Harrisons Malayalam Ltd

Harrisons Malayalam Limited., a member of the RPG group is into various businesses including tea and rubber plantations; structural, civil, mechanical and electrical engineering activities; trading in and export of tea, coffee and spices; estate supplies and trading, clearing, shipping, air travel and air cargo activities; and bio-technology. The Company is principally engaged in plantations having tea and rubber estates in Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

Harisons Malayalam Limited, formed in 1984 with the merger of Harrisons & Crossfield and Malayalam Plantations, came out with a Rights Issue in 1992 to part-finance its expansion and diversification projects. The company's factories i.e. Surianalle(Tea Factory), Kumbazha Centrifuge (Rubber Factory) and Achoor Factory are certified with ISO 9002.

Through a JV (i.e. Harrisons Universal Flowers) with Universal Plants of France the company entered the floriculture market. It exports Flowers to Holland. It plans to introduce new varieties and also develop the domestic market. Harrisons Universal Flowers ceased to be a subsidiary of the company during 1999-2000.

The tissue culture project introduced a new product called Rhododendron. High-yielding sugar cane has been developed and launched in the domestic market. Young and potted plants developed by the division have made successful entry into Australia and Denmark.

Apart from tea, the company exported spices as also non-traditional items such as rubber and tissue culture.

During the year, the company had taken up management contracts for two companies in Srilanka to improve the agricultural practices and manufacturing processes.

The company introduced a new brand of premium Assam tea under the trade name of 'Spencers'.

During the year 2004, the Schemes of Arrangement and Amalgamation drawn up for the overall restructuring of the Company's operations were approved by the Shareholders providing for the transfer and vesting of the Rubber Undertaking of the Co