News @ Jains.com

Jain Irrigation to launch ESOP’s for its Associates – B.H. Jain, Chairman In 18th Annual General Meeting.

Wed, 28 Jun 2006 18:35:48 +0530

The Chairman Shri. B.H. Jain declared in 18th AGM held in Jalgaon about launch of 5% ESOP’s for the associates of company and its subsidiaries. Under the plan associates would be incentivised for their performance by issue of ESOP’s. The scheme will run for 5 years initially he added. The 18th AGM was held in the shadow of a recent bereavement in Jain family. The meeting paid tribute to the late Mrs. Kantabai Jain wife of the founder chairman Shri. B.H. Jain by observing a minute’s silence.

The meeting then conducted its normal and special business including :

v Approval of Annual Accounts of the Company for the year ended 31st March 2005.

v Declaration of dividend on Preference Shares of the Company.

v Re-appointment of Shri. Aniruddha R. Barwe as Director who retired by rotation.

v Re-appointment of Shri. Ajit B. Jain as Director who retired by rotation.

v Re-appointment of M/s Dalal & Shah, Chartered Accountants, Mumbai as Statutory Auditors of the Company.

v Appointment of Shri. Krishnaswamy Ravendran as Director who appointed as an Additional Director on 10th January, 2005.

v Mortgage of Immovable properties of the Company (Section 293 (1)(a)) to Banks & Financial Institutions.

v Issue of Equity Shares to Employees of the Company under ESOP scheme – 2005.

v Issue of Equity Shares to Employees of Subsidiaries of the Company under ESOP scheme – 2005.

v Amendment in Articles of Association of the Company as proposed.

All proposals were accepted by an unanimous voice vote.

The meeting ended with the felicitation of Mr. Anup Jacob, Partner Aqua International Pvt. Ltd., San Francisco, USA for the help and co-operation he offered to the Company in his 3 years of tenure as Director of the Company.

Aqua entities had recently sold their entire stake in the open market to FII’s and mutual funds.

Vote of thanks was proposed by Vice Chairman Shri. Ashok B. Jain.

Board has given in-principle approval for the Amalgamation of Terra Agro Technologies

Wed, 28 Jun 2006 18:31:21 +0530

Company’s Board Meeting held at 11.00 a.m. on September 5, 2005.

The Board has among other items, decided to give “in-principle” approval for the amalgamation of Terra Agro Technologies Limited, an unlisted Indian company, being a 100% Export Oriented Unit engaged in the business of cultivation and dehydration of vegetables for export (“Terra Agro”) with the Company w.e.f. 1st April 2005. The said company holds quality assets in form of almost new equipment, 1200 acres of agricultural land, and green houses etc.

The Company also intends to use the Terra base in S. India to produce and promote its agricultural product range like drip irrigation, sprinkler, PVC pipes, Tissue culture banana etc. The valuation experts have been appointed and shall submit their report in 2-3 weeks when the Scheme would be finalized.

Board also noted with satisfaction the recent sale of shares by Mauritius based Aqua entities held by them for just over last three years to new Indian and global quality investors which has helped in spreading the Equity Shares widely in keeping with the “public” status of the Company.

Approval has given to the implementation of an Employee Stock Option Plan / Scheme (“ESOP”). 30,71,200 Stock Options/Equity Shares are covered by the ESOP. The approval of Shareholders will be obtained in the 18th AGM to be held on 30-09-2005.

The Board has convened the 18th AGM of the Shareholders on Friday, 30th September 2005 at the registered office in Jalgaon to deal with the Ordinary and Special business as per the approved Notice.

The Board has deferred the decision on the acquisition of a strategic stake in an overseas irrigation manufacturer as the negotiations are still inconclusive.

Jain Irrigation approves increase in FII limits

Wed, 28 Jun 2006 16:50:29 +0530

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At an extra ordinary general meeting held at Jalgaon today, the shareholders approved increase in FII limits to 49% of issued, subscribed, paid up capital of the Company, Now Company will approach authorities for lifting the freeze on FII limits in Companies capital.

The shareholders also approved issue of 30,70,000 Equity Share Warrants, to certain individuals of Promoters Group at Rs. 155 each convertible in 18 months into one equity share of Rs. 10 each.

The shareholders approved reappointment of Shri. Anil B. Jain as Managing Director for 5 years from 20-8-2005.

The meeting was presided by Shri. B. H. Jain and attended by major shareholders and associates in the Company.

Jain Irrigation reports 140% Jump in net Profits

Wed, 28 Jun 2006 16:49:57 +0530

27th July, 2005 : Drip Irrigation player Jain Irrigation has reported 23% growth in revenues in Q1 over corresponding quarter of earlier year. The domestic revenues have grown at 28% to Rs. 106.64 crores while exports have grown at 17% to Rs. 57.25 crores.

