Wageningen, The Netherlands
December 15, 2009

Bioseed Research India Pvt. Ltd., a leading research and hybrid seed development company which is 100% owned by the Indian company DCM Shriram Consolidated Ltd. (DSCL), has signed a strategic partnership agreement to collaborate with KeyGene. KeyGene is a research company based in the Netherlands and global leader in molecular breeding technology. The aim of this long term partnership is to accelerate the development of new and innovative crop varieties for India and South-East Asia.

Mr. Vikram S. Shriram, Vice Chairman & Managing Director of DCM Shriram Consolidated Ltd., says: “DSCL is focusing on serving the South and South-East Asian farmers through its various agribusinesses. The hybrid seed business is one of the key drivers in our overall growth strategy. We believe that the use of KeyGene’s state-of-the-art Molecular Breeding technology platforms will increase the speed, precision and cost effectiveness of our product development processes. It will also help in increasing the productivity and income level of the farmers through faster introduction of high yielding hybrid seeds in the market”.

Arjen van Tunen, CEO of KeyGene, says: “KeyGene is proud of this first strategic agreement in India which fits well in our long-term strategy to partner with breeding companies in Europe, The United States and Asia. This partnership will be the basis to set up strategic co-development programs in trait development which will add tremendous economic value for farmers in Bioseed’s new hybrid seed products. We are determined to make this partnership a success. I think that strong trustful relations between dedicated people form the basis of durable successes for now and in the future”.

Bioseed, the seed business of DSCL, has strong breeding programs in all major field crops in several countries in South and South-East Asia, including India, Philippines and Vietnam. By using KeyGene’s ‘Green Gene Revolution’ technology & trait platforms for Lead Discovery, Molecular Mutagenesis and Accelerated Breeding, Bioseed has an enormous potential to identify and deploy naturally occurring genes for novel traits to improve the value of their hybrid seed products. This collaboration aims to introduce game changing traits rendering crops optimized for substantially higher yield, sustainable production in tropical regions and improved quality characteristics.

Bioseed Research India (BRI), approved by the Government of India as a technology development company, is 100% owned by DCM Shriram Consolidated Ltd (DSCL) and is part of the seed businesses of DSCL under the brand name of 'Bioseed'. DSCL is a Rs 3600 crore group and has presence in mainly two areas : Agri/Rural business & Chlor Alkali business. The DCM group,
founded in 1889, has been a pioneer in the industrialization of India and a partner to farmers through its agribusinesses. With a strong focus on R&D, Bioseed Research India has been able to generate new traits in the field crops corn, rice, cotton, millet and the vegetables tomato, okra, brinjal, chilli, gourds in India and South-East Asia.

KeyGene (www.keygene.com) is a R&D company with the mission to be the leading company in developing and applying DNA expertise in the field of molecular genetics with a focus on crop plants. KeyGene’s up to date R&D facilities with next generation sequencing platforms, an extensive computational infrastructure and long experience in working with plant genomes form the firm basis of the Crop Genome Center, which focuses on the development of high quality genome assemblies of 6F (Food, Feed, Fuel, Fiber, Flower and Fun) crops. KeyGene exploits its proprietary technologies, databases and know-how through strategic alliances, contract research and products for applications in the plant breeding industry. KeyGene has its headquarters in Wageningen, The Netherlands, a subsidiary in Rockville Maryland, USA and a Joint Lab at the Shanghai Institute of Biological Sciences in Shanghai, China.

Published: December 15, 2009