Source: Times Internet Limited via Checkbiotech

Vying for the BT cotton market, JK group company JK Agri-Genetics has developed 15 more seed varieties in addition to the four that have already been launched in the market.

"We are the only company in India to have developed BT cotton seed varieties indigenously," company's President P S Dravid said, adding it was jointly done with IIT Kharagpur.

In the last two years, JK Agri Genetics has been working on genetically modified (GM) seeds in major crops like cotton, rice and mustard besides focusing on hybrids like jowar, bajra and cotton.

The company released four BT cotton varieties in different regions after securing approval for commercialisation from the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee in May 2006.

"Two BT cotton varieties, one in Punjab and Haryana and the other in Maharashtra and Gujarat, have also been launched," Dravid said, adding that two varieties have been released in the South. As many as 15 additional BT cotton varieties developed by JK Agri Genetics are in the process of experimentation and trials, he added.

Apart from JK group, world seed major Monsanto's Indian arm Mahyco and Pune-based Nath Seeds (which has a tie-up with a Chinese firm) are the other two players in the GM cotton seed business. JK group had a turnover of Rs 57 crore from the seed business in the first half (April-September) of the current fiscal year against Rs 49 crore in the corresponding period last year, a company official said.

The profit before tax (PBT) from seed business too jumped by 93 per cent to Rs 8.5 crore in the H1 period, he said. The JK group company is in the process of setting up a state-of-the-art biotech research centre near Hyderabad with an investment of about Rs 20 crore, Dravid said.

"The research centre will have latest facilities and equipment for DNA finger printing, molecular breeding, high throughput screening systems and specialised glass houses," he said. The high throughput screening systems will enable scientists to analyse a large number of samples in less time.

JK Agri Genetics has already set up a biotech laboratory in Hyderabad that has secured recognition from the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research besides establishing seed testing centres in 36 locations. The company is currently focussing on expansion of its R&D activities through tie-ups with overseas research institutes.

The company apart from having entered into research agreements with a number of Indian technology and science institutes has also tied up with several private and public research institutes in countries like the US, Australia and Holland, company Director Vikrampati Singhania said.

Dravid said JK Agri Genetics, encouraged by the good response from farmers to 'JK seed', has decided to hive off its seed business into a stand alone entity. The company has already filed a petition in the Calcutta High Court for restructuring with a view to hive off the investment and seed business separately, he said.

JK Agri Genetics Ltd was functioning as a division of JK Industries till September 2004 when it became a separate company inheriting some investment business of the parent company, he added.

Copyright © 2007 Times Internet Limited