While the raw material cost has remained constant at 62.5% of sales, the manufacturing expenses have shown decrease of 1.36% of revenues and selling expenses has remained at same level in percentage terms as last year. The EBIDTA margins have improved to 16% from 15.7% last year. While the interest has gone down by 8%, the depreciation has gone up by 7% as compared to last year.

The MIS / SIS division has reported an encouraging growth of 86.4%, whereas PE Pipes has shown 65.8% increase, PC Sheets have shown 64.5% growth in quarter. The other products lines have shown steady growth between 9% and 15%.

The Company has reported Rs. 10.71 crores first quarter profit of FY 2005-06 (compared to Rs.4.47 crores profit for last year) which translates into Rs. 1.84 per Share Earnings Per Share. The Company traditionally reports 35% revenues in I half of financial year and 65% revenues in II half of year, with commensurate profits. The Company continues its good order book in all significant divisions and is expecting to maintain a 50% growth in revenues this year too.

Jain Irrigation Gets Three GOI Plexconcil Export Awards

Wed, 28 Jun 2006 16:49:06 +0530

15th July, 2005 : Sponsored by Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Department of Commerce, Government of India; The Plastics Export Promotion Council (PLEXCOUNCIL) organized an Export award function at Mumbai on 15TH July, 2005. Biennial events where the top two export performers in various products group categories are felicitated. Honorable Union Minister of State for Overseas Affairs Shri Jagdish Tytler gave the awards.

Jain Irrigation Systems Ltd., Jalgaon (JISL) won awards for Plastic Pipes; PVC Sheets and Polycarbonate sheets. JISL tally of Plexconcil awards moves to 62 and total awards to 130. Till date, the Company has received 46 State Awards, 81 National Awards and 3 International Awards for outstanding export performance, R&D achievements and entrepreneurship, Fair Trade Practices. The internationally prestigious "Crawford Reid Memorial" Award instituted by Irrigation Association, USA was conferred on the Chairman Shri. B.H. Jain for "Significant Contribution to the Irrigation Industry outside the United States".

The Company employs 2600 people directly and several hundreds indirectly. The company operates through branches and depots practically in all the States besides overseas subsidiaries for supporting and developing Export business. The Company has an outstanding track record in successfully developing Micro Irrigation Systems and Sprinkler Irrigation Systems as an alternative to the conventional irrigation methods. Besides, the Company makes PVC Pipes for Irrigation; PE Pipes for gas and water distribution and ducts for Optical fiber cables. PVC and Polycarbonate Sheet for exports; Fruit Pulp and Puree Dehydrated Onion and vegetables for exports.

The Company has an extensive Research & Development [R&D] farm and training & development center spread over nearly 1000 acres of farm at Jalgaon. This center has extensive development laboratories and is engaged in pioneering efforts in developing tissue culture plants for Banana, Sugarcane etc. The Company's turnover for the last year ended on 31.03.2005 was Rs.615 Crores and is currently expecting to accomplish a 50% growth in the current year with a turnover of Rs.900 Crores, including Rs.325 Crores of export turnover.

The Company's customers included some of the top MNC's like Coco-cola, Pepsi, Nestle, Gilroy Foods etc besides Indian large customers like HLL, Reliance, L&T, BSNL, Bharati Telecom etc. The Company had established its leadership in almost all the businesses it is engaged in and the list of satisfied customers are even increasing.

Jain Irrigation to produce IQF (Individually Quick Frozen) Food Products with Japanese Technology

Wed, 28 Jun 2006 16:47:34 +0530

Jain Irrigation Systems Limited (JISL) has entered into a formal agreement with Taiyo Kagaku Co. Ltd., Japan for production of Individually Quick Frozen (IQF) Food Products. A state-of-the-art IQF facility as per Japanese standards has been set-up at Jalgaon and trail production has commenced.

Taiyo Kagaku is a leading Japanese company engaged in R&D, manufacturing and marketing of food emulsifiers, stabilizers, flavorings, processed food products, instant food material, processed egg products, nutritional food materials and food cosmetic materials. Taiyo was established in 1948 in Japan. Taiyo's sales turnover was more than 400 Million US$ in 2003.

Taiyo has established manufacturing facilities in Japan, China and India. Taiyo has strong R&D base and has developed many new products and technologies. Taiyo has many patents its credit.

Taiyo has established a state-of-the-art manufacturing (100% EOU) facility at Aurangabad, India as a joint venture with Lucid Group. This plant produces high value edible fibre using Taiyo's proprietary technology.

"There is more to Jain Irrigation than Irrigation" is the way to describe the company that has constantly redefined the parameters of what is possible in agriculture. JISL is well known in the field of plastic piping, micro irrigation systems, plastic sheets, hi-tech agriculture and processed fruits and vegetables.

