Metahelix plans processing plant in Chhattisgarh.

Agricultural biotechnology company Metahelix Life Sciences Limited, a fully-owned subsidiary of Tata enterprise Rallis India Limited, is planning to set up a hybrid maize and rice seed processing and packaging unit in Chhattisgarh by the end of this financial year, said chief operating officer SP Rao.

'We are also evaluating the possibility of setting up a processing plant in Indonesia in a year or two from now, to start with, and subsequently establish similar units in countries like Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Vietnam, the Philippines and Qatar, to which we are already exporting our field and vegetable hybrid seeds,' he told media persons recently.

At present, Metahelix has one processing unit in Hyderabad, the hub of the Indian seed industry, with a capacity to process and pack 300 tonne of seeds a month. The company has its biotech R&D lab in Bangalore, besides 24 trial locations and five research stations across the country. Metahelix currently supplies 30,000 tonne of field and vegetable seeds a year.

BS