Ruchi Soya and RF Solutions take the lead on sustainable soy from India

India's largest Soy processing Company, Ruchi Soya Industries Limited (Ruchi Soya) is proud to announce its Sustainability Verification Programme during the important and prestigious 2013 edition of the Food Ingredients Europe Exhibition. Ruchi Soya and its exclusive European marketing company RF Solutions, have teamed up with ProTerra Foundation and Solidaridad to engage in this initiative towards long term sustainability in Soy.

Mr. Sarvesh Shahra, Business Head, Food and Specialty Products Division said, "The market is clearly shifting towards sustainability and is demanding sustainably produced agricultural products. Ruchi Group is working closely with the famers in India for the past three decades. This is the right time for Ruchi Soya to take the lead in developing India's first long term sustainability program and offer its customers a completely integrated solution. The European Union is a key and priority market for Non-GM Soy products. Along with RF Solutions, Ruchi Soya will now provide its customers, the right solutions for sustainability and meet all the future demands from India. This initiative will help brighten the lives of millions of farmers across India and farmer livelihood development has always been at the core of Ruchi Soya's corporate philosophy. Ruchi Soya is proud to be a partner in this initiative, our commitment to Non-GM foods is reiterated with this global alliance."

With a proven track record on sustainability programmes in Brazil, Canada and France, The ProTerra Foundation is a valuable partner of the validation programme. Solidaridad has been working for many years in assisting farmers with sustainable practices and has been developing farmer programmes in India now for about 5 years.

The programme's starting point is the purchase of 12,000 RTRS credits followed in the near future through the purchase of 12,000 MT of certified beans. This will help over 10,000 certified farmers in the programme and additional 20,000 farmers who are improving their practices to become certified. The sale of certified non-GMO lecithin and soya meal shall gradually increase in the coming years under the programme.

Meanwhile, Solidaridad plans to increase the farmer training programme to reach 70,000 farmers in the coming 2-3 years in India. The certification of groups of farmers and the verification work under the ProTerra Standard will be carried out by Cert ID, a company that has been in the Indian Non-GMO market for over 10 years.

The values estimated for buying the soya beans in India and for fostering the sustainability programme will be acquired and paid to the stakeholders in the programme through the sale of products under Chain of Custody Certificates in Europe. This will enable Ruchi Soya to buy the beans physically from the farmers who are participating in the programme, but most importantly, contribute to improving their livelihood and well being.

About Ruchi Soya Industries Limited:

 

Ruchi Soya is India's leading FMCG Company, India's number one cooking oil and soya food maker and marketer. Ruchi Soya has a turnover of over US$ 5 Billion and is an integrated player, from farm to fork. Ruchi Soya has secured access to oil palm plantations in India and other key regions of the world. Ruchi Soya is also the highest exporter of soya meal, lecithin and other food ingredients from India. Ruchi Soya is committed to renewable energy and exploring suitable opportunities in the sector.

About RF Solutions:

 

Established in 2009, RF Solutions introduced the Ruchithin soya lecithin from the Indian company Ruchi Soya Industries Limited onto the European market. Incorporating the sales and marketing experience as well as the technical expertise of RF Solutions. RF Solutions has enabled Ruchi Soya to become the industry leader in full traceable Non-GMO soya lecithin. Other ingredients RF Solutions successfully markets today include Ruchi Soya's fatty acids, tocopherols. soy meal and guar gum split.

Synergising CSR with business remains a big challenge

Spending on corporate social responsibility is set to shoot up by around Rs 27,000 crore per year in India

Dinesh Shahra, Founder and Managing Director of edible oil manufacturer Ruchi Soya Industries, is a happy man. Spending on corporate social responsibility (CSR) is set to shoot up by around Rs 27,000 crore per year in India. The mandatory giving has been welcomed by some companies, who have given the Bill a thumbs-up.

“The Companies Bill has made CSR mandatory for corporates above a certain threshold. Ruchi Soya has been dynamically doing CSR for over three decades now. We don’t see any hurdles or issues in the new system,” says Shahra.