Under the Agreement JISL will initially produce frozen mango slices & dices and thereafter venture into other fruits such as banana, guava etc. This is a value added product for fruit processing division. Upon successful trails, business is expected to rise dramatically.

Jain Irrigation acquires a Strategic stake in Terra Agro

Wed, 28 Jun 2006 16:46:33 +0530

Jain Irrigation Systems Limited (JISL) of Jalgaon has today announced that it has acquired a significant strategic stake in Terra Agro Technologies Ltd. (“TERRA”) of Coimbatore. This investment will culminate in the merger of Terra with JISL in the next 6-9 months subject to compliances and requisite approvals.

Terra is an unlisted and closely held Company promoted by Mr. Vijay Mohan & family, who are also Promoters of Pricol Group. Terra is engaged in the business of growing and processing of vegetables and also have a manufacturing plant situated at Udmalpet Taluk in Coimbatore. Plant has an installed capacity of 1600 tonnes per annum for vegetable dehydration. The Company has approximately 1250 acres of land under its control. It also has completely computer-controlled Green Houses spanning an area of over two acres for production of vegetables and other controlled agricultural produce. Terra possesses installed drip irrigation systems for about 700 acres. It has also built reservoirs with well-laid piping network for irrigating the entire area. All its assets are free and unencumbered.

Vijay Mohan, Chairman & MD, Pricol Ltd. said, “This successful divestment will help PRICOL focus on its core businesses of light engineering and auto component manufacturing.”

Anil Jain, Managing Director, JISL said, “This acquisition has multiple benefits for the Company. It will add new product line viz vegetable & nutraceutical processing and dehydration to our food processing division. It will also allow us to increase our banana tissue culture market penetration in Tamil Nadu and Kerala as well as some of the adjoining districts of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Tamil Nadu has second largest banana production in the country. The region has two monsoon seasons and promises lot of complimentary and synergic conditions for growing many agricultural products which are export worthy. It will also strengthen and broad-base Company’s research and development activities. Most importantly, it will give us wider and deeper foothold in the markets in Southern India to promote our core business of Drip Irrigation and PVC & PE Pipes. The proposition provides immense asset value and excellent strategic add-on for Jain Irrigation.”

JAIN INCID - AWARDS

Wed, 28 Jun 2006 16:45:48 +0530

The Indian National Committee on Irrigation and Drainage in association with M/s Jain Charities, Jalgaon, (Maharashtra) has Instituted following awards to honour individuals or group or organizations making significant contribution towards development of modern technology in the field of Irrigation, Drainage and Water Management and related subjects. There will be two awards as under each to be conferred in alternate year on the occasion of Water Resources Day/World Water Day.

JAIN - INCID KRISHI SINCHAI VIKAS PURASKAR - 2006

Wed, 28 Jun 2006 16:44:21 +0530

"Jain-INCID KRISHI SINCHAI VIKAS PURASKAR - 2006" shall be conferred on any individual; group or an organization for significant contribution towards development of modern technologies in the field of farm irrigation, drainage and related subjects.

Broad Criteria for Selection of the Entries.

Entries will be selected after considering the following qualifications:

i) Relevance and significance of the work for the work for the last five years from the regional and/or national perspective.

ii) Originality of contribution for design and / or development of irrigation techniques or its practice / application.

iii) Adaptability of the solution to actual farming situations and likelihood of its acceptance by farming community at large.

iv) Economic viability of the solution.

v) Additional ecological advantages of the Solution/innovation.

Scope Of The Award

The particular development of modern technologies in the following related areas could be considered.

1. Control of "water-logging and salinity".

2. Prevention of losses in water conveyance for agricultural irrigation and drainage.

3. Improvement and innovation in the design of various components of modern Micro Irrigation Systems e.g. emitting devices, dripper line. drip tape, filtration systems. nozzles etc.

4. Use of brackish water and effluent treated water for agriculture and agro forestry with the help of Modern/ Micro Irrigation Technologies.

5. Waste land development through use of modern irrigation methods. Automation of irrigation systems including mechanical irrigation distribution systems.

6. Agronomic and/ or engineering practices which enhance effectiveness of modern/ Micro Irrigation and Drainage technologies for farm applications.

Those interested farmers/group of farmers may send nominations as per performa enclosed to the Member-Secretary, INCID. The last date for receipt of nominations in INCID Sectt. is 30th September, 2005.

JAIN - INCID SOOKSHMA SINCHAI PURASKAR 2007

Wed, 28 Jun 2006 16:26:51 +0530

"JAIN-INCID SOOKSHMA SINCHAI PURASKAR" will be conferred on a farmer or Group of Farmers for excellence in practicing modern / micro irrigation and drainage techniques.

Broad Criteria for Selection of the Entries.

