Cargill India

Global food major Cargill on Monday said it has opened its first innovation centre in India to develop solutions for the food and beverage market. The first Cargill Innovation Center at Gurugram in Haryana, spread over almost 17,000 square feet, includes a sensory lab and demonstration kitchen, with capabilities to serve dairy, beverage, bakery, and convenience food industries, as well as other specialised culinary applications, a company statement said. The innovation centre will have 27 food specialists/scientists and will provide opportunities for aspiring talent from academia, agribusiness and food sectors as well. It will also allow R&D collaboration for companies of all sizes. Cargill said it would partner with its F&B customers in India to identify consumer demands, translate global industry trends into local application and accelerate customer product innovation pipelines. The centre combines Cargill's expertise across different industry segments, including edible oils

The investment will expand Cargill's edible oil production capacity and footprint in southern India and strengthen its existing supply chain to meet growing customer demand

For companies like Cargill, the legal framework brings stability, creating an environment for infrastructure investment

The firm is setting up a new plant to produce supplements for cattle at Kurkumbh, Maharashtra under its bioindustrial business segment

Cargill also has a commodities business in India, under which it has sourced almost 13 commodities from around 300,000 farmers in 2018-19, totaling 600,000 metric tonnes

Cargill, which frayed into the starch and sweeteners segment around three years ago, majorly focusses on edible oil, chocolates and cocoa

Cargill has set up a storage facility for grains and oilseeds in Karnataka and a part of its future investments will go towards expanding the company's storage capacity

Currently, the company commands roughly 17% of the soybean oil market share in Lucknow