Mahindra Shubhlabh Services Ltd. (MSSL) a part of the US $ 16.2 billion Mahindra Group showcased its range of delectable home grown grapes in Asia’s largest fruit expo – Asia Fruit Logistica in Hong Kong. ASIA FRUIT LOGISTICA the Asia-Pacific region’s top event for fresh produce marketing, offers a unique opportunity to interact with customers and suppliers from around 64 countries.
Highlighting the company’s vision, Ashok Sharma, Chief Executive, Agri & Allied Businesses, Mahindra & Mahindra, stated “Our vision is to Deliver FarmTech Prosperity’ and our goal is to improve productivity and price realization for our farmers. We work closely with farmers, provide them with end-to-end agronomy services to produce the best quality fruits, link them with local and global markets, and share our profits with them. This philosophy has enabled us to become India’s largest grape exporter. Our endeavour for the Indian market is to become one of the leading fresh produce players delivering world class branded fruits. This unique win-win partnership with the farmers and the consumers is what we cherish the most.”
According to Vikram Puri, CEO, Mahindra ShubhLabh Services Ltd (MSSL), “We are exporting Thompson & Sonaka (White) seedless and Sharad (Black) seedless, Flame seedless and Red Globe grape varieties to Singapore and Hong Kong. The South-east Asian region is important for us from the point of view of our export business as the consumption of grapes is high there. The region has been importing approximately 900 containers of grapes annually, from all over the world with the lead consumer being China. Also, it has a very short transit time from India and the quality of our fruit is well received in the South-east Asian region. Usually, this region favours sweet flavours as opposed to say Europe, and Indian grapes fall in this category as they have high sugar content.”
Mahindra Subhlabh engages with grape growers throughout the growing cycle with its unique farm extension program, “khet se khaliyan Tak” (from farm to retail). Their team of agronomists visit these orchards on a weekly basis to guide them on various agronomy related practices and global gap implementation. The company also devises its own crop plans to minimise chemical residue in grapes below compliance levels. A full-fledged quality control mechanism at every stage during the harvest and post harvest period ensures that even the slightest compromise on quality is ruled out.