By IANS,
Hyderabad : US multinational DuPont plans to expand its Knowledge Centre here by setting up facilities for global research in seed traits and for developing new applications tailored to India.
On the fourth anniversary of DuPont Knowledge Centre (DKC), the company said it would expand the work in the areas of three global mega trends of food, energy and protection.
The facility is developing applications for food packaging, fabric care and solutions for light weighting automobiles.
Describing India as a strategically important market, Rajeev Vaidya, DuPont-South Asia president, said the firm’s investment to bring more innovation capabilities to India would continue.
He said India offered over $5 billion market opportunity.
Currently, India is the ninth largest market for DuPont and the biggest in South Asia, which contributes less than a billion dollars to the company’s global revenues of $38 billion.
The four seed traits the DKC is developing is aimed at improving the yield for a variety of crops like corn and maize. “We are developing traits for improved pest-resistance and to grow crops in drought like conditions. We are focusing on very thing relevant to India,” said Homi C Bhedwar, technical director.
The global research in agriculture Biotech (ABT) at DKC will be the second largest R&D centre for the company outside the US and will focus on both global and local market needs.
The DKC has already started to commercialise air cargo covers providing appropriate temperature for Indian environment for pharmaceutical shipments. It is also in the process of developing a solution to increase lifetime of flowers meant for exports.