GNFC eyes Rs 500 cr turnover in next 3 yrs from neem products

"After realising a good potential for GNFC's FMCG products, we have decided to increase the product range of neem-based items. The launching of neem hand wash, shampoo and other derivatives will enable the company to achieve Rs 500 crore turnover in next three years," GNFC's managing director Rajiv Kumar Gupta told PTI here.

During his visit to Bharuch, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had earlier dedicated various forward integration plants of neem projects and neem-based organic pesticides and extraction plant for production of large quantity of neem oil, he said.

GNFC's various neem products are available in more than 3,000 retail outlets in India, including Big Bazaar, Star Bazaar, Kendriya Bhandar and Flipkart.

He said, "All these plants are being run largely by women generating further employment to them."

GNFC's neem project, launched in 2015 with an investment of Rs 50 crore, has resulted in an additional income generation to around four lakh women and rural poor in Gujarat.

Thousands of self-help groups, village co-operative societies and non-governmental organisations have been roped-in to create a very vast, integrated network of neem seed collection.

During the last three years, over 45,000 MT of neem seeds have been collected not only from Gujarat but also from other states like Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, Gupta said.

The Rs 550 crore Di-calcium Phosphate (DCP) plant, a downstream project of GNFC, being established with Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) from EcoPhos Belgium, Europe's largest DCP producer, will go on stream in 2019 as per the schedule, he said.

The plant will produce two lakh metric tonnes per annum of DCP, which would greatly be useful for cattle feed, poultry feed, fish feed industry and also export to other countries. The plant will generate directly and indirectly thousand jobs in Gujarat, Gupta added.