City-based Rs 500-crore Vibha Seeds would go for an initial public offering (IPO) in 2011 after it completes its second phase of expansion at domestic and international locations, said chairman and managing director P Vidya Sagar.
In Phase II, the company would invest Rs 60 crore to set up manufacturing units in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. It is also exploring opportunities in Africa, Indonesia, Philippines, China, Hungary and Spain. "We will test our existing hybrids there,” he said, adding the company had 60,000 germ plasm of its seeds.
It would focus its research on groundnut, sesame and castor. “We are expecting some encouraging results in peanut in two years,” he said.
The company, engaged in crop improvement research, production and marketing of seeds, was looking at tying up with a German company to establish stability in jatropha for biodiesel. "Biodesel cultivtation is not economical in India due to low productivity and high labour costs,'' he said.
Vibha, which has a land bank of 700 acre and 12 research farms, inaugurated its seed conditioning plant built at a cost of Rs 200 crore at Jedcherla in Mahabubnagar in the state last month.
