Mahindra forays into branded edible oils segment with ‘NuPro’

July 2015, Kolkata: The Agri Business vertical of Mahindra & Mahindra, part of the USD 16.9 billion Mahindra Group, today announced the launch of its branded edible oil - NuPro for the health conscious Indian consumer. The company, under the NuPro brand, will offer a bouquet of edible oils, the first of which is the NuPro Virgin Kachchi Ghani Mustard Oil.

The brand NuPro is derived from a combination of the words: Nutrition and Progression. NuPro reflects Mahindra’s commitment towards developing progressive farming practices and its close association with the farmers which ensures that only the best quality output reaches the end consumer. To deliver on this brand promise, Mahindra has put in place stringent processes, systems and checks right from the farm to the end consumer.

Dr. Pawan Goenka, Executive Director, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. said, “Our Agri business cherishes the long-term aspiration of delivering ‘Farm-Tech Prosperity’. Today, with NuPro, we are taking an important step in our Quality journey through the Mahindra Quality Seal (MQS) which serves as an assurance of high quality throughout the value chain from the house of Mahindra.  With our mantra of Growing the Right Quality, Selecting the Right Quality, Preserving the Right Quality, Distributing the Right Quality and Assuring the Right Quality, we are sure of meeting the growing demand for high quality, pure and healthy food products.  Our stringent systems and processes have resulted in a product that stands out in the market in terms of its quality. We are excited about the launch of NuPro branded mustard oil in Kolkata today and we hope that on the basis of unmatched quality, NuPro will establish itself as a premium brand for edible oils and pulses in India”.

Speaking on the launch of the NuPro brand in India, Ashok Sharma, President & Chief Executive – Agri and Africa and South Asia Operations, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. said, “At Mahindra with our pioneering vision of ‘Delivering Farm Tech Prosperity’ we constantly strive to support farmers with good agricultural practices by creating awareness about the latest scientific technology and mechanization applications. As a result the farmers we work with have seen drastic improvements in productivity. With NuPro, through our unique Farm to Fork model, we have entered the branded edible oil segment with an aim to connect the farmers with the discerning Indian customers who look for pure products. Our NuPro Virgin Kachchi Ghani Mustard oil is 100% chemical free, has the ideal ratio of Omega 3 to Omega 6 fatty acids that is necessary for a healthy diet and is highly pungent to suit the taste buds of our customers in Eastern India.  We are confident that, with Mahindra’s inherent farmer connect and robust quality systems, NuPro will soon become a brand of choice for Edible Oils.”

 NuPro Virgin Kachchi Ghani Mustard Oil is highly pungent and free from any chemical ingredient, providing consumers with the purest form of edible oil available in the market. It contains an excellent ratio of Omega-3 and Omega-6 essential fatty acids which are crucial for optimal health and metabolism. NuPro is priced at Rs. 144/- for a one litre pouch (MRP) and Rs. 2125/- for a 15 kg tin (MRP).

In addition, Mahindra’s ‘Farm to Fork’ model deploys stringent quality checks at various stages in the product value chain right from production, procurement and processing to final packaging and distribution to ensure that there is minimal loss of natural product properties or nutrients. NuPro products comply with the most stringent food safety guidelines laid out by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India. Further, the company will also stamp its product with the ‘Mahindra Quality Standard (MQS)’ seal to validate its consistent promise of high quality standards. With its stringent set of guidelines the MQS acts as the veritable seal of quality from the house of Mahindra, assuring  consumers of the best.

Further to the launch of ‘NuPro Virgin Kachchi Ghani Mustard Oil’, in the two cities of Kolkata and Siliguri, through the traditional FMCG distribution networks, Mahindra will soon explore to expand its footprint in other major mustard oil consuming states such as Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa and Assam.

Read the rest of this entry

Commodity Awareness Programme

Commodity Awareness Programme Organised by MCX and FMC to Promote Hedging

With an objective to create awareness, and educate the market participants about the benefits of hedging, Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd (MCX), Forward Markets Commission (FMC), and Bhadrak Jewellers Association, jointly organised an awareness programme at Bhadrak (Odisha) on January 22.

The programme served to explain in detail all the technicalities associated with the working of a commodity exchange. The experts elaborated on the topics such as the benefits of hedging, importance and need for risk management measures, role of commodity futures exchanges, and the regulatory perspective. They further explained to the market participants about the benefits and advantages—higher liquidity, transparent pricing, central clearing, robust risk management and surveillance system—of trading on a regulated commodity exchange platforms such as MCX. It was a platform to create a better understanding of the commodity futures market among the participants, thereby enabling them to hedge risks, in the face of volatile market conditions. Other topics included, economic benefits of commodity futures, historical perspective and growth of commodity markets in India, and diverse and innovative product basket offered by MCX among others.

