Girijan Co-op reduces turnover target to Rs 7cr

State-owned Girijan Co-operative Corporation Limited (GCC) has revised downwards its turnover estimate for the current fiscal to Rs 7 crore, from the earlier target of Rs 10 crore.

The government's intervention on tamarind sales is expected to pare both GCC's profits as well as its turnover. In the last fiscal, GCC's retail sales turnover touched Rs 5.81 crore.

Speaking to Business Standard, PDV Prasad, general manager of GCC, said: "Though we have set a turnover target of Rs 10 crore this fiscal, we may not reach the target as we have to now shift our tamarind stocks to the fair-price shops at Rs 12 per kg, with our purchase price being Rs 10 per kg. However, we have procured good quantities of honey, which we hope will give a significant boost to our business."

GCC expects its honey sales to touch Rs 3 crore this fiscal, which is expected to buoy the total turnover to Rs 7 crore this fiscal, according to Prasad.

"In the 2003 season, GCC procured around 60,000 quintals of tamarind from the tribals and paid them Rs 4 per kg. But due to crop failure during the 2004 season, the corporation could collect only 29,000 quintals. So, GCC had to increase the purchase price to Rs 10 per kg," he said.

"However, our plans to sell the 29,000-quintal tamarind stock at a price of Rs 30-35 per kg fizzled out as the government announced an intervention price of Rs 12 per kg and instructed GCC to divert its entire tamarind stock to fair-price shops across the state. Thus, our hopes of making a profit of Rs 20 per kg of tamarind evaporated," Prasad said.

In the last fiscal, GCC's retail sales turnover fell short of the target of Rs 7 crore. "Due to a significant drop in honey procurement, we couldn't achieve our targeted turnover in retail sales last fiscal," he said.

During the 2003 honey season, GCC procured around 500 quintals of honey with a purchasing price of Rs 60 per kg. In the current season, the corporation collected about 2,000 quintals of honey with a purchasing price of Rs 80 per kg.

"There is a good demand for Girijan honey. Around 45 to 50 per cent of our retail turnover comes from honey sales. We achieved a turnover of Rs 2.85 crore from our retail market sales. Since we have good quantities of honey stocks with us, we are expecting a turnover of more than Rs 3 crore from honey sales only," he said.