for mass contract farming based on the outcome of the projects.