New Delhi: Punjab moves towards becoming the agriculture and dairy business centre of Reliance Industries' retail foray, a Rs 50 billion (approx $1 billion) investment that will see creation of five major agri hubs in the state.
Despite opposition to the deal, the Punjab government had last month cleared the necessary land allocation for implementation of RIL's mega deal that is expected to create wealth for farmers and around 30,000 jobs.
With the formal signing of the agreement in Chandigarh Tuesday, RIL will begin the process of setting up infrastructure for the five hubs near Chandigarh before Oct 31, official sources said.
"Besides the five main hubs, RIL has plans to set up 52 rural business hubs and over 300 satellite rural business hubs in different parts of the state, with each hub spread over 20 to 40 acres," the sources told IANS.
The business model hinges on imparting training to farmers and giving them access to quality seeds and other inputs to facilitate best farm yield, which Reliance would procure and supply through proposed 22,000 retail outlets.
"Apart from farm products, Reliance is looking at Punjab as the main dairy hub where it will strive to replicate the success of dairy cooperatives like Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) and make it a major milk and dairy products centre," sources said.
Reliance's dairy plans include not only raising milk production in the state manifold, but also setting up a processing unit for value added products.
The multifaceted model evolved for Punjab will see Reliance also launching agricultural insurance and banking finance in the state.
Besides Punjab and Haryana, where RIL last month clinched a contract with the state government, the diversified conglomerate is planning similar agro-based projects in Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh for an across the country presence from farm gate to retail customers.
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