Sowing New Seeds

Why Kaveri Seeds, which was propelled by hybrid cotton to the top, needs to do an encore with maize, rice and vegetables

- Samar Srivastava

Even today, Mithun Chand has a vivid recollection of his visit to the Indian Seed Congress in February 2011. Kaveri Seed Company, the business he represented as executive director, was at an inflection point. A new cotton hybrid seed Jadoo, which comprised the Bollgard II gene, had been the talk of the industry.

It promised to help farmers improve yields and company insiders were enthused with the initial results. Since its launch in 2009, Kaveri had sold 27,000 packets—a number that was to rise nearly 10-fold the next year to 241,000. Still, the company thought the market was much larger. Inside Kaveri there was the keen anticipation of a student the night before an important exam—the kind when you’ve worked hard and are waiting to get your hands on the question paper.

News about Kaveri’s cotton seed had spread and several industry leaders visited its stall. When the head of a then, much larger rival dropped by and asked about the seed, Chand, who is today executive director at Kaveri Seeds, answered confidently: “This product will take us to the next level.” Chand and his uncle GV Bhaskar Rao, who founded the company in 1976, had pinned their hopes on Bt cotton. After being in business for over 30 years, Kaveri had only managed a top line of ₹100 crore. While it had a good brand name, a robust research and development setup and a national distribution reach, the growth spurt had eluded the company so far.

So while Kaveri had prepared well for the exam what it wasn’t prepared for was the manner in which it would ace it. Kaveri’s Bt cotton seeds, sold under several brands—Jadoo, Moneymaker and ATM—took the market by storm. The company went on to sell 53,00,000 packets in 2015. As farmer yields and income rose, Bt cotton seeds became a product that they were willing to pay for. At its peak, the company charged over ₹930 per packet of seeds.