DS Group expands rubber lines, eyes export
29th March, 2010, Financial Express, Kolkata

Agartala, March 26 : The Rs. 1,400 crore, multi-diversified DS Group planning to put up two more lines at its rubber factory in Agartala, with one eye on the export market in Bangladesh.
DS Group collects 35% rubber mainly from Tripura MDPC, Tripura Rehabilitation Plantation Corporation and 35% from Mani Mallyar Pvt. Ltd. while the rest of it comes from private growers.

“We have procured 3,000 tonne of DRC (dehydrated rubber content) this year and plan to procure 3,600 tonne next fiscal,” said Vishnu B Sharma, vice president (corporate projects) of the group.
While DS Group has been catering to the domestic market of rubber thread so far, it has decided to foray into the Rs. 2,400 tonne rubber thread market in Bangladesh.

“We have sent the first consignment to Bangladesh. Bangladesh being one of the largest garment manufacturing countries in the region, there is a huge demand for rubber threads there,” Sharma said.

Meanwhile, acreage under cultivation in Tripura has been increasing at 30 percent per year. At present the area under plantation is around 35,760 hectares with an average yield of 1.5 kg per hectare.

“So far rubber farmers in the state have been producing un-graded RSS (ribbed smoked sheets) and selling them at a much lower price. But with a factory like ours, they will get a better price for their produce,” Sharma said.

DS Group had set up the factory at Agartala in the year 2006 with two production lines and an installed capacity of 5,400 MT (at 38 counts).

“With the two new production lines we will look at new products like gloves and contraceptives,” he said.