DRRK Foods Private Ltd, a Basmati rice producer and exporter, plans to set up a new rice milling plant at Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh and is coming up with a packaging unit at Kandla port, its Joint Managing Director (JMD) Vikram Marwah has said.
“We are setting up a new milling plant in Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh as the region is emerging as one cultivating basmati rice significantly. Farmers there have bigger chunks of land. We plan to enter into contract farming there as we are increasing our footprints in Europe and the US,” Marwah told businessline in an online interaction.
The company, which sells basmati under the Crown brand, is fully geared to commission the plant in 2026. “It will be used for the crop of 2026-26. We are putting up the plant as we are getting more demand year-on-year,” he said.
Adding value
The Kandla packaging plant will go on stream over the next 90-120 days. “It will add more value for a company like ours which is growing. The plant will help handle all our shipments effectively. We can do packaging for our brands and our clients too,” Marwah said.
The packaging plant has all the facilities and can be packed to meet all standards for supplies within the country and abroad.
DRRK, which was renamed in 2013 from Daulat Ram Ramesh Kumar and Company, plans to enter the rice snacks segment and ready-to-eat meals, besides whole and blended spices, said Marwah.
The company — headquartered in Amritsar and has its corporate office in Gurugram, Haryana — expects ₹950 crore turnover this year and has ambitions to become a ₹3,000-crore enterprise. “We plan to expand in India and abroad introducing more products,” the company’s JMD said.
On e-commerce platform too
Currently, DRRK Foods has three rice mills near Amritsar in Punjab producing 400 tonnes of rice a day. Rice produced here is packed for private labels, its brands and exports. At least 85 per cent of the company’s earnings are from exports and the rest from the domestic market.
The rice firm, which began exporting in 1999, is tying up with some retail chains, while it is also an e-commerce platform selling its products. It exports to 35 countries, including the Middle East, South Africa, Mauritius, Malaysia, Singapore and Australia, besides actively shipping to Europe since the last year.
DRRK Foods, which launched the Crown brand in 2010, is currently buying paddy from agricultural produce marketing committee (APMC) yards in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. “Predominantly, we have been actively buying Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana. We are paying farmers a fair price,” the company’s JMD said.
Meeting standards
On ensuring the quality of the rice and meeting the standards set by the European Union (EU), he said the company has in-house labs for physical and chemical testing. It has also tied up with two firms that are accredited by the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) to trace high pesticide residue.
“Within the country too, the Food and Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) standards are very strict. We ensure each pack conforms to these standards as per FSSAI, US and EU norms. We don’t load paddy that doesn’t conform to these standards,” said Marwah.
DRRK Foods sources paddy from APMC yards where it finds farmers comply with all these norms. “The rice trade in the country is still unorganised. Where we find farmers are quite educated or follow the standards while sowing and harvesting, we source paddy compliant with EU norms, Our purchases are mostly done in these places,” he said.
Marwah said over the past 10 years, the company has been funding and has its people on the ground to educate farmers on these issues. On awareness of farmers over these issues, he said it has increased over the past 10 years and it is being witnessed in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh APMC yards.
“Maybe, the new generation has taken over. Ten years ago,, the farmer could have been 15 years or 18 years old but today, they are well grown adults and are well aware of what is happening in the market compared to his father. As a result, our rejections are not more than 2-4 per cent from the APMC yards we are buying,” Marwah said.
Dip in prices
Asked about EU tariff concession to Pakistan, he said even China was offering such sops to Pakistan due to a special treaty for rice. “But I think the Indian government is not worried as exports are with $5 billion and they are growing in the rest of the world. I don’t think it is going to be a big challenge. We export to nearly 205 countries with 80-85 consuming basmati,” the company’s JMD said.
On basmati exports to China, Marwah said the company exports 100-150 tonnes monthly. Exports to Beijing are not picking up since Chinese cuisine does not favour basmati rice. “These shipments to Asian restaurants that prepare Indian cuisines,” he said.
On prices for basmati decreasing this year from over $1,100 a tonne last year to around $850, Marwah said the Government’s decision to fix a minimum export price (MEP) of $950 last year was partly responsible. He regretted that even Pakistan was fixing such MEPs.
However, because of branding companies such as DRRK Foods were not affected.