Mr. Navanit Ray Parekh, President, Bhadrak Jewellers Association said, "Armed with the necessary knowledge shared by the experts today, we will now be able to better understand the functioning of the commodity markets, and hedge our bullion price risks by trading on the regulated commodity exchanges such as MCX."

"It was interesting to know about the different variants of both Gold and Silver contracts with different lot sizes —gold mini, gold petal, gold guinea, silver mini and silver micro— offered by MCX, to suit the requirements of the commodity value chain participants", he further added.

This informative seminar gave the participants a detailed insight into the world of futures trading and the plethora of benefits thereof to the stakeholders of the underlying commodities. Moreover, the speakers emphasised on the manner in which the participants can manage the risks arising from fluctuating prices by hedging such risks using commodity futures contracts.

The programme was attended by more than 100 market participants and the queries put forward by them were answered by the experts. They thanked FMC and MCX for organising this interactive session which helped them gain an insight into the commodity futures markets.

Read the rest of this entry

Awareness Programme on Commodity Futures to Highlight the Benefits of ‘Hedging’

Awareness Programme on Commodity Futures to Highlight the Benefits of ‘Hedging’
Bengaluru, Karnataka, India


Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd (MCX) in association with the Forward Markets Commission (FMC), organised an awareness programme at Bengaluru on Friday, December 26, 2014. It aimed at increasing hedgers’ participation on the commodity futures exchanges and the manner in which they could be used as effective price risk management tools. It was graced by the presence of Shri. S. K. Mohanty, Director, Forward Markets Commission. He highlighted the importance, effectiveness and benefits of the commodity futures market for the market participants. Moreover, he spoke about the reforms planned for the commodity futures market.

The programme was an opportunity for the market participants to understand about the commodity futures market, the technicalities of working of the commodity markets with respect to the products, price discovery, transparency and risk management mechanism in trading and settlement of transactions. The experts during the session spoke on various aspects of commodities trading in India from an Indian and a global perspective. Additionally, they highlighted the role of FMC in regulating and monitoring the functions of commodity exchanges in building confidence of the market participants, and for the growth of commodities market in India.

While explaining in detail about risk management and price discovery, the two fundamental and critical functions performed by the commodity exchanges, Mr. N. K. Muthappa, Assistant Vice President-Business Development MCX said, “In a span of around twelve years, the Indian commodity market has come a long way, and thus providing hedging opportunities to the market participants in the commodity space.”

“Commodity exchanges such as MCX provides a platform for the commodity value chain participants to hedge their price risks using a wide range of futures contracts in bullion, base metals, energy, and agri segment to insure themselves against adverse price fluctuations,” he added.

The market participants thanked both FMC and MCX for organising this interactive session which helped them gain an insight into the commodity futures markets.

Read the rest of this entry

Smile A Rare Commodity in Today’s World

By G. Gayathri

We keep hearing about the scarcity of water, food and other things above all these things there is a severe scarcity of the unseen but most precious and important things in today’s life and world those are, smile, peace of mind and happiness. Most of the times we see only long faces, and rarely a smiling and pleasant and peaceful face.

Yes, every one born as human in this earth thrives only for these things, but today man’s priorities have changed and so these unseen and most valuable and essential things have become a rare commodity. Among all the creatures that God has created only humans can smile. But still we find it hard to do it even once a day.

Marketing people stick smile on their faces because they cannot accomplish anything without that. A child smiles because that is his nature and he needs no reason or need to do that. Most of the times we stick a smile on our face only when we have to or need to, but when was the last time we smiled because we genuinely felt like smiling.

There is definitely one thing that is true that if we need reasons to smile and reasons to feel happy that is a rare thing to happen. Because life is a road with many twists and turns and it is always not possible that you are blessed with that situations and the kind of people that make you happy and make you smile.

But there is definitely one thing we can do that is to genuinely try to be happy and to genuinely try to smile because only fools can wait for the right time and the right reason to smile and to be happy. Even the research has proved that if you practice or keep smiling many times in a day you will naturally feel happy and positive, though it is not natural, what we usually do is we smile when we are happy or very peaceful. But if you want to be happy and peaceful keep smiling, this is what the research says.

So, don’t wait for the right situation or the right time to smile, keep smiling and things will turn out to be right.

Read the rest of this entry