INI Farms expands export basket to include grapes, mangoes

INI Farms Pvt Ltd — a large exporter of banana and pomegranates — has expanded its product portfolio with seasonal fruits like grapes, mangoes and oranges, and is eyeing newer markets in China and Australia.

INI Farms, which has targeted a five-fold revenue growth by 2025-2026 fiscl at ₹1,000 crore, exports to Europe, West Asia and South-East Asia under the Kimaye brand and expects to close the current fiscal with revenue of close to ₹200 crore.

“We have created a pipeline from the farms to the retailers worldwide. We believe that we can push more products now,” said Pankaj Khandelwal, Chairman and Managing Director. The company started exports of grapes this year and is also on mangoes in the current season.

“We exported four different varieties of grapes from India this year, which we will expand significantly going forward,” Khandelwal said. INI Farms will be sourcing grapes from farmers in the key producing regions of Nashik and Sangli in Maharashtra.

Newer geographies

In addition to the existing markets, INI Farms will be focussing on China and Australia, the two new markets that have opened up for Indian grapes. “As far as China is concerned, we have a logistics advantage compared to other grape producers such as South Africa and Chile. It is difficult to assess the market right now because it has just opened up. From overall market size, it should be very large,” he said.

INI Farms has been working with farmers and farmer producer organisations building a supply chain for these new seasonal fruits like mangoes, grapes and oranges. “For mangoes, we are focusing mainly on the exportable varieties such as Alphonso, Kesar, Banganapalli and Safeda,” he said. The company will be introducing oranges in the domestic market this year on a trial basis.

INI Farms, which earns about 85 per cent of its revenues from the export market, bore the brunt of Covid lockdown on its operations. While most of the things are back to normal at the operational level, the company still faces challenges on the disruption in logistics. “There is still no clarity and it may take three to six months to resolve, but rise in logistic costs is hurting us,” he said.