Dupont Buys Two Cotton Businesses In AP To India Seed Product Lineup

DuPont reported that it had acquired two cotton businesses in a bid to enhance and strengthen its burgeoning business in India. End Quote

(1888PressRelease) July 09, 2010 - In a bid to enhance its product line up and strengthen its burgeoning business in India, DuPont reported that it had acquired two cotton businesses. The company's business Pioneer Hi-Bred said it bought the two cotton seed business based in Andhra Pradesh. The two acquisitions are Nandi Seeds' cotton business, based in Mehboob Nagar, and cotton germplasm from Nagarjuna Seeds, based in Secunderabad, both in the state of Andhra Pradesh. For more information about investment in textile industry, visit http://www.investinindia.com/industry/textile.

Pioneer India country manager, K.V Subbarao, said the two acquisition investments are meant to enable DuPont enter the cotton seed market in India and cater for the demands of the Indian farmers who cultivate over nine million hectares of cotton per annum, the highest yield globally.

He further added that cotton was a natural addition for DuPont's Pioneer business in India, given the fact that it completes the company's high value product and service offering to farmers and allows it to further strengthen its burgeoning seed business in the country. Currently, Pioneer provides rice, pearl millet, sunflower and mustard in the Indian market and has grown its revenue by 40% per annum for the last five years to peak at around $70 million as at 2008.

DuPont India President, Balvinder S. Kalsi, said Agriculture, food and nutrition presents a crucial growth segment for the company in India and the two investment acquisitions form a part of DuPont's strategy for expansion of its Indian presence. He further said that the company was currently positioning its market-driven science company to grow at a faster rate by leveraging opportunities that help it contribute to India's sustainable economic development.

The two acquisitions investments are the most recent in a line of investments DuPont has undertaken in India. They come after a recent announcement by Pioneer on the opening of a new corn research center in Bangalore, the fifth such Pioneer facility in the country, to speed delivery of new, improved products to market and meet the burgeoning demand for food and feed. The facilities are aimed at developing high yielding hybrids suitable for unique growing conditions in Bangalore.

DuPont has significantly increased its seed research investment in India in 2008 and has increased capacity for product development and evaluation across the country. Pioneer Hi-Bred, a DuPont business, is the world's leading source of customized solutions for farmers, livestock producers and grain and oilseed processors. With headquarters in Des Moines, Iowa, Pioneer provides access to advanced plant genetics in nearly 70 countries.

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