Entries will be selected after considering the following qualifications:

i) Relevance and significance of the work for the work for the last five years from the regional and/or national perspective.

ii) Originality of contribution for design and / or development of irrigation techniques or its practice / application.

iii) Adaptability of the solution to actual farming situations and likelihood of its acceptance by farming community at large.

iv) Economic viability of the solution.

v) Additional ecological advantages of the Solution/innovation.

Scope Of The Award

The particular thrust areas which, inter-alia, could be considered would include the following.

i. Use of Micro Irrigation Systems and evolving plant support practices (including but not limited to good design and careful management) resulting in high productivity, reduced cost and premium quality produce.

ii. Determination of soil. water and crop relationship and effective use of Micro Irrigation Systems for increase in yields.

iii Adoption of physical and chemical water treatment methods in Micro Irrigation & Sprinkler Systems.

For the year 2007, nominations are invited from interested individual farmers/group of farmers for the JAIN-INCID Sookshma Sinchai Puraskar.

Jain Irrigation returns to Dividend list

Wed, 28 Jun 2006 15:04:29 +0530

Jain Irrigation has announced 42% increase in revenues from Rs. 604.81 Crores to Rs. 858.90 Crores, whereas PBDIT has increased by 39% and net profit has more than doubled from Rs.32.40 Crores in earlier year to Rs.67.17 crores in FY 05- 06. Exports have contributed Rs.289 Crores to overall revenue. On a quarterly basis revenues have shown 50% increase from Rs.218 Crores Q4 FY 04-05 to Rs.330 Crores Q4 05-06. The Gross Profit has increased by 53% at Rs.52.94 Crores. The net profit after tax for quarter has increased by over 86% at Rs.33.19 Crores. In the micro / sprinkler systems division the projects like Andhra Pradesh Micro Irrigation Project and Gujarat Green Revolution Co. Ltd. have helped Company achieve historic growth levels. Allocation of higher subsidy through Government Programs also enhanced growth opportunities for the division. Acquisition of Chapin Watermatics USA, a pioneer in drip irrigation in the world and Strategic stake in Eurodrip S.A. Greece, a drip irrigation company with 5 plants worldwide; along with capacity expansion under way, will further enhance growth in this division. Continuing telecom expansion and identification of new business opportunities in the areas of water distribution have been highlights of growth in the PE pipes business. PVC Pipes sales will maintain growth momentum due to aggressive government programme’s for drinking water supply to all villages and additional irrigation to 10 million hectares. Exports of PVC Sheets have grown in a steady manner. Further, Company has added significant new customers for building product applications. Recent investment in Nucedar will also help the Company to take lead over competition through newer applications in building industry. The recent acquisitions in the Food Processing sector like Parle Bisleri’s mango division, LMP Gujarat Agro Exports etc. have added capacity at low cost in the two food related businesses of the Company. FY 06-07 is going to be the year of significant growth for food division. The Directors have recommended payment of 18% Dividend at Rs.1.80 per share. The Company had in March 2006 completed issue of $60mn FCCB and is implementing an expansion plan for significant increase in existing capacities. The new capacities will be coming on stream in 2nd half of current year.

Jain Irrigation’s Plastic Park receives ISO 14001 Certification

Wed, 28 Jun 2006 16:24:46 +0530

Jalgaon – Plastic Park of Jain Irrigation Systems Ltd has been awarded ISO 14001:2004 certification by TUV Nord, Germany. This certification has proved that the company has independently established and follows environment management systems.

In today’s globalised market and competitive scenario, ISO 14001 certification is only given to organizations which deliver quality products while taking due care of the environment. After conducting a rigorous audit from 1st to 4th February, 2006, TUV Nord has awarded this certification to Jain Irrigation.

Various divisions of Jain Irrigation are already following quality management systems since 1992. Currently, all the major divisions of the Company are certified for ISO 9001. The certification of Plastic Park for ISO 14001 is one more feather in cap of Jain Irrigation. This certificate has been issued for implementation of environmental management system for Design, Manufacture and Supply of Micro Irrigation Systems, Plastic Piping Systems, Plastic Sheets, Tool Room and Engineering Services.

The company is now poised to obtain ISO 14001 certification for the rest of the units and is also preparing for ISO 18000 certification regarding Health and Safety Management systems.

Management Representative, Dr. H. C. Mruthyunjaya worked for this certification under the able guidance of Shri Ajit Jain, Jt. Managing Director, Shri R. Swaminathan, Director – Technical, Shri Atul Jain, Director – Marketing and all the associates at their respective locations who have contributed their bit for obtaining this recognition.

Presentation on MIS given to World Bank

Wed, 28 Jun 2006 16:25:26 +0530

Mr. A. B. Jain presented an overview of the emerging technology to World Bank task managers and suggested how multilateral and bilateral donors can further develop and make use of MIS in South Asia. He also expressed his views on how Jain Irrigation has worked hard in this direction on improving agricultural production in India / Developing Countries.