Ruchi Soya has been actively involved in CSR since 1976. The social initiative programmes are carried out in a sustainable manner through village participation. “It is our policy to work with reputed non-governmental organisations (NGOs) who are like minded,” adds Shahra.

Rana Kapoor, CEO of YES Bank, also believes the Bill will have a positive impact.

“It will provide regulatory clarity and a framework for organisations to deliver on their CSR goals within the larger social and environmental sustainability context,” says Kapoor.

He pointed out that banks play a central role in the economy as financial intermediaries and needed to act as catalysts of CSR and sustainable development. Kapoor adds that CSR activities at YES Bank, “are not just ethical imperatives, but a sound business decision. The bank has focused on the triple bottom line ethos of People, Planet and Prosperity to create enduring value and CSR, and stayed away from traditional philanthropy.”

Ranjita Menon, the ‘Strategic Giving Manager’ at IT major Dell, says that organisations are quickly evolving into responsible and dependable contributors to societal well-being through their CSR initiatives.

“We have put a framework in place since 2009, and we don’t see any hurdles to taking it ahead,” she added.

Praj Industries' Executive Chairman Pramod Chaudhari termed the Bill an excellent initiative by the Government, and one that would encourage the concept of inclusive growth. “The Bill will facilitate larger inflow of funds towards developmental purposes and encourage companies to be socially responsible,” he says. He added that in the case of companies that have been spending much lower amounts, “it would amount to a big shift. This will lead to large sums being available for CSR spends.”

MANY CHALLENGES

At Gati, a distribution and supply chain company, Sanjeev Kumar Jain, Director - Finance, feels the requirement to constitute a CSR committee put in place a policy would ensure structured spending on CSR. “This would also facilitate measurability of CSR initiatives and thereby credibility,” he said.

Jain, however, pointed out that there are several challenges. “Synergising CSR with business remains a big challenge. CSR activity could be used as a public relations tool, rather than to do real work. Moreover, perceptional differences among various corporates could pose challenges for implementation of the provisions of the Companies Bill in spirit. Aligning attitudes of various stakeholders towards successful implementation of CSR would also be a tough task.”

The new Bill states that companies that fail to spend two per cent of their net profit on CSR have to explain why they have not met the requested target.

Pessimists among corporates says one of the major problems with the law is that it measures philanthropic work in purely monetary terms.

“CSR activities can come in many forms and might include a company making efforts to reduce its environmental footprint or donating its expertise to worthy causes. At a time when most of the world has moved beyond philanthropic CSR towards promotional, strategic and transformative approaches, the new Bill mandates that some corporates continue to remain stuck in an outdated charitable mindset,” said an official at a steel major, requesting anonymity.

CLARITY NEEDED

YES Bank’s Rana Kapoor, says that while it is a globally pioneering initiative to streamline and accelerate CSR in India, corporates are keen to have further clarity on the provisions, as also tax benefits if any, in order to ensure tangible outcomes.

An official at a fast moving consumer goods company added that the Bill tends to permit CSR activities in a very restrictive way and has identified only eight categories where CSR activities can be undertaken.

“Why restrict it to just eradication of extreme hunger and poverty, education, environment sustainability, employment enhancing vocational skills, gender equality, etc? There are so many other areas where one could conduct CSR,” he added.

PROJECT MODE

Praj Industries’ Chaudhari, too, highlighted some hurdles.

“As per the bill, more than 90 per cent of spending on CSR activities shall be in ‘project mode’.

In most companies, presently a very small percentage of spending on CSR is towards activities in project mode.

It will require a lot of effort on the part of companies to identify reliable NGOs and project themes.

Since companies are also expected to have a scientific baseline survey, monitoring, documentation and evaluation of the projects, most will have to gear up to face this challenge.''

He added that mere donations towards philanthropy or charity would not qualify under CSR spends.

Yes Foundation was launched last year to extend Yes Bank’s sustainability footprint by supporting stakeholders such as NGOs.

