Bharti says hello to agri-business

Joint venture with Rothschilds to invest Rs 250 cr.

Bharti Enterprises has set up a 50:50 joint venture with the Rothschilds, called FieldFresh Foods, to export fresh fruit and vegetable to the European Union. The investment involved: Rs 250 crore.

Elro Holdings India, an investment company formed by Evelyn de Rothschild and Lynn Forster de Rothschild, will be the investment company for the foreign partner in the venture.

The company will have two chairpersons, Sunil Mittal and Lynn Forster de Rothschild, while Ravi Deol, the former chief executive of Barista, will be the president and chief executive officer.

"The two partners will each hold 50 per cent of shares in the venture and will start with an initial equity of Rs 50 crore," Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman and group managing director, Bharti Enterprises said.

The agrofoods venture aims to link Indian farms with markets of developed countries and will be concentrating on vegetables and fruits only.

On Bharti's expansion into agri-business, Mittal said that the telecom business will gradually take much less of the promoters' resources, both financial and managerial.

"By entering into new businesses we want to make an impact on society similar to the one we made in telecom," he added.

At present, FieldFresh will focus on northern India and will follow a hub and spoke model with Punjab as the hub to serve other northern centres.

"We will start with north India and open a model farm and agriculture research centre in Punjab. We plan to link farmers in Himachal, Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana, Punjab, Uttaranchal and western Uttar Pradesh to the research centre and the model farm that will help them improve yield. Then we will procure the produce and ship it to markets in the UK and Europe," Mittal said.

Bharti is doing a survey and is in talks with the Punjab government to buy land for the model farm that would be spread over 100 acres. It is also looking at contract farming and direct procurement from farmers in the region and is in talks with Markfed for quality certification.

Mittal added that this would be a business to business venture and will provide fruits and vegetables to processing houses, retailers, fruit juice companies and even hotels for onward processing or selling.

"The first shipments by FieldFresh will start within the next six months but it will take 12 to 18 months for the project to gather steam," Rakesh Bharti Mittal, vice-president of Bharti Enterprises and lead director of FieldFresh Foods, said.

The company would invest in a logistics chain, cargo planes, cold storages and processing centres. It will also provide seeds and other emerging technology facilities to the farmers. Starting with north India, FieldFresh Foods will gradually move to other parts of the country.