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Parry Agro is in
the business of tea and coffee plantations and is one of the leading
producers of tea in the country. Its tea plantations across the country
produce 17 million kilogrammes of tea. It also operates a coffee estate in
which it has a 98 per cent partnership, producing 400 tons of coffee.
Like many old businesses this company, too,
has a history of colonial ownership. Originally held by the Cooperative
Wholesale Society Limited (CWS) of the UK, its shares were held entirely
by non-residents. This was transferred to an Indian concern and, in 1981,
the Murugappa Group joined the management of the company. After two
progressive divestments in 1987 and 1992, CWS relinquished its entire
holding to the group. After the second divestment, its name was changed to
Parry Agro Industries Limited, in December 1992.
The company owns and operates six tea
estates in south India and one in north India, covering 4,000 hectares and
employing 7,500 people. Tea is its major product line and accounts for
over 95 per cent of the sales. But the company has interests in other
plantations too.
Sheikalmudi, Murugalli, Paralai, and
Iyerpadi are located in the Anamallai region of Tamil Nadu. Two other
estates, Attikunna and Carolyn, are in the Nilgiri-Wynaad region of
Tamil Nadu. The estate outside Tamil Nadu is situated in Assam, at
Dhekiajuli.
Coffee is cultivated over 1,400 acres in
the Chikmagalur region of Karnataka. The annual production of cured coffee
from these estates is 400 tonnes.
The organisation is well developed to
handle the geographic spread of its operations, multiple crops and
products. Its automated flagship factory , Mayura, was commissioned in
1985 and is one of the first factories in India to have
microprocessor-based control and monitoring systems. As a result Mayura's
produce commands a 25 percent premium at Tea Auctions. Mayura has
been awarded the ISO 9001:2000 certification. Two other factories,
Attikunna and Carolyn have since been certified ISO 9001:2000, while
another factory - Iyerpadi is certified ISO 22000 : 2005 according to the
food safety standards and efforts are on for HACCP certification.
The Iyerpadi estate has obtained an organic
tea certification from IMO, Switzerland for exports of tea to the USA (NOP
Certified), EU and Japan (JAS Certified) and the notified organic product
(NOP) certification, mandatory for organic tea exports to the USA. This
estate has also been awarded the Fair Trade Labelling Organisation (FLO)
certificate. Organic and specialty teas have a growing demand worldwide
and speciality teas have a good export potential.
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