As Kapoor puts it: “All sectors of the economy have to play a role and become CSR and sustainable development catalysts, as it can have a far-reaching positive impact.”

Ruchi Soya in joint venture for tomato products

Joining hands: (from left) Yasuharu Fujiyoshi, COO, Food Products & Services, Mitsui & Co. Ltd along with Dinesh Shahra, Founder & Managing Director, Ruchi Soya, and Hidenori Nishi, President, Kagome Co. Ltd to announce the joint venture at a press conference held in Mumbai on Monday. — Paul Noronha

FMCG company Ruchi Soya Industries today signed an agreement with Japan’s Kagome and Mitsui to set up a joint venture (JV), RuchiKagome, to manufacture tomato products in India.

“Currently the total annual demand for processed tomato in the country is two lakh tonnes. We are planning to launch a range of tomato products along with Kagome,” Dinesh Shahra, Managing Director and Founder of Ruchi Soya said.

The company is looking to gain about 20 per cent market share in this segment in the next five years.

Ruchi Soya will have 40 per cent stake in the JV and the rest will be held by a special purpose company (SPC) created by Kagome and Mitsui. Kagome and Mitsui own 66.7 per cent and 33.3 per cent stakes respectively in the SPC.

RuchiKagome will set up a manufacturing unit in Maharashtra with initial investment of Rs 44 crore and the commercial production will begin from June 2014, Shahra said.

The company is planning to procure tomato directly from the farmers in the western region, he said.

In the first phase, RuchiKagome will target business-to-business model in markets in and around Mumbai, NCR and Bangalore and is expecting Rs 340-crore revenue, then it would move to the business-to-consumer, he said.

“We will also look into exporting our products to countries where our JV is present. However, our initial focus will be on the domestic market,” he said.

India is the second largest tomato producer in the world with 17 million tonnes production annually after China.

Kagome is a leading tomato product company in Japan and supplies food and beverage products in 50 countries.

A substitute for the pricey dal

The humble dal, long considered a staple diet of the Aam Aadmi, has seen a near 40 per cent price escalation over the past two years.

The prices of some pulses such as arhar, masoor, moong cost close to Rs 90 per kg. There may be some relief around the corner for the long-suffering households.

These protein rich pulses may now lose its status as a staple to a cheaper substitute that is emerging from the soya industry.

Edible oil manufacturer Ruchi Soya Industries has come out with a substitute which will be 40 per cent cheaper and 30 per cent higher in protein than the ‘Tur or Moong’ dal. Not only that, it will also taste exactly like the yellow dal.

The company is already piloting the project “Dal Analogue” under Feed Programme initiated by the Union Government in Andhra Pradesh and will be replicating this project in Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat.

Apart from the price, this soya substitute is also a healthy alternative, which will address the problems of malnutrition and low protein intake among the poor. Interestingly, India is the world’s largest producer as well as importer of pulses.

Over the last 50 years, pulses production has been stagnant leading to a decline in per capita consumption and rising imports.

The company, which has oil brands such as Nutrela and Mahakosh, plans to brand and sell this affordable soya-based dal in the rural market initially.

“We have invested around Rs 125 crore for the project that includes a plant near Indore. With rising prices of pulses in India, it also becomes an attractive business proposition,” said Dinesh Shahra, Managing Director, Ruchi Soya Industries.

The process of ‘Dal Analogue’ involves mixing protein rich soya beans with other vital ingredients. Also, as it is made from inexpensive raw materials, it is close to half the price of Tur dal, Shahra added.

In Andhra Pradesh, the company is supplying the soya-based dal for the Government’s ICDS scheme that benefits 3.75 lakh citizens.

“We are also supplying to kitchens of Nandi Foundation and Akshya Patra (Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh) for their school feeding programmes. Thus we are already reaching to over 1.3 million Indians on a daily basis,” he said.

The processed soyabean can also be an attractive and low-cost way of improving the protein consumption of the poor, he added.